How To Get Hired Despite Employment Gap | Resume Gap (from former CEO)

00:11:43
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFI0aXf5Kho

Summary

TLDRIn this Q&A video, the expert discusses strategies for addressing employment gaps on resumes, particularly for individuals like Sue, who has a three-year gap due to health issues. The expert emphasizes the importance of presenting any relevant experiences during the gap, such as training, volunteering, or personal responsibilities. Additionally, the video introduces the concept of the hidden job market, which can help candidates bypass traditional recruitment challenges by connecting directly with hiring managers. The expert provides actionable advice and encourages viewers to take proactive steps to enhance their employability.

Takeaways

  • πŸ“ Highlight any training or volunteering during your gap.
  • 🀝 Consider personal responsibilities as valid reasons for a gap.
  • πŸ” Explore the hidden job market for job opportunities.
  • πŸ“š Take online courses to enhance your skills.
  • πŸ’¬ Be honest about your situation in interviews.
  • 🚫 Avoid mentioning medical history unless necessary.
  • πŸ“ˆ Focus on your qualifications and skills.
  • πŸ‘₯ Network with hiring managers directly.
  • πŸ“… Address the gap in your resume proactively.
  • πŸ’‘ Understand that employment gaps are common.

Timeline

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    The speaker addresses a common concern regarding employment gaps in resumes, particularly focusing on a question from a viewer named Sue. Sue has a three-year gap due to health issues and is unsure how to present this on her resume. The speaker explains that recruiters often view unexplained gaps as red flags, leading to potential disqualification from job opportunities. To mitigate this, candidates should demonstrate any professional experience during the gap, such as training, volunteering, or consulting, to alleviate recruiters' concerns.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:11:43

    If candidates lack professional experience during their gap, the speaker suggests taking online courses related to their desired job field to show proactive engagement. Additionally, candidates can justify their gaps by mentioning personal reasons, like caring for a family member. The speaker also introduces the concept of the hidden job market, emphasizing that many jobs are filled without going through recruiters, which can help candidates bypass concerns related to employment gaps. Overall, the speaker encourages candidates to explore these options to improve their job prospects.

Mind Map

Video Q&A

  • What should I put on my resume for a work gap?

    You can mention any training, volunteering, or personal responsibilities during the gap to justify it.

  • How can I explain my employment gap in an interview?

    Be honest about your situation and focus on what you've learned or done during that time.

  • What is the hidden job market?

    The hidden job market refers to job openings that are not advertised publicly, often filled through networking.

  • How can I find jobs in the hidden job market?

    Reach out to hiring managers directly through social media or professional networks.

  • What if I haven't done anything during my gap?

    Consider taking online courses or training related to your desired job to show you're proactive.

  • What does it mean when a recruiter says I'm not a good fit?

    It's often a polite way of saying you were not selected for the position without providing specific reasons.

  • Should I mention my medical history on my resume?

    It's generally best to focus on your skills and qualifications rather than personal medical history.

  • How can I make my resume stand out despite a gap?

    Highlight any relevant skills, training, or experiences that demonstrate your qualifications.

  • Is it common to have employment gaps?

    Yes, many people experience gaps in their employment for various reasons.

  • What types of training should I consider during a gap?

    Look for online courses or certifications related to your field of interest.

