- In this video,
I'm gonna talk about addressing the circumstance
of having gaps in your employment.
Being considered maybe a job hopper
or a term that's used among people that I've coached.
And any concerns you might have about you know
gaps in your resume, lack of gaps in your resume,
that's what I'm gonna talk about in this video.
By the end of the video you're gonna know
exactly what's important
and exactly how you can talk about it confidently
so that it will not affect your chances at the job.
Stay tuned.
(melodious instrumental music)
The reason I wanted to make this video was because
I know that a lot of people are really nervous
about gaps in their resume.
They feel self-conscious about them.
They feel like they don't know
how to address them or talk about them.
They feel maybe a bit embarrassed about these gaps.
The gaps could be there for any reason, right,
and I'll talk about some of those reasons.
But really I wanna talk about how to address them
and what's really important
and why it's really a problem for you
and what you're thinking about them
and what you're making those gaps mean.
There was a week where I had two clients,
one, who had been at the same company for 10 years
and he was embarrassed about that
because he thought that that indicated
that he hadn't grown very much.
He thought, well I've been in the same place for 10 years
and this means that I have not grown very much.
And he was of Indian descent and he just said,
no, no, no, in our culture that's what that means.
It just means that you know you don't grow
if you stay in one place,
you should be moving around, right.
So I found that very interesting.
Then, the very same week I had a client tell me,
well, I've had like five different temporary jobs
and this means that I can't hold down a job,
it means I'm not reliable, it means nobody wants me.
It means there's a reason why
I haven't been able to stay in one place.
So I find it very fascinating that
two clients had exact opposite circumstances
and they were both making them mean something very negative
about their potential and their capability
and their ability to move forward in their career.
But first I wanna to tell you that
those are both neutral circumstances,
being at one company for 10 years
or having switch five times
or having worked for a year and then had a five-year gap
and then work for another year,
whatever it is, those are neutral circumstances.
And everything after that is your thought
about what those circumstances mean for you
and how you interpret that and the story around that,
that is what's actually going to dictate
what your future looks like
and how you talk about these circumstances in an interview
if they come up.
So, first I wanna offer you that
there's lots of people who have had,
let's say for argument's sake, five different temporary jobs
and still landed their dream job on a permanent basis.
There's lots of people who have worked
and had large gaps in their employment,
who have still landed their dream job on a permanent basis.
So you're probably not looking for that
because you're too concerned right now about your own gap
and about how you're going to address this question
if it comes up for you.
So just know that it doesn't have to be an issue
and I'm gonna explain in this video
how you can think about it in a way
where you can address it more confidently.
So I've had many clients over the years
and they've had gaps in their employment
for many reasons.
So maybe one had to take care
of his aging father with Alzheimer's
and he had a gap where he didn't work.
I found another client who had a severe health scare,
she had cancer, she overcame it
and she couldn't work for that time
when she was going through treatment.
Lots of clients who have had kids for example
and haven't been able to work
during the time when they've been at home with their kids.
Or clients who have been let go
and then had trouble finding work afterwards
and so they've got a gap for a few months there
and they're kind of paranoid that,
oh that means people are not gonna want me
because I was let go and then I couldn't find something.
So the gap and the time that you didn't work is just neutral
and it doesn't matter what the reason was,
the reason is neutral as well.
Circumstance happened in your life,
this caused you to not be working
for a certain amount of time for whatever reason
and that is a neutral circumstance, okay.
So the next thing that happens
is we layer it with a problem.
We make it a problem for us.
So, the people that I have coached
normally come to me with the story of,
oh it's a problem because people think this, this and this.
Like, oh if I work for five places
people think I'm unreliable,
people think that nobody wants me.
People think that I'm not gonna be prioritizing my work
because I was at home with my kids.
People think that I was not a reliable employee
because I left to go take care of my dad.
People think, people think, right.
And while, you know,
we can't control what other people think,
it's completely not useful for you
to be thinking that ahead of time
before we even give people the chance to think anything.
So right now those are just thoughts in your head.
You haven't even talked to anyone yet about it
and you might say to me, oh, no, no, no, but I have,
and this is what they said.
So, that's because you were coming at it from a place
of it was a problem and you're embarrassed about it
and you're not sure how to talk about it.
Or whatever thoughts you were having about the circumstance
weren't serving you.
So it wasn't working because
the way that you presented the situation
you were feeling uneasy about it.
So that's what I want to show you is
you thinking ahead of time that it's a problem
is what is contributing to making it a problem.
And that's proven by the evidence
that lots of people who have had kids
have gone back to work without any problem.
Lots of people who have had five temp jobs
have gotten a permanent full-time position,
it hasn't been a problem.
Lots of people who have taken care of their aging parents,
taking time off for that,
have gotten their dream jobs,
it has not been a problem.
And so there's evidence of all that as well,
but we don't see that
because we're focusing on the fact that,
oh people think it's a problem,
and we're fixating on the fact that
what we think people are going to think.
And so we're anticipating
that they're gonna think this beforehand
and so we're nervous and self-conscious
about talking about it.
So you think it's a problem is the problem, okay.
So I hope you're following me here.
Because let me explain to you why.
If you can help the company, if you can do the job,
if you are the person they need for that role,
why does it matter, right?
It's like if say I wanna get
an electrician to come in and install,
I had to do this the other day,
having an electrician come in and install a fan,
I wanted a ceiling fan
and then he had to put in a switch to make it work.
