A huge gap in employment history in your resume can be a severe disadvantage when you are looking for a new job. This is particularly distressing when you are searching for your first job after a huge work gap. Here are some career advice that can help you incase of a huge work gap.
- Recognize Your Value
Being out of work for a long time can have severe impact on your moral and self confidence. This lack of self confidence can become an obstacle in your getting a job and that in turn will lower your confidence further in creating a vicious cycle.
One way to break this cycle is recognizing your own worth. At times it may feel like that you are worthless and have no marketable skills. Remember that it's never true. Take some time to evaluate yourself, see what hidden skills you have that just need some developing, what you like and what are your strengths in general. This reevaluation of yourself would help you recognize your worth and help boost your confidence.
- Fill The Gaps in Your Time and Resume
Try your best to fill the gaps in your resume. Even during the time you were not working you must have done something. Find creative ways to present your activities in ways that they appear of professional importance. Mention anything new that you have learned, the voluntary or freelance works that you have done, any new skills that you have gained that is even remotely relevant to the career in which you are going to apply for job. A complete blank is much worse than one that is filled with even activities that are barely relevant.
Also make good use of your time while you are unemployed. You can do online courses, learn new skills and in general make your resume much more attractive without spending a lot of money. You should also consider online certification exams, if there are any that are relevant to your field. They have wide scale recognition and they are much cheaper as well. You can find all the needed material on the internet as well.
- References
After a huge work gap in career, you can use all the help you get in getting a good job. Use of any personal or professional references that you may have can help you in getting a job.
- Resume
The first challenge that you'll face in getting a job after a huge gap in career is to get invited for an interview. Your resume would be your most powerful weapon and perhaps only weapon to overcome this challenge. Take some time to create a good and attractive resume. You must not misrepresent actual information but barring outright lying, be loud, embellish your achievements and emphasize your strong points as much as you can without appearing disparate or looking like you are bragging excessively. You can be open and frank during the interview. When constructing your resume your first priority should be to get a call for interview.
- Chronological vs Functional
It is customary to list your work experience in chronological order, but this can make the gap in your career more obvious. You should search the internet for tip about and samples of, resume writing after a huge work gap. You should consider a functional instead of chronological listing of your previous jobs.
Also if the work gap is in your past you may consider omitting jobs before a certain time in your career, although this would only be appropriate if the gap is far enough in your past.
- Appearance
When you are going for an interview you should pay attention to your general appearance and should not look like a hippy or a homeless vagabond. This is especially true in case of a huge work gap. Dress professionally in conservative and formal clothes for the interview.
During interview be or at the very least appear frank and confident. Be on your best behavior and show your good manners. Pay attention to your body language and keep yourself calm even if it looks like the interview is not going well.
- Want and Need
During job interview you should show your interest in the job but do not appear desperate. The appearance of desperation combined with the work gap make a rather bad impression.
- Prepare For Questions
When going for an interview after a huge work gap expect and prepare for tough questions about your work gap, reason for leaving last job etc. Search the internet to get some ideas about how you should answer these questions and prepare your answers for them. Be frank and stick with truth as far possible and never lie outright.
- Ask Questions
You should also take an active part in interview process and ask questions about the job, your responsibility, the challenges that you are likely to face etc.
- Persistence
Job search after a huge work gap can be a long, arduous and frustrating process. You must be persistent and keep trying. Learn from your failures and mistakes and in the mean time steadily improve your knowledge and skills. The key to success is in not losing hope and keep trying.
Job search in general is not a walk in the park and it can be especially frustrating if there is a huge work gap in your resume. But if you plan and prepare properly and kept trying, such a gap is not impassable and in the long run it would of little significance.
