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Navigating employment gaps on your resume is crucial for making a strong impression during your job search. Employers value transparency and need to understand the steps you took during those gaps. If unaddressed, gaps can be seen as potential red flags, indicating issues with your reliability and stability, which can negatively impact your applications. The good news is you can turn these potential red flags into strengths with the right approach. Here’s how.
Highlight Volunteer and Freelance Work
Resume gaps happen for many reasons. Maybe you left a job on your own, maybe there was a corporate downsizing and you were let go. There could be any number of reasons for a gap; employers understand that. What’s most important is not why there was a gap but what you did during the gap.
So, if your gap included volunteering or freelance work, include these experiences prominently on your resume, detailing the skills you used and gained and any outcomes achieved. Clearly outline your roles and responsibilities during the gap to demonstrate continued professional engagement. It can be helpful to quantify achievements during a gap, using numbers or statistics, making your experiences more tangible and impactful. By strategically filling employment gaps with valuable activities, you convey a commitment to skill-building and a readiness to contribute positively in future roles.
Showcase Professional Development
If you took any courses or received any certifications during your gap, definitely highlight those, too. You might want to even create a separate section emphasizing the skills, knowledge, and certifications gained. Include workshops, online courses, or relevant training programs, especially those that pertain to the field you’re applying for. It’s important to make connections to job requirements. So, when listing these experiences, draw direct connections to how courses and certifications equip you for the job at hand, ensuring hiring managers can see the value you bring despite the gap.
List Soft Skills
Another way to deal with a resume gap is to reflect on the soft skills you developed during your gap—such as adaptability, resilience, problem-solving, and communication—and incorporate them into your resume. Of course, you want to make sure they align with the requirements of the job you’re applying for. And if you’re having trouble including them in the “Experience” section of your resume, consider including them in a dedicated section for soft skills on your resume, speaking to how you developed them during your gap.
Highlighting soft skills will fill employment gaps meaningfully while showcasing you as a well-rounded and capable candidate. Including soft skills can demonstrate growth and versatility, which employers value. For instance, resilience developed during a gap might suggest strong stress-management abilities, while adaptability can indicate comfort in dynamic environments.
Be Honest
Perhaps most important, you always want to be honest about any gap on your resume instead of leaving it unaddressed. But you also want to only briefly provide context around a gap—you don’t want to put an extra amount of emphasis on it. So, if your gap was due to a specific reason (caregiving or health issues, for example), consider including a concise bullet point or short section in your resume, framing the gap positively without going into unnecessary detail.
Using labels like “career break” or “sabbatical” in your work history shows intentionality. It helps employers see the gap as a mindful choice rather than a lapse. After providing context, reinforce your enthusiasm and readiness to re-enter the workforce, highlighting your dedication to contributing to a new role. This approach focuses on your skills and future goals, assuring your commitment, reliability, and renewed focus.
Doris Strong is a seasoned career coach who collaborates with Peasley Transfer & Storage Boise, a company specializing in moving, storage, and logistics services. She specializes in guiding people through career transitions, focusing on effectively addressing employment gaps. Doris is passionate about empowering people to achieve their career goals confidently and clearly.
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