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  • 00:00:00
    hey everybody welcome to q a i am the
  • 00:00:02
    company's expert
  • 00:00:03
    and today we're going to talk about how
  • 00:00:06
    to get hired
  • 00:00:07
    despite having a resume gap or an
  • 00:00:10
    employment gap
  • 00:00:11
    or basically just a gap in your work
  • 00:00:13
    history
  • 00:00:14
    okay um now today sue
  • 00:00:18
    has sent in a question and sue is asking
  • 00:00:22
    okay three years ago i was in hospital
  • 00:00:25
    for a couple of weeks
  • 00:00:26
    with six weeks off after six weeks the
  • 00:00:30
    doctor said i could go back to work
  • 00:00:32
    i went back to work for six months but
  • 00:00:35
    found it difficult
  • 00:00:36
    i was not ready to be working yet so i
  • 00:00:39
    quit
  • 00:00:40
    after being off for two years i am now
  • 00:00:42
    ready to go back to work
  • 00:00:44
    what do i put in my resume for the
  • 00:00:47
    reason i have not
  • 00:00:48
    worked for almost three years good
  • 00:00:51
    question sue
  • 00:00:53
    i have said unemployed semi-retired
  • 00:00:56
    and medical leave but i'm not getting
  • 00:00:59
    calls
  • 00:01:00
    one person called when i was using
  • 00:01:02
    medical leave
  • 00:01:04
    and she was more interested in my
  • 00:01:06
    hospital stay discussing my recovery
  • 00:01:09
    and when i was able to go back to work
  • 00:01:11
    rather than the job i was going after
  • 00:01:14
    then she said i was not a good fit ooh
  • 00:01:17
    for those of you who don't know when
  • 00:01:18
    they say you're not a good fit
  • 00:01:20
    that's code for we've eliminated you and
  • 00:01:23
    we're not going to tell you why for a
  • 00:01:25
    variety of reasons
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    so that's that's what that means if ever
  • 00:01:28
    you get told that
  • 00:01:29
    i'm sure most people do get told that
  • 00:01:32
    when they're doing a job search
  • 00:01:33
    okay uh one person called when i said
  • 00:01:37
    semi-retired and wondered why i was
  • 00:01:40
    looking for a full-time position
  • 00:01:42
    i did not get that either i'm at a loss
  • 00:01:46
    i'm qualified for what i'm looking for
  • 00:01:49
    my medical history has no effect on what
  • 00:01:51
    i'm looking for
  • 00:01:52
    i've decided to go for both part-time or
  • 00:01:55
    full-time
  • 00:01:56
    uh both both will work for me at this
  • 00:01:59
    time
  • 00:02:00
    can you give me some advice as to what i
  • 00:02:02
    should say in my resume
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    and how to answer the questions okay
  • 00:02:07
    thank you for sending that in sue that's
  • 00:02:09
    a great question
  • 00:02:11
    and uh this is kind of a relatively
  • 00:02:13
    common scenario too so
  • 00:02:15
    i think a lot of other people would be
  • 00:02:17
    interested in what you do here
  • 00:02:19
    okay now a couple of things okay
  • 00:02:22
    uh first of all a couple of concepts
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    recruiters
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    are risk averse okay recruiters by
  • 00:02:29
    training
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    are uh not in all honesty despite what
  • 00:02:32
    they say they're not really interested
  • 00:02:34
    in really searching for a great
  • 00:02:37
    candidate
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    instead what they're in the business of
  • 00:02:40
    is looking for red flags and eliminating
  • 00:02:42
    people
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    based on red flags uh because those
  • 00:02:47
    could be a concern
  • 00:02:48
    they could they make that candidate more
  • 00:02:51
    risky
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    okay now this definitely falls into that
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    category
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    okay uh if you have an unexplained work
