Throughout any career journey, it’s perfectly normal to have a few weeks, or even months, between jobs. But if those months turn into years, many employers see a longer career gap as a red flag. To help on both sides of the hiring equation, Top Applicant is taking a look at how employers and employees can bridge these gaps with grace and understanding.
Choose the section in our table of contents for you, or sign in to start shaking up the world of hiring!
| For Employers | For Employees |
| Mind What Matters First | Building Careers Beyond the Gap |
| Effectively Manage Experience Gaps | Rethink Your Resume |
| Key Considerations | Key Considerations |
| Humanize Your Hiring | Build Your Career Here |
For Employers
Top Applicant supports employers and employees alike, so we’ll begin by taking a look at how career gaps really affect a candidate’s aptitude for your business. Every role and the person you choose to fill it are unique, so a career gap can mean many different things for how the employee and role fit together.
To refresh your perspective on employment lapses before you dismiss a qualified candidate, our experts offer these insights.
Mind What Matters First
At the end of the day, productivity shouldn’t be measured simply by hours worked. So why do hiring managers get so stuck on how much employment history an applicant includes on their resume? Instead of only looking at how long a candidate has been working, we suggest taking a closer look at their work history and personality first!
Our contributing management experts look most often for these core values on a Top Applicant resume.
Honesty
Our seasoned managers can smell the wrong kind of B.S. a mile away when interviewing candidates! Over 40% of working Americans have experienced a career gap at some point in their lives, and that number only grows every year. Statistically speaking, that means almost half of the resumes you review will include a noticeable gap.
Before dismissing these candidates, we suggest reading through their cover letter for evidence of their experience, possible explanations for any gaps, and a clear, truthful tone throughout. If your role doesn’t require a cover letter and the candidate is competitively qualified for the job, look for tells in speech, body language, and carefully consider every response.
Personality
One of the most important things to consider when reviewing and interviewing candidates is that these are real people you’re talking to! That’s why our experts recommend prompts that allow a candidates personality to come through as well. We continue to evolve our platform for the highest quality personal and professional development. Here are a few questions to get the conversation started on the right foot!
- “What do you do to maintain or develop your skills, network, or grow in your personal life?”
- “Looking back at your career, what was the most significant challenge you faced, and how did you overcome it?”
- “How do stay connected with your professional field or industry outside of mandated work?
- “What insights or perspectives could you share that you think would be valuable for this role?”
To make the interview process easier and more efficient, Top Applicant offers innovative features that employers are using to ask these questions before meeting in person. This enhances the vetting process and makes finding Top Applicants faster than ever! More humane hiring practices help employers focus on what really matters for their business.
Outcomes
The tale of the tortoise and the hare can tell us a great deal about career trajectories. Everyone gets to different stages of their careers at different times. So, instead of solely focusing on the length of a candidate’s work history, our experts recommend analyzing the outcomes shared in an applicant’s resume, cover letter, or interview.
Learning how a candidate will work with a team should matter far more than how long they’ve been working.
Hire the Whole Person
With decades of combined experience, our contributors have hired and managed their fair share of employees with career gaps. At the root of every decision to move forward, making a wise investment of time and money is the prime objective.
For example, if a candidate has a flawless work history, but fewer qualifications than one who took a couple of years off to raise their child, our experts would rather move forward with the more qualified candidate.
We have built tools to understand an applicant’s personality and qualifications with every feature on Top Applicant. Employers on our site enjoy detailed, easy-to-read resumes and insight into personality traits, since every applicant adds unique flair to their profile.
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Key Considerations
There’s a lot more to consider when hiring someone beyond their work history. That’s why Top Applicant is here to help employers and candidates meet on common ground. As you consider hiring applicants with career gaps, these are the top 3 takeaways you can apply to your next interview process:
Experience > Time.
Put the person first in every hiring decision.
The right fit is always worth the investment.
Humanize Your Hiring
If you’re ready to stop sifting through stacks of resumes only to come up with papercuts, it’s time to revolutionize the way you’re hiring! Start your path to progress by signing up, creating your profile, and posting your jobs for free all in one place.
Building Careers Beyond the Gap
If you’re in the market for a new job after a long career gap, it can feel like an uphill battle to find the right job for you. But before settling for less than your career deserves, start your next chapter on the right foot with Top Applicant. Our platform was built on real-world insights from people who’ve had to overcome similar challenges.
As you build your professional profile, our tools are here to level up your presence like never before. Sign in to see for yourself, or keep reading to learn how to bridge that career gap!
Rethink Your Resume
Whether it’s been a month, year, or decade since your last job, the first step to finding your fit in a new role is refreshing your resume! Don’t worry, you don’t have to learn new formatting tricks and tips; Top Applicant’s free resume builder has you covered! Our modern template puts everything that matters to you on full display to potential employers.
When reviewing resumes, our hiring management experts exclusively look at 3 core traits to determine who’s right for the job.
Forthcoming Testimonials
What you say in your resume matters far more than how much you say or how many positions you list. When it comes to employment gaps, personal hurdles, and any other quality recruiters may find concerning, be open and honest. Seasoned managers can smell a lie a mile away.
So before trying to stretch the truth to bridge your career gaps, make your case under a solid foundation of truth and transparency.
Positive Attitude
No matter what you’ve been through, everyone deserves to love where they work and what they do! This is why it’s so important to maintain a positive attitude regardless of how much rejection or adversity you face. Everyone’s career journey is just as unique as they are. So as you answer pre-screening questions, respond to interview questions, and build your professional profile, we suggest looking on the bright side of things for a brighter future!
Dedicated Outlook
No employer likes to watch valuable talent walk out the door, but modern trends are pointing to more career jumps than ever before. To ensure you land the right job, our experts suggest weaving a vision of lasting progress into every question you answer in an interview. Candidates that display a dedication to the company they’re interviewing for have a much higher chance of getting hired than career builders solely focused on their own goals. The keys to success are in your hands, it just takes the right mindset to open that bridge over your career gap!
Key Considerations
We understand how overwhelming the job hunting process can be, that’s why we made Top Applicant! Our founder Chad Bruder faced his own uphill climbs to navigate his career, but through it all one piece of advice helped him overcome every hurdle.
“One’s past does not define their future…
The first half of our advice is a call to wake up and see a better future ahead, rather than the struggles you’ve had in the past. Whether it be a conviction, pregnancy, or other personal journey, a career gap should never hold you back from lasting career success!
… it serves as evidence of their personal journey.”
Your personal journey is just as unique as your career trajectory. So whether it’s your first, second, or final act, we urge you to see every role as a milestone in your life’s journey. With the right mindset, and the best tools, you can build a brighter tomorrow for your career!
Build Your Future Here
If you’re ready to put your professional profile into overdrive, there’s only one platform dedicated to keeping the human element in hiring! With advanced features like free resumes, portfolios, and in-depth culture indexing, your future is bright as the next Top Applicant.
Build your free profile and find work that works for you by signing in!
