My resume 's got a Hole

Hole in the Resume

Recently we arranged a round of interviews for 3 candidates and it turned out that 2 out of the 3 guys fell short of client requirements due to gaps in their resume.

Some clients have a very clear and strict policy towards candidates who show gaps between their 12th and graduation degree.

This is one resume malady which troubles many candidates.

Especially so, if the gap is in your academics. Getting through the policy barrier becomes tough. Easier would be to forget that Company and move on to the next best. Very very rare would be the case where the candidate fell seriously ill and took gap in the 12th std. or during Graduation.

Mostly the reasons are more mundane – but difficult to reveal without raising eyebrows.

Now coming to the other more often occurring gaps of a few months to sometimes over a year. This is a very prevalent happening.

Some candidates opt to hide it in the resume and reveal it during interview, explaining the reason for the same. This is more or less acceptable because the interviewer will appreciate the effort to be
frank.

When the gaps in employment are only a few months it can be handled quite easily. Longer duration would need some proper packaging.

Infact best thing to do if you happen to fin yourself in a Gap is get enrolled in some course , job related preferably. At least you could say that you did your best to utilize the time and upgrade your skills. In-fact during the downturn – quite a few leading firms sent the people who were on bench to a sabbatical to do take up a post grad degree.
If they can do it , so can you. And your degree can be a good conversation starter.

So just in case you land yourself in a pretty longish Gap – a diploma or a degree can help you get back on track.

Whatever it is if you have a Gap/Hole in your resume – fairly acceptable ploy would be to
cover it with whatever skills available and discuss the details and the truth when meeting the recruiter or during the tele-call. Don’t let it stay there, hoping it wont be found out. Because , found out, it will be and then, you can see it all going down the drain.

The idea behind not revealing the hole in the resume is – well recruiters hate these holes in time lines.