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    gap
  • 00:02:59
    their first thought is okay maybe this
  • 00:03:02
    person hasn't been working
  • 00:03:04
    because there's something wrong with
  • 00:03:05
    them that uh you know
  • 00:03:07
    that i can't see and uh if nobody else
  • 00:03:10
    wants to hire them
  • 00:03:12
    maybe that's telling me that i shouldn't
  • 00:03:13
    hire them either okay
  • 00:03:16
    that's what they think okay they're
  • 00:03:17
    they're trained to think in this
  • 00:03:19
    risk-averse way and uh that's the first
  • 00:03:22
    thing you got to know about them second
  • 00:03:23
    thing
  • 00:03:24
    is that in all honesty not all but most
  • 00:03:27
    recruiters uh they are ill-equipped to
  • 00:03:30
    judge
  • 00:03:31
    who's a good candidate and who isn't so
  • 00:03:33
    they have to resort to criteria like
  • 00:03:34
    this
  • 00:03:35
    okay because they really don't know and
  • 00:03:38
    i can say this i've taught recruiters in
  • 00:03:40
    university
  • 00:03:41
    um now i've done a previous video
  • 00:03:45
    on resume gaps employment gaps having
  • 00:03:48
    gaps in your work history and how you
  • 00:03:50
    overcome those okay
  • 00:03:52
    um i'll post a link to that video uh
  • 00:03:55
    in the description and hopefully at the
  • 00:03:57
    end of this video too
  • 00:03:58
    but if you can't be bothered to watch it
  • 00:04:00
    the bottom line was that
  • 00:04:02
    if you have a workout okay and if it's
  • 00:04:05
    over one year
  • 00:04:06
    and it's right now it's it's between now
  • 00:04:10
    and the previous job you had okay you're
  • 00:04:12
    gonna have to show
  • 00:04:14
    some professional experience during that
  • 00:04:17
    workout
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    that's what recruiters are looking for
  • 00:04:20
    okay now by
  • 00:04:21
    professional experience what i mean is
  • 00:04:24
    you've got to show uh that you went back
  • 00:04:28
    to school
  • 00:04:29
    um you got a show maybe you took some
  • 00:04:30
    training uh
  • 00:04:32
    you could you could show that you did
  • 00:04:34
    volunteering
  • 00:04:35
    uh you could show that you did
  • 00:04:36
    consulting okay all of those
  • 00:04:40
    would likely justify the workout they
  • 00:04:42
    would help explain it away
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    and it would alleviate their concerns
  • 00:04:47
    that it's going to be a problem okay so
  • 00:04:49
    if you can say any of those things
  • 00:04:51
    great say it write it into your resume
  • 00:04:54
    and uh don't have like a gap
  • 00:04:56
    you address the gap and you say what you
  • 00:04:58
    did during that time
  • 00:05:00
    now if you can't say you've done
  • 00:05:03
    any of those four things okay you didn't
  • 00:05:06
    go back to school
  • 00:05:06
    you didn't take any training you didn't
  • 00:05:08
    volunteer and
  • 00:05:10
    uh you didn't um consult okay
  • 00:05:13
    if you if you can't say those what i
  • 00:05:15
    would recommend
  • 00:05:16
    is that you then you now
  • 00:05:19
    go and take some training okay online
  • 00:05:22
    just take some online courses
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    preferably in an area that's related to
  • 00:05:26
    the jobs you're going after
  • 00:05:28
    okay so that you can say hey you know i
  • 00:05:30
    haven't just done nothing the last
  • 00:05:32
    two years i've been taking some training
  • 00:05:34
    and i've been
  • 00:05:35
    taking training in this particular area
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    of this field
  • 00:05:39
    that i've discovered i'm quite
  • 00:05:41
    passionate about and i've learned a lot
  • 00:05:42
    about it
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    and i've also learned a bit about it
  • 00:05:44
    outside of the training too i've just
  • 00:05:46
    read up on it and um that's reinforced
  • 00:05:48
