Addressing Employment Gaps During an Interview

Employment gaps can happen for lots of reasons, but time off can sometimes make employers nervous about hiring you. A break in your employment history does not have to doom your career prospects forever. You just need to know how to talk about employment gaps during a job interview so you can put your employer’s mind at ease.

You can help to make an employer more confident about hiring you despite your employment gaps by:

• Preparing your explanation in advance for why you left. You know an employer will ask why you have a gap, so be ready with a good answer.

• Keeping your explanation concise. You do not want to provide a long, convoluted explanation to an employer about an employment gap as this can make it look as though you are making excuses or you feel the break in employment was wrong. A simple, straight-forward explanation is all you need — don’t overload an employer with personal information or unnecessary details. 

• Always being honest about the reason for the gaps. If you lie about an employment gap, you are likely to get caught. Employers do not hire liars who are dishonest about their work history. If they do hire them, they usually fire them when the truth is uncovered. Don’t ruin your professional credibility or career opportunity with a lie. 

• Focusing on the future. Employers worry about employment gaps because they fear you may be out of practice in your profession or they fear you may decide to leave the workforce again. By being ready to showcase what you will do for the company in the future, you can dispel an employer’s worries. You should have concrete examples of how you will bring your professional talents to the business in order to help the company.

SmartTalent can help you to make connections with employers who are willing to hire you, even with a few employment gaps on your resume. To find out more about the ways in which our staffing service can help with your job search in Kirkland, Fife, Renton, Lacey, Lynnwood, Everett and surrounding areas, give our staffing service a call today.