The following article is a guest post provided by cv.fr, who offers their professional analysis on How Should Employers Evaluate Employment Gaps in CVs.
Recruiters and hiring managers often find themselves with candidates who have gaps in their employment history on their resumes. Such gaps can be due to many life events, including additional education, career changes, caregiving, or unexpected situations like illness. Although gaps in employment can be a reason for worry initially, looking at them objectively and impartially can help recruiters identify skilled and versatile professionals who can provide a rich experience.
While candidates can focus on creating a CV explaining a gap in their employment and highlighting the skills they gained during the gap, employers need to focus on crafting effective hiring strategies that do not entertain assumptions. Continue reading if you are a recruiter and often wonder how you should evaluate employment gaps in CVs.
Understanding the Reasons Behind Employment Gaps
Employment gaps can occur for a multitude of valid reasons, and knowledge of them is key to equitable hiring practices. Some of the most frequent reasons include:
- Pursuing Further Education
Most professionals go on leave to gain more qualifications, improve their skills, or change careers. An education gap usually signifies a candidate’s dedication to self-improvement and professional development.
- Career Change or Self-Employment
Career breaks from switching industries or trying out entrepreneurship can happen. Candidates who have done this might have gained transferable skills like initiative, problem-solving, and flexibility.
- Parental Leave or Caregiving Responsibilities
Candidates who take career breaks to look after children, elderly parents, or other dependents tend to acquire useful soft skills like multitasking, patience, and crisis management—skills that can be applied in the workplace.
- Medical Breaks
Medical problems or recuperation phases may cause gaps in employment. One must evaluate the candidate on the basis of their overall qualification and not presume anything about their future work potential on the basis of prior medical breaks.
- Redundancy and Economic Factors
Layoff from work due to company shutdown, economic recession, or change of industry is outside the control of a candidate. Most people spend this time on career development, learning new skills, or doing freelance work.
Fair Strategies to Evaluate Employment Gaps
Instead of jumping to conclusions and making bad hiring decisions, hiring managers need to have a structured and unbiased way of assessing employment gaps.
This is how it should be done:
- Consider the Entire CV, Not Only the Gaps
A career break is only one aspect of a candidate’s work history. Consider the person’s overall career path, achievements, and how their experience relates to the position.
- Check Your Bias
The assumption that candidates with holes in their CVs are disloyal, unstable, and hard to retain is one of the most enduring biases. Recruiters and hiring managers must check their biases and ask themselves while screening resumes if they can see the person doing the job solely based on their experience and skills.
- Look at Transferable Skills Acquired During the Gap
Job gaps are not always reflective of unproductivity. Several applicants develop new skills from freelancing, volunteering, learning, or individual projects. Such skills — like leadership, project management, or technical skills—may be equally beneficial as those achieved in a normal work environment.
- Pose Constructive and Open-Ended Questions
During interviews, practice understanding more than questioning. Instead of saying, “Why does your CV have a gap?” say:
- “Tell me about what you were working on during this time and any experiences or skills you developed?”
- “How did you think time away from work would best equip you for this position?”
- “Did you have any freelance or professional development opportunities during this period?”
By asking questions in this way, recruiters enable the candidate to share valuable insights without becoming defensive.
- Accept Non-Linear Career Trajectories as Strengths
Non-traditional career streams are no longer the exception, and non-linear career paths most frequently result in well-rounded individuals. Candidates who have a diverse set of experiences can introduce novel viewpoints, flexibility, and bounce-back ability — all highly desirable skills in today’s work environment.
- Apply Skill-Based Assessments
In case a recruiter is in doubt about the competence of a candidate who has been on a career break, skill-based assessments could prove useful. Practical exercises, case studies, or project work assignments enable candidates to prove their capabilities first-hand.
- Steer Clear of Bias and Look to Potential
Unconscious bias may creep in when thinking about employment gaps. Hiring team bias awareness training and focusing on the potential of the candidate rather than just his/her past can lead to fairer and more diverse hiring decisions.
Conclusion: Make Career Gaps an Opportunity
Assessing gaps in employment should be conducted objectively and sensitively. Through an understanding of why career interruptions have occurred, a concentration on transferable skills, and a reflective interviewing approach, recruiters are able to make intelligent choices that are good for their companies as well as job candidates.
Employment gaps should not immediately rule out a candidate. Rather, hiring managers should look at them as a chance to identify professionals with distinct experiences and outlooks. With a level-headed and objective perspective, organizations can access a larger pool of talent and uncover exceptional candidates who could otherwise go unnoticed.