I'm not gonna care if he hadn't been working for a while.
I'm not gonna care
if he had to take care of his sick parents.
I'm not gonna care if he fixed
five other ceiling fans before mine.
I'm not gonna care about any of that,
all I care is that he can get it done for me
and then it works and that I'm happy.
So I don't care about any of those other things.
But if he came to me and he was all like,
oh well, I don't know if I'm gonna be able to do it,
I haven't done it in like two years,
I'm not really sure like,
oh you might think I'm not capable because of this.
Like, I'm gonna start to doubt him too,
I'm gonna be like, oh, are you sure you're up for this?
Are you all right, like.
But if he just came in with full confidence it's like,
oh yeah, it's like riding a bike,
I know how to do this, I went to school.
Yeah, tell me where it is, I'll get it done for you.
I'm gonna be like, great.
I'm not gonna question it at all.
So hopefully that illustrates
that your mentality about your gaps in your resume
is what is projecting onto the people
that you're speaking with,
and that is the only thing that gets in the way,
that's the only thing that's the problem.
Ask yourself, the gaps in your resume,
whatever your specific circumstance,
what are you making it mean?
Why do you think it's a problem?
And all of the times that anyone
has brought me any sort of gap
that they were really convinced was a problem,
we have reframed it, okay.
So I'll talk about a few of them.
So my client who had to take care of his aging father.
He's a human, he's compassionate.
He's a loving human being who took care of his dad.
That is actually a positive thing.
We want people who care about other human beings.
Isn't that nice that he wanted to take care of his dad
so he had to take some time off work.
He wasn't putting himself first,
he was taking care of his dad, he's a human.
Lots of interviewers are human too, you might say.
They might have aging parents or sick family members,
they would understand.
And if they don't understand then really like,
do we wanna be working for a company
that doesn't understand that?
Not if you're the person who did it.
Secondly, the woman who I coached who had cancer
and she was in a hospital bed
and she was going through chemo and radiation
and she had to heal herself.
She had to get her body back into the position
where she was strong enough to go back to work.
And then when she was strong enough to go back to work
she was afraid that nobody was gonna want her
because she hadn't been in the field
she hadn't been working for a long time.
And we were able to easily reframe that,
I was able to show her how strong she actually was.
How she almost died and she came back
and she is now ready to hit the ground running
and how amazing of a story that is.
So, so many situations where we can reframe these stories
into where you were thinking it was a negative,
it's actually a positive, it's actually an asset.
When you're at work and you're doing something challenging
and you've got to keep going
because you don't wanna give up on getting the task done,
it's actually very minimal and almost nothing
compared to freaking fighting cancer
and still being alive.
Just a couple of examples and those are extreme
but you can use those to your advantage.
They're not a detriment to you,
they're part of who you are,
they're part of what makes you stronger.
They're part of what makes you a more valuable employee
and a more valuable person.
And the person who started five different jobs
in a short amount of time, you had to get up to speed.
You have to get up to speed every single one of those times,
you have to learn a whole bunch of new things.
Even if you were only there for two or three months,
imagine that learning,
imagine all those breakthroughs that you had.
Imagine how much better you now are
at getting up to speed in a new place.
How freaking beneficial is that to somebody?
You can get up to speed quickly
because you've done it already five times.
And if you want a permanent full-time position
then you just say,
I would really like to stick to somewhere,
you know, this is what I want,
these situations were temporary.
We find the wording.
When you get creative you find the wording
to tell your story in a powerful way.
So whatever your job gap was,
however long it was for,
however many job gaps you have, whatever the reason,
those things are not actually important.
All that's important is how you feel about your job gap.
Why you are making it mean
whatever it is you're making it mean.
Why do you think it's a problem for you.
And then once we clear all that out
you are going to be unstoppable
because it's actually not a problem
unless it's a problem for you.
So I hope that makes sense to you
because I've seen it happen so many times
where people come to me and they think something's a problem
and I'm like, it's actually not.
So this is what coaching is.
We figure these things out together
so that you can go out there confidently
and nail your interviews.
Show up confidently so that you don't have to worry
about your past being something that is gonna impede you
because it actually can always
be turned into something that serves you
no matter what it is.
There you have it.
I hope that this lesson was very helpful to you.
And no matter what the gaps were on your resume,
it doesn't actually have any bearing
on what you're capable of doing in the future,
what you can do moving forward,
your past is your past.
If you can focus on your past in a way that serves you,
you can move forward in an even more powerful,
even stronger way.
My name is Natalie Fisher.
I'm a career mindset coach.
I help with this stuff every single day.
I'm very very good at it.
I can assure you that any roadblock you have
I can help you get past it
and achieve the result you wanna be getting to.
If you're interested in working with me,
hit the link below, I have a free workshop,
it's called, Get a Better Job in 30 Days
Even During a Pandemic.
And I'm gonna show you evidence of this being done
and I'm gonna give you the exact resume
and cover letter that was used to accomplish this result.
A better higher paying job in 30 days even during a pandemic
and I'm gonna give you that on the workshop
as well as some great training
for you to succeed in your own career.
If you're interested in that, click the link below,
find me at www.nataliefisher.ca.
Give me a thumbs up if you like the video.
Thumbs down if you didn't like the video
and then subscribe to the channel.
I'll be here again next week with another video.
And leave me a comment
because it's the only way to know who's watching
and I love to hear your thoughts.
Thanks so much and I will see you next week.
Bye.
(melodious instrumental music)