Name: How to Explain Career Gap in Interview and Resume
Uploaded: 2025-06-18T17:43:52.000Z
Duration: 9 min 38 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Adverbs of frequency

I often get asked by clients, Linda, I've been looking for a job for the last few months or I've been looking for a job for the last year or longer.

Modal verbs - A2

How can I talk about my career gap that doesn't hurt my chances of landing the job offer and that will still make me look good in front of hiring managers?

Present continuous

Regardless of how long your career gap was or the exact reason for why you had to take a career gap, in this video, I'm gonna share you the exact strategy on what you need to focus on when it comes to talking about your career gaps in front of hiring managers.

For example, one of my standout and get hired clients, Sharon, was a new mom.

And on top of that, she was taking time off to pursue additional certifications to round out her registered dietician background.

But balancing her studies and having a baby meant that she was out of work for almost a year.

Regardless of this setback, from applying the strategy that you're gonna learn today, in this video, she was able to successfully land a job offer with one of the top rated universities as a registered dietician in their nursing department, all within a few months.

Now, another client of mine, Shui Yan, had to stay at home to care for an ill family member for three years, so a career gap of three years.

Despite this though, she was able to use this method and strategy that I'm gonna teach today and apply it to her job search and she was able to land a job offer as an internal auditor within Silicon Valley in just a few months.

Now, really quickly, if you've been looking for a job for the last few months, you've not been getting really any luck, you've not been hearing back or you've not been getting job offers, then I encourage you to sign up for my free masterclass, which the link is down in the description box down below, where you're gonna learn my four key steps on how to elevate your presence so that hiring managers can pick you as the number one choice.

The steps you're going to learn are going to be vital in getting you success in your job search, so make sure that you click on the link down below.

All right, so now let's get into the strategy.

What you're going to watch right now is a clip of a recording from a Live With Linda group coaching call that stems from my Stand Out and Get Hired group coaching program.

So essentially, you're getting a sneak peek as a behind-the-scenes insider's view as to how it works in my Stand Out and Get Hired program when someone asks me a question, when one of my clients asks me a question, I'm able to provide them direct answers live over these calls.

So take a watch and let me know what you think after it's done.

All right, so now let's move on to question number two.

Antonio says, what are the best things to say on the resume when justifying a career gap currently on break?

So from a recruiter's perspective, what are the justification they wanna hear?

How can I make a compelling statement to demonstrate what I do on my break?

Do we have a formula like those mentioned in the videos to follow in this section?

Where on the resume should we put the career break to best position the Stand Out strategy?

Okay, this is my personal opinion, Antonio.

I know that from what you've sent to me in the past, you've told me that you took this break in order to pursue your CPA exams, I believe, and that you believe that you could find another position easily because of your previous role, and that's great, and it just hasn't been happening.

So what I say is that for you, considering the fact that it's only been a few months, I know for you it might seem like a long amount of time, but three months, it's not that long, okay?

So you don't necessarily need to be filling that in and highlighting that on your resume that you haven't been employed for the last three months.

What you need to do instead is go back to the job that you did have previously and heavily, heavily emphasize that work on that piece, meaning the overarching statement.

Make sure that is as robust as it can be, and again, you learn that in Stand Out and Get Hired.

You learn the formula for what to include in that overarching statement within your professional experience, and then from there, you're also going to go through the formula for those secondary daily task bullet points, and you're gonna make sure that those are as compelling and robust as possible.

Now, I believe you've already done that based on your comment earlier that your resume, based on the strategy, already looks super compelling, which is fantastic.

That's what you wanna focus on is the role that you previously had.

Don't worry so much about the fact that you've been unemployed.

Now, if they ask you in the interview, you're going to twist it and make sure it's a positive thing and say that during this time, I have been actively looking for the next opportunity.

I've also been pursuing my CPA certification, and so that has kept me busy, but the reason why I'm interested in this opportunity is because from my experience, I have A, B, C skills or experiences or qualifications.

Essentially, you're looking for the keywords that this job specifically wants you to have.

You're going to incorporate that in this answer.

You're gonna say, I have A, B, C skills and experience as outlined for this position, and that is something that I know I can contribute and add value to in this position and on your team.

So I'm saying it in a very high-level way.

You're going to make sure that you speak the way that is natural to you, but the goal is that you're not focusing and highlighting and emphasizing the fact that you've been unemployed.

It's more about what do you have, what do you bring to the table that is going to be valuable for them?

Remember, when it comes to interviews, it's always about what is your value for them?

How can you contribute for them, contribute to them and their company, their organization?

Don't worry so much about your potential shortcomings.

It's really about where can I add value, and you wanna focus their attention on that.

You have to remember in interviews, you are the one that has full influence.

You are the one that has the full control because really what they're doing is they're sitting back and they're listening to every word that's coming out of your mouth, just like you are doing right now.

Everything that I'm saying, you're listening to intently, hopefully, and they're gonna do the same as long as you're able to structure your answers and responses in a way that what you're trying to do is you're kind of, I don't wanna use this word, but it's the one thing that really, you're essentially brainwashing them, okay?

You're influencing them, you're persuading them, you're convincing them that you are exactly the right fit for this position.

And so you need to come up with all the right, the full treasure chest of stories, examples, and key reasons why you're the right fit for them.

And you need to have conviction in what you say because that conviction turns into confident answers.

And that confidence is what then will translate to you getting the next round interview and hopefully the job offer, okay?

Anytime where you focus on your shortcomings and your insecurities and all of that, I'm not saying to suppress them.

If you have an issue, of course, you address it.

You ask, okay, I don't understand how to answer this question or I'm worried about this.

Again, the strategy is, how can I turn it into a way that I can talk about how I can contribute to them, how I can add value to them, even if it's a negative question?

So for example, I'm going off on a tangent here, but if you were, let's say, fired from your last job and they ask you that in the interview, most people are terrified of answering that question.

You, instead of focusing on all the negative things that happened, okay, that is the last thing you wanna do.

Actually, that is not a thing you wanna do at all.

You're gonna focus more on what you learned, what you gained from that experience, and that it just didn't, that you were at a point where you were ready to move on, and then you're going to talk about how you can add value to them, how you can contribute to them, what you're bringing to the table for the future, for this position, and what they can benefit from you.

Okay, so you're always trying to maneuver them in that positive direction.

So it really is a technique that you wanna get used to doing, but that's hopefully gonna answer your question.

Now, I really hope that helped, and I want you to remember one thing.

Hiring managers won't make a big deal out of your career gaps if you don't make a big deal out of them first.

Okay, so if you have been looking, once again, for a job for the last little while, the last few months, you've been going on interviews, but you've not been getting job offers, and you are wanting to elevate the way that you present and show up and communicate to hiring managers, then feel free to comment below the word elevate, and I will send you the link to my free masterclass where I'm gonna teach you the four key steps on how to elevate your presence so that hiring managers can pick you as the number one choice.

This is applicable to you no matter what job title, sector, or industry you're in.

As long as you are willing to learn a different approach as to how you present and communicate your value, this masterclass will help you.

So feel free to comment the word elevate, or you can just simply find the link down below in the description box.

If you did, please be sure to give it a thumbs up, subscribe, share it with your friends if you haven't already.

Thank you so much for watching, and I'll see you in the next video.