Reply to: CV Gap Advice

[nomadd]

[B]...but what if it was for only 3 or 2 months? If it was only 3 months and I say 2009 (and then agent questions it), that sounds -- to me -- very close to lying. Thoughts?

Never been an issue for me. It was when I did quote "months" that agents and clients questioned it. And, TBH, if it was more than a year beforehand, I just claim I can't remember the exact dates but will dig them up if the client insists.

The only place where it does come up is if you have to have a security check. I've been through several of these, and I've always been honest about the dates on the form they send you. By then, though, you've already got the gig (and usually actually started it!) and the agent is only concerned about getting their commission, and the client is only concerned about getting/keeping your body on-site working. Any talk of gaps/dates is of no interest to anyone at that point. At least that's my experience.

[Wanderer]

I have heard this suggested before but have avoided doing so as my perception is recruiters/agents would reject my CV outright due to the 'un-usual' format. Has anyone done this before? How did you fare?

I've seen people put down something like "Greedo consultancy Limited, 1995 to 2010" and list all the companies they have consulted for during this time. This avoids having to list the month and year that you started/stopped working for a client and glosses over gaps. Probably works best if you've worked for the same clients on and off or you have done a lot of different contracts rather than worked on a permie-tractor contracts where you just had one client for a year or more.

Good luck and don't sweat it too much!

[theroyale]

Gaps: I had a 15-month break from work stretching from late 08 to early 10, 7 months of it was to travel, 8 months after that back in the uk and hunting for a job. I always used "Oh I've been off travelling", usually sounding like I'd love to talk about where I went to (rather than underplay the gap as if it was something to hide - advice I got on this forum). This worked most times. In my 8 months of looking I didn't often get the impression that my lack of success was due to my gap at all, more because agents were receiving 100s of CVs for every advertised role. As others have said, employers -- this has held in every interview I've had both success and failed -- never gave a damn about gaps. They're interested in Can this person fulfil the requirements of the role.

Contract Dates as Years: I've seen this suggestion on the forum before, but haven't yet made up my mind about using it - so if your contract occupied say 8 or 9 or 10 of 2009 then by all means put it down as just '2009', but what if it was for only 3 or 2 months? If it was only 3 months and I say 2009 (and then agent questions it), that sounds -- to me -- very close to lying. Thoughts?

[kandr]

Clippy is right kandr. Appreciate the General area of the forum is all about the wind-up but please keep this area of the site limited to sensible advice please.

OK I didn't realize this place was a joke free zone.

To answer the OP then, don't lie, be honest, chances are the longer the gap is the less chance you will get a contract, so eventually you will be unemployable, however at least you didn't lie.

[Ignis Fatuus]

Why is a "gap" a problem? This is making my flesh crawl, the idea that failure to keep working day in day out means you don't fit in this society, Citizen Smith. I have been contracting all these years mainly because I don't want somebody else's idea of a respectable career track to be my whole life.

And because in contracting what matters is whether you can do the job, not whether you fit some mould in other ways. If that is no longer true, that's just one more way in which agents have taken something they don't understand, and broken it.

[nomadd]

Thank you to (almost) everyone who replied - some very interesting viewpoints.

Would still welcome comments from anyone who has similar experience in these market conditions.

I have heard this suggested before but have avoided doing so as my perception is recruiters/agents would reject my CV outright due to the 'un-usual' format.

Has anyone done this before? How did you fare?

Well, I only put down the "nearest year" of contract start and end dates on my cv, which can do a pretty good job of hiding gaps (a hint I found on this very forum). I wouldn't do as a previous poster suggested and completely leave off dates, but I would only put down start and end years. Since I've been doing this - as I have gaps of 3, 6 and 12 months duration all over my cv - I've never had a single agent or client question it. Never.

TBH, the most important things a client looks at aren't gaps. It's simply:

1) Prior experience in the business the client runs.
2) Technical skills that the client wants (or managerial, if that's what you do.)
3) Ability to work at their location.
4) Positive, lively attitude in the interview.

The rest - including gaps - are very, very distant and minor issues in comparison, IMHO. ...At least that's what my 22 years "in the game" has shown me.

[Greedo]

Thank you to (almost) everyone who replied - some very interesting viewpoints.

Would still welcome comments from anyone who has similar experience in these market conditions.

Only thing I would suggest is keep dates off your cv.

Just quote durations of gigs and see if that at least gets the pimps biting.

