How to explain a gap in employment in Interview
It happens quite often.
The interviewer asks you to walk them through your resume.
While the momentum is going strong you end up hitting a bump in the road. Metaphorically speaking, this bump could be a gap in your employment history.
Despite what you may think however, a gap in employment does not have to be a negative thing if you approach the subject tactfully.
The first stage of this tactful response is understanding why would an employer ask about an employment gap?
Why do employers ask about employment gaps?
When asking this question, employers are aiming to identify:
What exactly happened?
The employer is asking about your employment gap because they want to know what happened. Was there a problem with your previous employer? Were you unable to find a job? Or was it just a stroke of bad luck?
Crafting your response ultimately depends on the reason. For example, you could be forthcoming with the direct truth if your employment gap was as a result of:
- Being laid off or furloughed as a result of economic conditions
- Your previous company closing down due to the Covid-19 pandemic
- Medical illness
- Family issues (taking care of an ailing parent etc.)
- Going back to further education to enter a new industry
These reasons pose little or no risk to your interview success, given that they were not any fault of your own. However, if an employment gap exists for the following reasons, then your interviewer can be concerned:
- Getting fired from your last job
- Court matters or legal obligations
- Unlawful activity resulting in arrest, incarceration or restricted movement by law enforcement.
How have you been using your resources?
Granted that time is now hailed as the most valuable resource. Employers would be interested in finding out how or if you used that time away from working. Were you able to stay productive during that time? If so, what were you up to?
Are you ready, able and willing to return to work?
Be it work for another company, industry or start their own business, an employment gap represents the time taken by a candidate to figure out a career direction. As such, an employer may enquire about your employment gap to determine if you have figured out your next move and established some career goals.
How to answer questions about an employment gap?
When an employer asks about your employment, there are key considerations you must incorporate in your responses.
Honesty is the best policy
If there was ever a time to not lie during an interview, this would be one of the best times. Interviews on the whole should always be true and authentic. Particularly, if you’re explaining an employment gap resulting from negative behaviour.
Reason being, the truth is going to come out when the interviewer contacts your last employer. If you were between jobs for a period of time, it’s best to have the interviewer hear the truth, coming from you.
Keep it short, sweet and to the point
An employment gap isn’t necessarily something on your resume that you want to draw much attention to. Sure, the employer may be asking and you’re definitely going to handle this question like a pro. However, you want to keep your answers simple and to the point. This isn’t a career moment you want to emphasise, so don’t make it the highlight of the interview.
Give the full reason
State the reason in its truth and entirety. Try and keep your reasoning to a maximum of three sentences. You don’t want to give the interviewer unnecessary details to pivot off of. Simply state what happened, why it happened and the end result. For example, if a difference in values or personality mismatch took place, state the occurrence and why this ultimately led to you taking time off from work, until landing another opportunity.
Pivot their thought process
You’ve established the reason for your employment gap. To avoid making this employment gap the focus of your interview, it’s time to pivot to a more positive place. Meaning, you’re going to describe how your time between jobs was well spent.
To do so, mention specific activities that kept you occupied that would have provided fulfillment and purpose in place of work. These activities include upskilling, volunteer work, educational courses, freelancing or community work.
Keep it professional
Always maintain a professional outlook and friendly, polite demeanor. The interviewer must not get a sense of bitterness or resentment, particularly if conditions that resulted in your employment gap were unfavourable to you. Look at it as an important learning experience that helped you grow and made you stronger in the long term to return to work.
Don’t do
There are a few other considerations worth noting when talking about an employment gap on your resume:
- Treat your employment gap as a period of revaluation, reflection and growth. Ensure you do not come across as if you’re complaining about the state of the Caribbean economy or the Covid-19 pandemic. As bad as things are, no one wants to hire a complainer.
- Be careful not to ramble on and provide unnecessary details. State clearly what happened and why but save the bulk of the discussion on what this experience taught you and how you were able to use the extra time productively.
- Don’t blame anyone for the employment gap. Even if things were bad at your last place of employment, don’t use this opportunity to play the blame game.
- Lastly, don’t try to downplay it as something insignificant either. Just because you’re not devoting a lot of energy towards it doesn’t mean your employment gap isn’t something important for the employer to know. If it wasn’t important, they would not have asked in the first place!
