Even though it is becoming increasingly more common for employers to see their way clear to hiring someone with periods of unemployment on their resume, this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t at least try to explain your circumstances. (After all, your resume is an advertisement for a product, and that product is Y-O-U! It only makes sense that an employer will want to know about all of its advantages and disadvantages.
A fatal mistake that candidates make after losing a job is to fail to do something to improve themselves during the time they aren’t actively working. (What kind of a message does it send to your future boss if he knows that you were just ‘hanging in there’ while looking for a new position.) Given a choice between a candidate who has spent his time productively and one who has not, it’s not too hard to guess which one the employer will want to hire!
It would be far better if you could say that you (a) took a class; (b) taught a class; (c) wrote the first 6 chapters of a novel; (d) learned Adobe Acrobat, (e) built a computer, (f) started a business, (g) volunteered at an Animal Shelter, (h) visited the Retirement Community, (i) raised money for the hospital, (j) served as a teacher’s aid for your local elementary school, (k) ran a political campaign... You get the idea...
Whatever activities you choose to engage in during your ‘down’ time, make sure that they are events that have increased your marketability or contributed to your knowledge base.
Include this information right at the top of page one of your resume—as it if was a regular position. That way, it will be readily visible and apparent to employers that you’re not trying to hide anything.
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