I have heard this suggested before but have avoided doing so as my perception is recruiters/agents would reject my CV outright due to the 'un-usual' format.

Has anyone done this before? How did you fare?

[donzx6]

Only thing I would suggest is keep dates off your cv.

Just quote durations of gigs and see if that at least gets the pimps biting.

[RichardCranium]

I have a 3.5 year gap on my CV ... it was incredibly difficult and I felt like giving up many times, but I didn't ... I stuck it out ... did 18 months in a job I didn't enjoy but got me back into the market, now I'm back where I feel I should be.

[MarillionFan]

So it depends on the personal reasons to a certain extent on whether you should bend the truth or be upfront honest.

And I will be candid on my opinion.

Physical illnesses - absolutely. You can be candid
Deaths/Children etc - You can be candid.
Travelling. Brilliant - no problem at all
Fancied a break/couldn't get work - starts to give a different impression. so pad with I was training myself, course, started my own business which didnt work for example (don't do I didnt have confidence blah blah)
Mental illness - Tricky one that. Personally I wouldn't be admitting to that and would be using one of the first two. Don't be candid.
Prison. Know you're in a whole new ballgame.

So personally, narrow the gap, and then fill in with one of the above, avoiding the obvious.

[administrator]

Just make something up, they never check. Say you worked for MI6 but cant talk about it.

Jun 2009 - Sept 2010
CLASSIFIED

Clippy is right kandr. Appreciate the General area of the forum is all about the wind-up but please keep this area of the site limited to sensible advice please.

[Wanderer]

For my current role my boss said "well, you've had a gap but your skills in the past were fine" There is hope, even with a gap, it's just accepting that some agents will bin you.

I've got a few gaps on my CV, the biggest are 9 to 12 months. I think the main reason that some people can't accept it is that they are jealous, plain and simple. If people can't handle it then that's their loss, move on to the next interview.

[RichardCranium]

Tell the truth, and try and get on some free or cheap training / start doing some relevant voluntary work / work on professional development activities as these all help with the CV, networking, experience and confidence. Start filling your time with activities you can talk about and you'll be a far more attractive candidate, especially at interview.

Just make something up, they never check. Say you worked for MI6 but cant talk about it.

Jun 2009 - Sept 2010
CLASSIFIED

They can never find out if your lying, its classified, you cant talk about it, they can't find out about it. If they try you will have to kill them.

As for you, you clearly have no idea what you are talking about.

You are also a liar, and publicly promote lying amongst other contractors.

You are unprofessional and your lack of ethics brings shame on the rest of us.

I hope you spend the rest of your days in public-facing support roles.

Edit: I was pissed when I wrote that, BTW.

[SueEllen]

I've worked with contractors who have had a year and slightly more off to care for someone. They were honest about it and obviously got roles.

[Aman]

During the last recession and after several months on the bench I had to go back to the prodession I was in before going to uni after 13 years.
I offered no explanation.
After not using the skillset for that length of time, I had no problems at all in my transition back to my former line of work and was offered a permie role and promotion on my second day.

Agents often massively under-estimate the half-life of knowledge and skillsets.

Only about a dozen agents questioned why I had been out of work for a few months and were rather rude and abrasive about it. One was even dickish about my experience not being recent after a month. I thinks some of them set out to undermine candidate confidence to get them at a bargain basement rate, others are probably fresh out of uni gel haired widos and some I suspect aren't even aware how they come across to people or are on the spectrum. Best thing is to grey list them, if you are contract or jobunting in a tough market, you don't need folk like that undermining your confidence. The agencies they worked for are all, except one, dissolved now.

Ckients and employers in my experience are less bothered about 'gaps' than agents.

From experience in my other line of (mostly voluntary) work it's not a good idea to discuss serious health problems such as Cancer, even if in recovery. Employers willl rum a km when faced with candidates who have had mental health problems, including depression.

Rather than worry where you are a at use the marvellous opportunity bench time offers you to plan where you are going. You can get more professional development planning and CPD activities done when on the bench than in most workplaces.

Perhaps you can adjust your CV if you use one. If you've had great career progression early on in your career and it's evident recession, getting typecast into succession of tulipy roles or something else has thrown a spanner in the works then get the good stuff in first ... put it in the profile and consider a forward chronological CV. Anyone who tells you your CV must have employment history, recent experience first is talking tulip.

Clients aren't thick - they can read documents in a wide variety of formats.

If you tie up all your confidence, self esteem and self image into your work, then when work dries up your confidence is inevitably going to take a hit.