How To Explain Gaps In Employment

On some occasions employers may ask why you left a job or why there are significantly long periods of time between jobs.

BE RELAXED

The more relaxed you are with this question the better. When I was in the sales world we used to say the best rebuttal is a prebuttal.

AVOID LISTING SHORT TERM JOBS ON RESUME

First off try to leave shorter term job experiences out of your resume if they are not showing the best experience to push your resume forward. The exception would be seasonal work or short term internships.

No one needs to know about the job you hated and left in 2 months. It may not have been your fault, but it casts unnecessary doubt on your ability to function at the new job to a person who just met you.

KEEP THE EXPLANATION SHORT AND SWEET

Your explanation can be very short. Try to make it something that shows you left for growth reasons. You want it to feel like it was difficult to leave. That it was a shame you just had to go. Some examples include:

• I left my job at Magic Mountain after a year because I wanted to focus on school. I needed the best grades possible to transfer to the university I wanted.

• While doing ecommerce sales over the phone taught me a lot and my coworkers were amazing, I really missed being able to meet clients in person.

• Working at Walgreens was an incredible opportunity. It showed me I love learning and growing. After a while being a stocker I really had the job down. That’s not a bad thing, but I want a challenge and I want to learn more about other aspects of the industry.

• The position was a seasonal opportunity while the store was short staffed for the holidays. I had a blast but unfortunately they couldn’t hire me as a regular.

DO NOT SELF DISCLOSE BEING TERMINATED FROM A JOB IF THE PERSON INTERVIEWING YOU DOES NOT MENTION IT (Even if you had to disclose on your job application)

DO NOT tell an employer you were fired if they have not asked. The exception being if it was a mass layoff that people are aware of. This would include layoffs due to budget cuts or the pandemic. If you were fired, focus on some things that made you want to leave that indicated you wanted to grow more like the above.

IF POSSIBLE GET LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION ESPECIALLY FROM A JOB YOU WERE LAID OFF FROM 

A manager or co-worker can attest to your work ethic in a letter of recommendation. If a layoff was due to not meeting quota (and you were trying really hard), a mass cut in the department ect. try to immediately get letters of recommendation from anyone who is willing to give you one. This helps eliminate employer doubts about you.