Students with Gaps in work History
What do you do with students who have gaps in their work history, no work history, or they have a history of jumping jobs?
may,
That's really a shame. There are certainly many qualified people who have gaps for one reason or another.
Elizabeth Kemler
I worked for a professional international staffing firm for several years. AS i searched resumes if they had a gap and were studying full time for a couple of years, we could not consider them. That meant thir skills were not recent enough for the job.
Personally, I wouldnt frown upon it, but some employers still do.
Jennifer,
That makes sense though I would say that interviewers almost always ask about gaps so the students should be ready to talk about them in a professional manner. Is that something you give them an opportunity to practice?
Elizabeth Kemler
Well a resume is intended to highlight the best skill set and work experience from the students. I wouldn't emphasis the gaps on their resume instead highlight the soft skills that can be used on the new job.
zulema,
That is always the ideal but often those reasons are not something one would share in an interview setting-they could be too personal. Its good to have the students practice talking about the gap in a professional way.
Elizabeth Kemler
From my own experience, I like to think that when there is a gap there should be a reasonable reasom
Nora,
Yes, this is true. Its also really important (as I'm sure you know) to make sure the student is prepared to talk about those gaps in the interview.
Elizabeth Kemler
when you have gaps in between jobs the best thing to do is to pic the right template that is not going to highlight that, functional template will be the best choice in this case.
David,
This sounds like a great approach. It really does help to do some extra practice with this particular interview question as it is will almost certainly come up.
Elizabeth Kemler
I would talk with them to find out why they have the gaps and then help them to formulate good and reasaonable answers when asked about the gaps by a potential employer. Then I would try and figure out what it was about each job that was the wrong fit for them to figure out why they left (or were dismissed). This will help to figure out what type of job setting would be right for them.
Amber,
Oh I didn't realize that she had been in school all that time..that should definitely not work against her.
Elizabeth Kemler
Thank you... I reminded her that she had been going to school full time and that some employers wouldn't frown upon that but it was still a question in case it came up again :D.
Amber,
Someone else had asked this question and there are many ways to answer. I gave her some links to follow but you can actually get lots of great info if you google "how to fill in gaps in your resume".
Elizabeth Kemler
