Return to Work: Why Are Resume Gaps the New Normal?

A gap in a professional resume is usually noticeable for all the wrong reasons. Most people who have one seek help and advice on how to deal with it in order to remain a serious contender to hiring teams. An experienced professional returning to work after a hiatus means far less today than it used to. In many ways, the facts on the ground and the basic needs of business fill that gap for you.

We’ll look at why this is the case — and what you can do to help.

Job Seekers and the Evolution of the Resume

Employers across industries are concerned about The Great Resignation, while you are concerned about the gap in your resume. And with good reason. Even before the world experienced the seismic shifts of the last two years, the term “job-hopping” had been coined.

Many theories exist about how job-hopping became a phenomenon, with many blaming the main practitioners, millennials, for being spoiled, entitled, and selfish.

Let’s take another look.

In days gone by, employers wanted excellence—to varying degrees—but started to demand “flexibility”. At first, flexibility seemed like an innocuous request—a safeguard against people who lack team spirit; the “that’s not my job!” mentality. ” type—but it evolved over time into a safeguard against a lack of organization or a lack of sufficient employees, trapping focused expertise.

Unfortunately, this frequently resulted in an environment in which no one knew who was supposed to do what—aside from whatever they were hired to do—at any given time, and where “private message” manipulation or “pulling-rank” flourished.

This, along with other poor practices, must have left younger workers feeling disengaged. And, since short-term jobs had become desirable in the eyes of employers looking for candidates with “multiple experiences,” why stay? They were well aware that they could “roll up their sleeves and pitch in” or “be scrappy! ” elsewhere—possibly in a company that provided more. Or was it more?

Who can blame them for thinking that way?

Resumes that were once rejected in favor of resumes showing fewer jobs over a longer period of time became desirable, then the norm. A candidate with only a couple of jobs on their resume over a long period of time would have raised eyebrows two years ago.

How do we know this seemingly dependable professional is adaptable?

It was too late by the time the costly issue of retention became too painful to ignore. Everyone had adapted. “Job satisfaction” had become a catchphrase for the always adaptable disengaged. And the more frequently team members left to be replaced by new people, the less chance anyone had of feeling at ease.

A vicious, implacable circle had formed.

Whether you agree or disagree, the fact remains that the only constant is change, for better or worse.

And things are starting to go your way.

The Great Resignation and the Evolution of the Resume

We’ve all experienced some kind of gap in the last two years as a result of the pandemic. It’s unimportant whether this has harmed our resumes by causing employment gaps. Nobody would be surprised or think it was a bad thing to see gaps during that time period.

Gaps have become the new normal.

If the gaps are further in the past, they are essentially meaningless. However, gaps/recent unemployment are more than just a perception based on societal upheaval. Even as you read this, that gap in your resume is being filled by data, cold facts, and hard realities, which are being adapted to by those who value the bottom line.

When the pandemic struck, job-hopping quickly turned into The Great Resignation. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, hiring is up across industries, with a net employment gain of 6.4 million from February last year to February this year. In contrast, the number of people quitting their jobs (rather than being laid off or fired) remained stable in February at 4.4 million.

Employee retention becomes a serious issue as a result of this.

And, with younger workers far more likely to leave their jobs, seasoned professionals are becoming increasingly popular. Words like loyal and dependable suddenly stand out more than the word flexible.

Consider this: Salaries among recruiters, adjusted for inflation, had risen 14% by the end of 2021, according to Revelio Labs. Human resource experts are even calling for recruiter roles to be elevated to “talent advisor” status so that they can say “No” without fear.

“Valued talent acquisition professionals must not be afraid to ask hiring managers to reconsider what they’re looking for.”

Jeremy Eskenazi, SHRM-SCP, managing principal, Riviera Advisors.

This means that there is a problem so large that even the most rigid organizational hierarchies must be reconsidered in order for experts on the ground to be heard rather than handed down orders. This is not done lightly, and those on the verge of becoming dinosaurs are likely to object.

It means something different to you. It indicates that people are looking for genuine answers. And those responses take the form of data:

“Adults under 30 are far more likely than older adults to have voluntarily left their job in the previous year: 37% of young adults say they did this, compared to 17% of those aged 30-49, 9% of those aged 50-64, and 5% of those 65 and older.”

2022, Pew Research Center.

Low pay was also mentioned, implying that young, cheap labor is no longer the easy answer, whereas seasoned professionals are.

The gap is closing because there is a larger gap to fill.

Resume gaps are common nowadays. This is due in part to the fact that many older, more experienced professionals were forced to retire during the pandemic. If the incentives are right, many will return. And, if companies intend to throw money at the problem, as is customary, directing it toward dependable, experienced experts makes sense, according to the data.

Another matter that is very important is whether or not you have kept up to date with your industry and/or specialty, brushed up on your tech skills, and so on.

Flexibility and the Evolution of Gaps

Employers are no longer demanding flexibility from their employees in order to address the retention issue. They’re now more concerned with providing it. Flexible working hours, flexible… what would you like to be flexible about?

“Would you like me to be flexible about that gap in your resume? Not a problem! ”

The solution to The Great Resignation is seasoned experts. Employers who forced gaps in resumes by forcing early retirements will be more than happy to ignore them once they realize how valuable those individuals are.

And they’re beginning to realize it.

Big Tech, on the other hand, is a significant—and bizarre—outlier. If you have that experience and specialty, read the linked article, brush up on your skills, and follow the advice below.

If not, don’t be arrogant. Remember how you’re supposed to be professional and dependable? Consider the following professional approach to dealing with this “issue”:

In a discussion:

• If you’ve worked since don’t bother mentioning it.
• Always be truthful and concise in your reasoning.
• Mention your personal studies, volunteer work, or other good things.
• Show that the end result was a strong desire to return to work.

In a resume, write:

Put everything into one optimistic, positive sentence:

• Stay-at-home parent energized to return to work for a family of four. 2013- 2022

Cover a travel period:

• I was fortunate to travel to 13 countries before returning to my career. 2017 – 2022

Handle any unwelcome employment gaps:

• After a period of personal exploration and growth, I am returning to work. 2018 – 2022

Or consider the pandemic:

• Due to pandemic-related issues, I voluntarily retired. 2020 – 2022

Overcome the chasm. Return to your work!