How To Explain Breaks In Employment On Your CV Employment

If you have a break in employment on your CV – whether due to family commitments or illness – it can feel hard to explain. Maybe it’s because of the circumstances involved or simply because you want to protect your privacy. Regardless of the reason why, it’s a good idea to be upfront about the break in your employment and the reason why you were away. 

In order to help make this process easier, Building Better Opportunities have put together this short article outlining the best techniques for explaining gaps in your CV to potential  employers.  Our goal,  as always, is to help get you into the jon that you want.

Read on to find out  how you can explain a gap in your CV. 

Be Honest 

To start, it’s important to understand the importance of honesty when it comes to this process. You should not, under any circumstances, attempt to lie. Not only is that a crime – one which your future employer will find out about – but it also sets you off on the wrong foot with your future employers. Instead, be honest with them and yourself. Yes, you took time away from work. There’s nothing wrong with that. 

Mark the Gap on Your CV 

Now, you should mark the gap (or gaps) on your CV, just like you would do with any form of employment. 

Be honest about why you were off work. If you were ill write down that you were off due to illness. If you took time off to raise a family, write down that you took time off to go raise a family. Blocking off that space and being up front about why you were out of work for that period will put you in better graces with your future employer than if you tried to hide it. 

Concentrate on How You Grew During Your Break

This next section really depends on how you’ve formatted the career section on your CV. Generally speaking, the career section on your CV will either resemble a list of jobs with some information about your successes or it could be a more indepth exploration of your role. For example: 

List of Positions

Store Colleague

Games World

September 2018 – March 2020

  • Consistently achieved all KPIs from September 2018 until February 2020. 

  • Managed to diminish store loss by 82%

  • Served as interim manager between December 20th 2019 to January 15th 2020. 

Position With More Information

Store Colleague

Games World 

September 2018 – March 2020

After moving to Hanley, I took up a position as a Store Colleague with Games World. This was a full-time position, and my responsibilities included: manning the till, checking stock, arranging shop displays, basic security and administrative duties as necessary. 

Your time away from the office should be added to your CV in a similar manner, with specific dates, a breakdown of successes and achievements or a brief summary of your duties, and a specific indication of what you were doing while you were away from employment. 

If possible, you should phrase this section in such a way that it shows that you weren’t stagnant during this time. Show how you grew during this time of your life and what skills you learned – give the person reading the CV an indication of what you could bring to their organisation. 

For example: 

List of Positions

Full Time Parent

September 29th 2019 – Current

  • Managed to successfully budget for a family of four on a single parent’s salary, including a holiday abroad and significant Christmas celebrations. 

  • Leveraged time to allow myself to pick up new skills – including Excel, Seo Marketing, and coding. 

Position With More Information

Full Time Parent 

September 29th 2019 – Current

Following the birth of my daughter Natalie, and having discussed it with my partner, I decided to become a full-time parent. Becoming a parent was a transformative experience, and I learned a great amount of patience. At the same time, I also became adept at multitasking. In my free time, I learned skills such as SEO digital marketing, HTML coding, and advanced Excel. 

As you can see, both of these two examples essentially show continued positive growth whilst outlining the reason why the break from employment took place. 

Go Into the Interview Strong and Confident

Once you’ve secured an interview, you can approach your potential employer with confidence, happy in the knowledge that they’re aware of your professional break and the reason for it. Now all you have to do is to approach the interview.

Building Better Opportunities have numerous articles on our knowledge hub for helping you through the interview – including a how to guide on dressing for both men and women, advice on building self-confidence, and a general how to prepare article

Contact Building Better Opportunities For Employment and Welfare Advice in Staffordshire 

Building Better Opportunities is a charity based in Staffordshire. We provide our clients with support and advice in order to help them get back to work, as well as help staying in work if they are feeling unable to cope. We offer a range of services, including legal advice, help with benefits and housing, and a range of others.

 

For more information about employment support in Stafford and Staffordshire, get in touch with Building Better Opportunities today. We are always happy to hear from you.