Hello. Patra Frame here for ClearedJobs.net.
And we’re talking about not having
quite the best work history. All of us, when our work history
is not perfect feels as if we’re alone. But the reality is many people had
periods of time
when they were without work, when they were caregiving
for aging parents or young children,
when they themselves were sick. And they wonder, does that disqualify me?
How do I handle that on my resume? And the answer is
a lot of people have this issue, you are not alone.
So what do you really do? First of all,
you have to think about whether or not you’re going to disclose this.
Obviously, if it’s two or three months, you might skip it completely.
You might not even mention it unless you’re directly asked.
But if your period without work,
for whatever reason, is three months, five months,
a year or more, you need to be able to talk about it,
and you need to be able to talk about it positively. What this means is
you may want to include it in your cover letter or you may actually
put it on your resume. One sentence
is plenty. But you need to be ready to talk about it.
You need to be able to definitively show
on the rest of your resume, strong
set of achievements, great past progression
in your work, and you need to be able to talk about those during any interview.
You also need, depending on the amount
of time you’ve been out, to be able to demonstrate what you have done
to keep yourself current in your
field. This might be course work.
This might be volunteer work. It might be that you have
looked at and read the professional journals or the
technical journals. You might have taken, if you’re in the
right fields, an exam that would
show that you’re current. But whatever you’re doing,
you want to be able to show what you’ve done
that keeps you current, that makes you a value to an employer
immediately. When you go into
an interview, you’re going to want to be able to
present this in a positive sense.
You need to remain positive. You can’t be a
victim who was sick, who was caring
for someone who was sick, and “Oh, poor me.” You have to be positive.
You’ve done some time away from the work world, and now you’re back
and you’ve done things to maintain your ability to be a great
contributor
right away and here’s what they are. Your attitude is critical in this.
Your ability to explain the value of what
you have learned and what you did is critical.
And finally, if you are asked questions,
you need to have a quick, short answer, “Yes, I was
away for a year. It’s been very difficult to find a job in my field,
but let me tell you about some of the things
I have done that I think are really relevant to this job”
or “Let me ask you some questions that I think
will help me to understand this work better.”
Whatever those are, it’s your attitude
and your ability to demonstrate your value to the
employer that’s critical.