    my passion to work in this area
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    and i feel i have a lot more abilities
  • 00:05:52
    now that i can bring to it
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    so if you can say something like that
  • 00:05:56
    that would be really good so my
  • 00:05:57
    recommendation is to uh
  • 00:05:59
    like this is your first option to go and
  • 00:06:00
    take training now
  • 00:06:02
    and um and then be able to say that
  • 00:06:05
    stuff
  • 00:06:06
    okay so if they ask you about it that's
  • 00:06:08
    what you say
  • 00:06:09
    that's your first option okay there's
  • 00:06:11
    kind of three options i'm gonna lay on
  • 00:06:13
    you here
  • 00:06:14
    um the second option is if you're able
  • 00:06:17
    to say
  • 00:06:18
    uh you know when you justify your
  • 00:06:20
    workout if you're able to say that you
  • 00:06:22
    did something
  • 00:06:23
    personal okay for example caring for
  • 00:06:26
    a sick family member okay i was off work
  • 00:06:29
    because i was caring for a sick family
  • 00:06:31
    member
  • 00:06:32
    okay but now that's that's over and i'm
  • 00:06:34
    ready to come back to work
  • 00:06:36
    okay because it's a personal nature
  • 00:06:39
    they're probably not going to ask too
  • 00:06:41
    many more probing questions about it
  • 00:06:44
    and it does justify your work out okay
  • 00:06:46
    it alleviates concerns
  • 00:06:48
    uh the only concern they could have is
  • 00:06:50
    that if that were to happen again so you
  • 00:06:51
    say
  • 00:06:52
    it's over it's over now okay another
  • 00:06:55
    example of that would be saying you know
  • 00:06:56
    i
  • 00:06:57
    had to care for small children maybe
  • 00:06:59
    you're a new mom
  • 00:07:00
    or maybe some relative dump their kids
  • 00:07:04
    on you i i don't know
  • 00:07:05
    but something like that that would help
  • 00:07:07
    justify having a work gap okay so if you
  • 00:07:10
    can say those things
  • 00:07:11
    say them those are good answers that
  • 00:07:14
    alleviate recruiters concerns
  • 00:07:16
    about this stuff okay um that's your
  • 00:07:19
    second option
  • 00:07:21
    okay um now you have a third option
  • 00:07:24
    and in all honesty this is the one that
  • 00:07:26
    i would recommend
  • 00:07:27
    for a lot of people uh if you've if
  • 00:07:30
    you've
  • 00:07:30
    never done this or never learned
  • 00:07:32
    anything about this
  • 00:07:34
    and it's the hidden job market okay the
  • 00:07:36
    hidden job market
  • 00:07:38
    can bypass this entire issue okay
  • 00:07:42
    because if you get a job in the hidden
  • 00:07:44
    job market
  • 00:07:45
    the interaction is a little bit
  • 00:07:47
    different first of all you don't go
  • 00:07:50
    through a recruiter okay you're dealing
  • 00:07:51
    with a hiring manager
  • 00:07:52
    and secondly the nature of the
  • 00:07:54
    interaction is that they're
  • 00:07:56
    asking you to come in an interview for
  • 00:07:58
    the job so they tend to
  • 00:08:00
    believe more of what you say they're not
  • 00:08:02
    quite as skeptical
  • 00:08:04
    when you talk about stuff like this they
  • 00:08:06
    may not even bring it up a lot of times
  • 00:08:08
    um now the the caveat the problem
  • 00:08:12
    here is that a lot of people it seems
  • 00:08:14
    i'm judging from youtube comments
  • 00:08:16
    uh haven't heard of the hidden jaw
  • 00:08:17
    market and still other people
  • 00:08:19
    seem to think it's some kind of uh
  • 00:08:21
    conspiracy theory or something it's not
  • 00:08:23
    okay uh you don't have to take my word
  • 00:08:25
    for it um
  • 00:08:27
    go read up on it this is very real um
  • 00:08:30
    so if you've never heard of a hidden job
  • 00:08:33
    market you don't know how it works
  • 00:08:34
    okay i've done a video on it i will put
  • 00:08:37
    a link to the video
  • 00:08:38
    in the description and also at the end
  • 00:08:40
    of this video i'll put a link to it
