Starting Again
The gap is a fact. How you carry it is what people notice.
People returning after a layoff or a break often spend more energy hiding a gap than it would take to explain it. This session works out each participant's explanation — on paper, on a profile and out loud — so that it takes twenty seconds and the conversation moves on to what they can do.
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An unexplained gap invites guesses. An explained one usually ends the topic.
A recruiter reading a resume with a missing year or three will wonder about it. Left blank, the wondering fills with the least generous explanation. Stated plainly, the same gap is ordinary: people are laid off, raise children, look after parents, recover from illness, move cities, and try things that do not work.
What hurts a candidate is rarely the gap itself. It is the long apology, the visible discomfort, or an invented project that collapses at the second question.
Not every employer is equally open, and this session does not pretend otherwise. The aim is to stop the explanation being the obstacle, so that what remains is the ordinary question of whether you fit the role.
Where the gap shows, and what to say
29 topics across 7 areas. Seven parts: the documents first, then the situations, then the follow-up.
On the ResumeShow it; do not disguise it.5
- A one-line entry for the break itself
- What you did in it that bears on the work, if anything
- Recent learning, listed with dates
- Dates that match what your documents say
- No invented consulting roles
A resume that hides a gap with formatting tends to be found out at the background check, which is a worse moment to explain it.
On LinkedInAnswer the question before anyone asks.4
LinkedIn lets you add a career break as its own entry, with a type such as caregiving, layoff or health and well-being. Use it if it suits you. It is a choice, not an obligation.
- The career break entry in the experience section
- A short, factual description
- A headline about the work you want next
- Recent activity that shows you are current
After a LayoffA business decision, not a performance verdict.4
- That the role was cut, in one sentence
- What you did afterwards
- What you are looking for now
- No commentary on the former employer
After CaregivingA child, a parent, a partner.4
- Who, in a phrase, if you choose to say
- That it was a decision, and you would make it again
- What has changed so that you can return
- What you kept up, if anything
You do not need to explain your care arrangements. If it comes up, saying they are in place is enough.
After a Health BreakSay as much as you choose, and no more.4
- 'I took time out for a health reason, and it is behind me' is a full answer
- No diagnosis is needed
- What you can do now
- Any adjustment you need, raised separately and later
When the Gap Is the SearchWhen finding the next role took longer than planned.4
- That the search took longer than expected
- What you did with the time
- What you changed in your approach
- Why this role, specifically
The Follow-Up QuestionWhere rehearsed answers break.4
Prepare the second answer as carefully as the first. The opening sentence is the easy part; the follow-up is where an evasive answer shows.
- 'What did you do during that time?'
- 'Why now?'
- 'Are you up to date?'
- 'How do we know you will stay?'
The shape of a good explanation
- What happened, in one sentence
- What came of it, in one sentence
- What is true now, in one sentence
- Then stop, and let them ask
What participants leave with
- A written resume entry for the gap
- A profile entry, if they want one
- A spoken answer, practised aloud
- Prepared answers to the likely follow-up questions
How the session runs
Someone who returned after a gap describes how they explained theirs and what they would say differently now. Where one is available, a recruiter or hiring manager explains what they are listening for when they ask. Participants then write their own explanation, say it aloud to a partner, and hear plainly how it landed. Most people need a few attempts before it stops sounding like an apology.
What your students leave with
- A one-sentence explanation of your own gap
- A resume layout that shows the gap honestly
- A profile entry that answers the question before it is asked
- An answer that holds up under a follow-up question
- A clear line on what is private and needs no explaining
- Practice saying it aloud until it stops sounding defensive
Scheduled sessions
Nothing scheduled yet
Sessions are arranged with a college once a date is agreed. Ask us and we will find the right person for it.
A student rather than a college? See what is coming up, or ask your placement team to host this.
Twenty seconds, said plainly, and then back to the work.
Tell us who your students are and what stage they are at. Sessions are free for participants.