How to explain a gap in employment?.?

Question

I lost my job about a year ago through redundancy and have been fiding it hard to find another job because of lack of qualifications and experience. I am writing up a new cv now and im stuck for explanations for my the gap in employment, i want to be honest, but will this scare potential emploers off?.

Answer 1

You have to be honest about the redundancy.  There are any number of reasons why you were selected for redundancy and it won't go against you.  A good interviewer will spot a lie on a CV or in person so don't go there.  As someone else suggested, see if you can identify any skills you have learnt during that time.  

Have you considered doing temporary work?  This often leads to full time work, and if nothing else will give you some more experience on your CV and get you back out there!

Good Luck

Answer 2

Say you were busy learning new skills to get you ready for the job market.

Answer 3

1. its ok tu sae yu was laed off & impli the kumpanee laed off 1000's.

Even skrooj no almost evreewon get laed off thees daes.

& em hu dont keep job kauz av politiks, not from ability tu du NE-thang.

Answer 4

If it's redundancy then it's not exactly your fault...

But you could discuss life experience? Did you travel? Do you have kids - taken time off with them? Extra training?  

Answer 5

Well, you can say that you were laid off, and during that time, you were brushing up on your skill set.  You don't need to put that on your resume; you can wait until you have an interview.  Here's how it would go:

Interviewer: I see that you haven't been working this past year.

You: Yes. (Don't say anything more.)

Interviewer: Why is that?/Why did you leave your last job?

You: Well, my last employer did some restructuring, and my job was eliminated for budgetary reasons.  (Here's where you volunteer information.)  I've been looking for something that would be a good fit for my skill set, but in the meantime, I've also been working on my Excel spreadsheet/Access database/typing/other skills.  (If this is true:) I took a class on advanced PowerPoint.

Answer 6

Say that you turned your redundancy into a positive issue by taking time to gain some life experience and learning more about the world/your local community/whatever so that you could both feel fully satisfied before settling into a new job, and have learnt new skills that could give you the edge over other candidates such as [insert something relevant to you!]

Answer 7

you were made redundant

i was unemployed for a year and 1/2 when i got made redundant

its wasnt your falut so just say you were made redundant

explain it was a hard time for you to get used to it but now your ready to try again

only go into it if they ask you at interviews

just put on application forms redundancy

its shouldnt scare them off at all

i was told that it looked good as i had the confidence to get back into work as loadsa people get depressed lose confidence and go on the sick