The period of being unemployed can be fruitful, depending on how you consider it. Lapse in your employment can be for enormous reasons. It could be in your favor or in others, you need to learn how to handle it at the time of beginning with your career once again. Though unemployment is believed to be not so good sign for the employers, but can be acceptable if you place it in right terms and right time without reflecting any negativity. Here are some ways to hide lapse in your employment period which can help you face the corporate world in a better way.
Honesty is the Best Policy
Undoubtedly, honesty is the best policy. When you are asked about the lapse in your employment, do not try to hide the fact. It is not going to do any good to you. Reveal the real reason for taking a break from work. No matter how silly or genuine your reason could be, what matters is that you are being honest. But there is absolutely no need to be honest in your resume. You need not write about the lapse period in employment in your resume. All it is going to do is create a wrong impression when the reader reads through. That is because, there is a limit of your explanation, rather you won't be able to explain thoroughly in your resume, which could then result in building an incorrect perception about you.
Value the Gap
Believe in yourself first. Do not feel guilty about the gap you have taken in your employment. For whatever reason you have taken the gap, you have already passed that instant of time. So there is no meaning in feeling bad about it. Create a mind set that you had taken a gap for a reason and accordingly draft your resume. Do not try to hide things which highlight your capability assuming that you possessed those qualities years ago and now revealing them is enlightening about the lapse. Do not worry, they are not going to harm you in anyway. Your skills, capabilities stay forever until you have zeal to work.
Cover the Gap
For covering the gap story in your resume, you should choose a right format of resume. Generally, chronological format of resume focuses mainly on your work experience with the period of years. Hence, you have an option of making use of functional format which highlights your skills, achievements and give a chance to write about your work experience in short without disclosing the time frame.
Block the Gap
Even if you would have stayed unemployed for months or years, there is a chance that you would have utilized that period in a best way. If so, you can always mention about the activities you have been a part of. If you have spent your unemployment period in some charitable work, voluntary activities, coaching, care-taking, etc., you can describe the nature of such activities.
For example, if you have been visiting the school of dumb and deaf children for teaching them doing all creative stuffs like making paper bags, drawing pictures, pottery, clay work, etc. you can write about all this. It shows that even if you have been unemployed, you have been active in team work and for noble cause which creates a positive opinion about you.
Speak in Interview
After you are done writing your resume with things to include and exclude, you can speak about the lapse in employment at the time of the interview. Speaking out in person is always better than conveying it in writing. When you voice, you are able to explain the cause in a better way. You stand a chance of convincing the listener. So the best practice is always to speak about your drawbacks face to face. Writing in resume is not explanatory and you can lose a chance of the interview. Hence, be ready to expose the truth when you are asked about by the recruiter.
These are the simple ways to hide lapse in your employment period of which you can make use of at the time of restarting your career. Remember, you are a competitor, so you need not feel complex about the lapse. Be as confident as you have been before in your employment period. You are not alone and there are others like you of whom you would fail to make out that they have been away from work too. Confidence in you and your resume matters.