Telephone Interview Questions
Master 30 telephone interview questions covering communication skills, etiquette, and customer interaction scenarios.
Question 16 of 30
You have a few gaps in your resume. Can you explain these?
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Example Answer
Community Answers
Rachelle Enns is an interview coach and job search expert. She works with candidates to perform their best in employment, medical, and post-secondary admission interviews.
"There were two times where I had a gap in my career. One gap was taking time off for personal reasons in between a great career pivot. The other, I took some time off to attend schooling for an administration certificate. The certificate greatly improved the quality of my work and my organizational skills."
Rachelle Enns is an interview coach and job search expert. She works with candidates to perform their best in employment, medical, and post-secondary admission interviews.
"I completely understand your interest in them. There is a gap between my college education as I left one University for another. Also, I took some time off when my mom was sick with leukemia. Thankfully, she is in remission. There is one other 6-month gap after I left my role at ABC company when I took the time to spend with my son when he was a newborn."
Rachelle Enns is an interview coach and job search expert. She works with candidates to perform their best in employment, medical, and post-secondary admission interviews.
"The gap in my resume was due to an apprenticeship with a professor while getting my associates in fashion merchandising. Technically I was still employed but very part-time during this time. The following semester was outstanding but in an unpaid untitled assistant role."
Rachelle Enns is an interview coach and job search expert. She works with candidates to perform their best in employment, medical, and post-secondary admission interviews.
"The only gap on my resume is the three months after college graduation when I traveled a bit but had a job lined up for my return. Additionally, you may see that there are seven months between the two companies I've worked for, but that was when I left my sales position and worked freelance marketing before being brought on as a full-time inbound marketing coordinator."
Rachelle Enns is an interview coach and job search expert. She works with candidates to perform their best in employment, medical, and post-secondary admission interviews.
"The gap in my resume was when my employer went bankrupt and my role dissolved with no notice. We were in a recession, and it was an incredible challenge to find employment. You will see that I ended up relocating to gain employment. It was certainly a trying year."
Rachelle Enns is an interview coach and job search expert. She works with candidates to perform their best in employment, medical, and post-secondary admission interviews.
"I started my career as a substitute teacher in a smaller city where opportunities were few and far between. To try to fill the gaps, I did work as a bartender; however, chose to leave that off of my resume to avoid confusion."
Christine Pasqueretta is a human resource and recruitment professional with experience creating, developing, implementing, leading, and measuring HR impact initiatives.
When responding to this question, make sure you answer honestly about your gaps of employment, whether your discrepancies are due to staying home with the kids, an illness, taking care of an ailing parent, or taking some time off to think about a career change.
Christine Pasqueretta is a human resource and recruitment professional with experience creating, developing, implementing, leading, and measuring HR impact initiatives.
"The first gap in my resume was from 2007 - 2008 when I took a year off after completing University, to travel. Even though I was not working, I learned so much about business and interpersonal communication during that year of travel. After being laid off in 2012, I was without work for six months. Those are the only two gaps in my resume."
Anonymous Answer
Yes, I do have one gap in my resume. I took a break in my career, after the birth of my second daughter, to spend time raising my young family. It was a decision that I am confident was the right thing to do for my family. After my children were all of elementary school age, then I went back to work, part-time at first, and then increasing to full time. The transition back to work was smooth, and I've been working full time in the city for over ten years now.
Rachelle's Feedback
Excellent! You did what was right for your family, and should be very proud. It's great that you mention how smooth your transition was, back into the workforce. Your answer is very confident and professional.
Anonymous Answer
The gap in my resume was the time after my master's degree. I wanted to explore different things before I decide on my career path. I was doing freelance work, and at the same time, I co-foundered a start-up which helped me to decide to get a business degree.
Rachelle's Feedback
It sounds as though you were very busy during this time! You give some specifics, and even more detail will be helpful for your interviewer. The less they have to glance at your resume during the interview, the better. I have provided an example below.
"The gap in my resume during (year) was after I completed my master's degree. I chose to explore different career options before deciding on my career path. During this time, I was doing freelance work (what type of jobs, for what type of companies). At the same time, I co-founded (name the start-up), which inspired my decision to return to school and complete my business degree."
Anonymous Answer
My first gap was 2014-2015 because I moved to the US with my spouse and I was waiting for my EAD (Employment Authorization Document) approval without which I could not work in the USA. When I received my EAD, I started looking for a job. My second gap was 2016-2021. The first two years I wanted to focus on my newborn child and I enjoyed the time I spend with my child then I wanted to pursue advanced studies therefore 2019-2021 completed MS in information system and recently graduated I had a great experience and opportunity to learn new technologies and prepare myself for work and now I am looking forward to going back to work.
Marcie's Feedback
You do a great job of explaining your employment gaps.
Anonymous Answer
I have this gap in my resume after completing my resume because I spend a year preparing for a master degree in electrical engineering, and after that, I realized that I'm not so interested in electrical engineering, and I did not want to waste another 4 years above the 5 years of university for preparing for a master degree, and I found that I really like anything related to coding, so I took another year to join a software diploma that helped me to learn how to code, and after that year I started my career as a PHP developer.
Cindy's Feedback
Good. It seems as though your "reset" has led you to your current career path and fits well with the requirements of this position.
Anonymous Answer
As the senior technical writer at my most recent company, I thrived for 12 years proposing new ideas and implementing process improvements until my department was consolidated in the parent company in Taiwan. Since then I have taken time to oversee the renovation of my residence and to finish writing a novel.
Cindy's Feedback
Good. That makes the gaps understandable.
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