  • 00:08:42
    uh i've done a i've got a playlist on
  • 00:08:45
    how to do specific things in the hidden
  • 00:08:47
    job market like how to find employers
  • 00:08:48
    around you and
  • 00:08:50
    apply for jobs and things and then if
  • 00:08:52
    you want to really go deep
  • 00:08:54
    i have a course that describes
  • 00:08:55
    everything how to do it
  • 00:08:57
    how it works so um
  • 00:09:01
    i would if you've never heard of this
  • 00:09:03
    you know
  • 00:09:04
    i would highly recommend that you learn
  • 00:09:07
    um
  • 00:09:07
    this will benefit your career for the
  • 00:09:09
    entire rest of your life if you know
  • 00:09:11
    about this
  • 00:09:12
    okay if i haven't said it already
  • 00:09:15
    70 plus of all jobs
  • 00:09:19
    that are out there are in the hidden job
  • 00:09:20
    market all the jobs you see
  • 00:09:22
    posted those are only around 20 of all
  • 00:09:25
    the jobs that are actually out there
  • 00:09:27
    okay and if you don't believe me don't
  • 00:09:29
    take my word for it
  • 00:09:30
    read up on it uh what i've noticed
  • 00:09:33
    though uh that i think is kind of
  • 00:09:34
    interesting
  • 00:09:35
    is that a lot of people who give career
  • 00:09:38
    advice
  • 00:09:39
    uh including some youtubers they
  • 00:09:42
    themselves
  • 00:09:43
    are recruiters so i imagine it's a bit
  • 00:09:46
    of a conflict
  • 00:09:47
    for a recruiter to tell you to bypass
  • 00:09:51
    recruiters
  • 00:09:52
    so maybe that's why this isn't talked
  • 00:09:56
    about more than it actually is
  • 00:09:58
    um but it's to your benefit to
  • 00:10:02
    to learn about it okay um don't
  • 00:10:05
    necessarily listen to me listen to a
  • 00:10:07
    variety of
  • 00:10:08
    sources on this okay it's very real um
  • 00:10:12
    so you go after the hiring manager okay
  • 00:10:15
    you think who would be
  • 00:10:16
    the boss you would like you find those
  • 00:10:19
    people
  • 00:10:20
    okay and you contact them through social
  • 00:10:22
    media
  • 00:10:23
    and you give a professional message you
  • 00:10:26
    say hey i'm here
  • 00:10:27
    and uh i have talents in this area and
  • 00:10:30
    i'm looking for something for a job in
  • 00:10:31
    that area
  • 00:10:32
    and if you ever need someone that can do
  • 00:10:34
    this let me know because i love to work
  • 00:10:36
    for you
  • 00:10:37
    and that's it you just you just send
  • 00:10:40
    that out
  • 00:10:41
    and uh you know statistical probability
  • 00:10:44
    is that you know that's gonna
  • 00:10:47
    land with someone who's looking to hire
  • 00:10:50
    somebody
  • 00:10:51
    that has what you have right at this
  • 00:10:53
    time
  • 00:10:54
    and um that's how that works and then
  • 00:10:56
    they contact you and they say yeah you
  • 00:10:58
    know i was gonna
  • 00:10:59
    i'm looking for somebody you should come
  • 00:11:01
    in and let's talk
  • 00:11:02
    that's how that works so uh so those are
  • 00:11:05
    three options to address this issue
  • 00:11:07
    and um you know definitely do option one
  • 00:11:11
    or two and then i'd highly recommend
  • 00:11:13
    also maybe on the side doing option
  • 00:11:16
    three
  • 00:11:16
    so hopefully that makes sense thank you
  • 00:11:18
    very much for your attention don't
  • 00:11:19
    forget to subscribe
  • 00:11:20
    and join my channel because i have a i i
  • 00:11:23
    have uh members only videos i got one
  • 00:11:25
    video coming out
  • 00:11:26
    on friday so check that out and uh
  • 00:11:29
    each and every one of you is awesome i
  • 00:11:31
    say that a lot but i mean it
  • 00:11:33
    and uh if you really put the work in
  • 00:11:37
    it's gonna pay off thank you very much
  • 00:11:39
    and i'll see you on the next video
  • 00:11:41
    take care
Tags
  • employment gap
  • resume tips
  • hidden job market
  • job search
  • career advice
  • recruitment
  • professional experience
  • training
  • volunteering
  • interview tips