Why do employers care about gaps on my resume?
Question:
Why do employers care about gaps on my resume?
Answer:
Hiring managers view chronic unemployment as indicative of poor performance, especially when there are multiple gaps in between jobs that have been held for short periods of time.
Explanation:
Understanding why employers care about gaps is the first step to tackling that particular challenge in your job search. Hiring is time consuming, expensive, and, frankly, a pain in the rear. Recruiters and HR personnel cost money and reviewing resumes diverts the attention of the hiring manager away from his or her typical job duties. This arduous process means companies want to minimize how often they have to hire, which in turn means they want to hire people who will a) do the job well, and b) will continue in the position for as long as possible.
When an employer sees a gap in a resume, it can send up a red flag. But jobseekers worry more about gaps than they often need to. A short, single gap you had three years ago probably won’t even register to a hiring manager. Almost everybody either gets laid off or takes a bit of time off at some point in their career. Longer gaps during periods of well-known high unemployment (such as the Great Recession or most of 2020) are also not likely to be of much concern. These gaps are self-explanatory and likely don’t say anything about the candidate themselves.
What employers will look twice at is chronic unemployment. Being frequently unemployed can be indicative of either an inability or unwillingness to hold down a job for long periods of time. Prospective employers worry that the jobseeker has either had poor performance issues resulting in recurring terminations or that the employee, for whatever reason, chooses not to remain in roles for very long. These concerns may rightly or wrongly apply to you, but it’s those that you’ll need to address in your resume, cover letter, and/or interview to help put the hiring manager at ease that if he or she makes an investment in you, you’ll stick around for a reasonable period of time.
