Addressing the Skeletons on Your Resume

As you glance over your resume, is there a section that make your stomach sink a little? You know, that thing in your work history you’re hoping the recruiter or hiring manager will just breeze past so you don’t have to address it?

Almost everyone has at least one not-so-great item on their resume, but it doesn’t have to be a nightmare for you as you’re job hunting. In this blog post, we’ll discuss some common “skeletons” that might be on your resume and how to address them in a way that doesn’t frighten a potential employer away.

Employment Gaps

Gaps in your employment history aren’t as big of a deal today as they used to be. If you have gaps that are less than a year due to being laid off from a job, family issues, or health reasons, consider switching your resume to list the years you were employed rather than listing the month and the year. Often, this small change is enough to eliminate the issue altogether.

If your periods of unemployment lasted longer than a year, consider any relevant activities that you took on during that time, for instance, continuing education classes, volunteer work, or community involvement. List these activities in the work history section; a sentence or two will suffice. Doing this will at least address the time period in question so the person reviewing your resume can move forward.

If you are unable to list anything relevant that happened during your gap in employment, it’s best to address it briefly in your cover letter. Keep things matter-of-fact and be sure to express how eager you are to get back into the workforce. If they want to know more, they will ask during the interview. 

Short Periods of Employment

This is something that is also less of an issue these days than it was in the past. Millennials, and more surprisingly, Gen Xers aren’t as interested in staying at the same company for their entire careers, and employers are being forced to adapt to this trend. However, if you feel that your job-hopping is going to hinder your chance for an interview, there are some things you can do to address it on your resume.

If you had multiple positions in the same company, you can list the jobs under a single header so it doesn’t look like a bunch of separate jobs. If you held a job for less than a year and it isn’t relevant to the position you’re applying for, you can actually just leave it off your work history. However, if you are asked to fill out a job application as part of the recruitment process, you will need to list it since a job application is considered a legal document.

Short periods of employment are certainly not ideal, but they’re not a deal breaker, either. Drawing too much attention to them on the resume or addressing them on the cover letter might actually create more of an issue than leaving it off altogether.

Lack of Experience or Education

The last scary skeleton that can haunt your resume is a shortage of experience or education. If the job you’re interested in requires a certain degree or years of formal experience that you don’t have, there are a few things you can do to accentuate the positive things you DO bring to the table on your resume. 

For example, do you have any volunteer experience, paid or unpaid internships, adjacent experience, or formal training that is relevant to the position? Think of other ways you can bring value to the company. In your cover letter, highlight relevant things you’ve done and any classes you’ve taken, even if you didn’t receive a degree.

Just remember, a hiring manager is sometimes willing to train a new employee who doesn’t quite have the skills if they show promise or will fit well into the company culture, so don’t let a lack of experience deter you from applying!

If you have skeletons on your resume, don’t worry. They’re more common than you think, and they don’t have to mean RIP for your job search.