What to do about a 2 year gap on my CV/resume?

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Here's the deal-- after getting burned out at my first job, which I held for 3 years, I decided I needed a break and quit without having another job lined up. I spent the first 3 months of my break visiting friends and relatives, and even got to travel overseas.

However, when I got back, 3 months ended up stretching out to 2 years-- almost 2 1/2 actually. I'm embarrassed to admit this now, but since I was still living at home with my mother it was pretty easy. I'd also reached a bit of an impasse in my career (I had gotten a promotion fairly quickly and knew another one was coming soon. Being barely 25, I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted to do and I still wasn't very mature, considering all of my closest friends were still doing undergrad.)

I eventually got back into the workforce through a temp agency, where I've been temping now for about a year and a half. It was meant to be temp to perm but lately I feel as if I'm getting the runaround. I want to restart my job search, but I'm terribly afraid of how the 2 year work gap will look on my resume and how I would explain it during interviews. (Since I got the current job thru a temp agency, I managed to evade all those questions the first time.)

Should I lie and fudge the dates? Make up a job that falls between the missing years? I would rather respective employers paid attention to the the 3yr job I held first. Truthfully I didn't do much during the gap other than travel occasionally-- so no school, consulting, etc.

I've posed this question on job seeking boards and all I get is a sanctimonious reply about how I shouldn't have taken time off in the first place unless I had a good reason (illness, childbirth, whatever.)

But has anyone here been in the same situation? How did you handle it? Or is it less of a problem in this economy (ie, with layoffs ppl are more forgiving of gaps in work history)?

― Jasmine U. (Jasmine U.), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 15:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Say you were in a band, and touring obligations prevented you from seeking other employment.

― Nicolars (Nicole), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 15:27 (twenty-two years ago)

jail time

― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 15:32 (twenty-two years ago)

say you were in a band. say you went travelling. say you did volunteering. say you did holiday work in south carolina. say you taught english abroad.

― charltonlido (gareth), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 15:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Say that no one would hire you because you were invisible for two years, and there's a lot of prejudice against invisible people.

― NA (Nick A.), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 15:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Ok, that's just silly.

― NA (Nick A.), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 15:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Ok, that's just silly.

I quite liked it. I think it makes my "I was in a mental home" excuse all the more plausible.

― Jasmine U. (Jasmine U.), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 15:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Jasmine, if you have worked since your missing two years then I don't think the gap will be too problematic. Working fairly continuously since then establishes that you are not a slacker, so no problem.

for the time itself - just say you were travelling and stuff. even if you were living at home for most of that time, try and make it sound as though you were travelling the whole time. people travel a lot these days, no problem, surely?

I wouldn't bother trying to invent a job for the missing time. Lies make things complicated while telling the truth (or an airbrushed version thereof) is easy.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 15:51 (twenty-two years ago)

So should I actually put it down in writing (touring/invisible/volunteering) or should I leave the gap on my resume as is and only explain if asked during the interview? Or might the work gap prevent me from even getting an interview?

― Jasmine U. (Jasmine U.), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 15:54 (twenty-two years ago)

"I was an invisible band in jail. On Mars. The man just wants to fuck with me."

(More seriously, i got a job after taking a year and a half off... employers like to pretend that shitty economies don't exist, which is the main reason people have these gaps in work, but if they see someone who they like, 2-year-gap or not, and you prove to them you are competent, they don't care and will certainly consider you. That said, it helps to fudge something about how you've been doing similar work on your own time and reserch while not technically employed.. and make sure you note that on your CV/resume)

― donut bitch (donut), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 15:55 (twenty-two years ago)

put it on the cv. employers want to see you succeeding, winning, leading, all that shit, all the time. often, it doesnt really matter what at. put it on there, if you leave it till interview, then they will come to assumptions of their own regarding the gap. dont let them assume, tell them, straight up

― charltonlido (gareth), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 16:03 (twenty-two years ago)

It will come up in the interview anyway so you should probably account for the time. Sad to say it probably will be difficult. My fiancee had a year not working and then a long time working part-time due to illness and she's finding it very hard to find new work at the level she's qualified for (and good at) now.

― Tom (Groke), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 16:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Argh. How weird. I just had to deal with this - I, too, had a 2-year gap in my resume. I was actually in a band, touring, recording albums etc. etc. during that time, but I didn't want to put that on my resume. I ended up saying that I "persued a career within the music industry" during that time.

I don't think that one gap is going to make a difference - multiple periodic gaps may be a problem. But honestly. One two-year gap? You could have had a baby. You could have gone to college. Say that you spent time as a "homemaker". Sanctimonious twits can go to hell - they'd have taken time off too if they'd had the economic means.

I don't know. I put the gap on my resume and explained what I was doing because I actually had some freelance experience during that time that was job relevant. If I hadn't, I probably wouldn't have put it on my resume, and just said that I was a "homemaker". (Homewrecker, more likely, but who's counting?)

Use yer discretion, really, especially if you *have* been working steadily since the gap.

― kate (kate), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 09:33 (twenty-two years ago)

say you worked as part of a team for a dotcom/noo meeja company that went down the drain and have pretty much been wiped from existence, coveniently enough

― stevem (blueski), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 09:40 (twenty-two years ago)

can't you do it in a different format? instead of doing a chronological, do the kind where you bullet-point your skills and how they relate to the jobs you're applying for. i can't remember what that's called, but they're often suggested for recent graduates that have no work experience at all...

plus, when you get to interview, if it comes up, maybe try to have a list of things that you did in your time off. it doesn't necessarily matter that it was paid employment. not explaining this very well, but basically think of what you learned and gained from your travels. list them out. did you do any projects while living at home? better if you can avoid telling lies, especially since you can probably come up with a paragraph of stuff that you did during that time that will sound OK to an employer.

― colette (a2lette), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 09:52 (twenty-two years ago)

I have huge gaps in my CV because I like to give up work and travel once I have saved up enough. Whenever I get asked about the gaps by employers, I enthuse about the great time I had. Then I tell them it's out of my system and I am ready to settle down. They go for it every time and are generally jealous. Then I leave after about 18 months. It's only work after all.

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 10:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Just say the truth: tell them that you were undergoing a career re-evaluation at the time and that you spent most of that time being a productive temp worker while preparing to re-enter the permanent-job workforce. I should hardly think that to be questionable.

― Girolamo Savonarola, Wednesday, 8 October 2003 13:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Just say that there was a really engaging plotline on Days and that to have done anything but fret over whether Brett had actually returned from the dead or was merely his evil twin trying to wrest control of Bayview from his cruel but sexy stepmother would have been too taxing for someone whose diet at that time consisted of nothing more than E-Z bake muffins.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 14:34 (twenty-two years ago)

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