How to address an employment gap in your resume

How to address an employment gap in your resumeHow to address an employment gap in your resumeYou made it to the interview, but you know theres aglaring employment gap on your resume. Heres how to talk about it the right way.Dont be sorry about your storyThis isnt a good idea.Kim Isaacs, Resume Writing Services Director and Resume Writer at Resume Power and former Monster Resume Expert, writes on the Monster site about why this is important to keep in mind.If youve been out of work because you raised a family, continued your education, cared for a sick family member, or recovered from an injury, be sure your tone is not apologetic. Theres nothing wrong with being out of work for whatever reason, and a negative attitude might affect your resumes quality, she writes.How to talk about taking time off to travelBe sure to focus on the right things.Sjoerd Gehring, the Global Head of Recruiting at Johnson Johnson, writes in The Muse about how to talk about a gap caused by you resigning to backpack around the world.The key with this one is to focus on how traveling contributed to your personal development, rather than how much fun you had schlepping around the world with nothing but a backpack and a smile. If you took on any paid or volunteer work during this time, concentrate your response on the additional personal and professional skills its given you, he writes.Dont badmouth a former workplaceThis is never a good idea.Bronwen Hann, President and Senior Partner at Argentus Supply Chain Recruiting, writes on LinkedIn that you need to keep it positive when talking about why you left your job before the gap.Explanations that scream I didnt like my previous employer dont look good. Hiring managers might just ask why you didnt wait to find a new job before quitting your old one, especially because its easier to find a new job when youre already working, she writes.Make sure youre super prepared to talk about your strengthsIf you dont, who will?Alison Doyle, a career exp ert, author and founder and CEO of CareerToolBelt.com, writes about this in The Balance.In all instances where you need to account for a gap, you should share as much concrete evidence of your success in the jobs prior to the gap and after you resumed employment. Itemize your accomplishments by referring to situations where you intervened, specific actions you took and the results you generated, she writes. Emphasize how your company benefited from your role. If possible, secure recommendations from supervisors to support the explanation you plan to give during the interview.

Informational Interview Thank-You Letter Example With Tips

Informational Interview Thank-You Letter Example With TipsInformational Interview Thank With TipsDid someone take the time to share information on his or her career with you? If youve just conducted an informational interview, its always a good idea to send a thank-you emaille message or note. Its important to extend the courtesy of thanking, in writing, everyone who helps you with your career or job search. Youll not only be showing you appreciate the time, but you will also be building a relationship which can help you as your career progresses. Send your thank-you letter (paper or email) within 48 hours of your informational interview. Review these examples of a hard copy letter and an email, then tailor them to fit your personal circumstances. Also, review tips for what to do after an informational interview so you can get the fruchtwein out of your experience. Informational Interview Thank Your NameYour AddressYour City, State Zip CodeYour Phone NumberYour EmailDateNameTitleOrga nizationAddressCity, State Zip CodeDear Mr./Ms. Last NameThank you for speaking with me today. Your insights were truly helpfuland have confirmed my decision to gain additional work experience in the field before applying to graduate school.I will regularly check the websites you suggested for job leads, and have already contacted the ABC professional association regarding membership.I will follow up in the near future to let you know about my progress. Thank you again for your assistance.Sincerely,Signature (hard copy letter)Your Name Expand Email Example Informational Interview Thank-You Letter When sending your thank you as an email message, put your name and thank you in the subject line of the message SubjectYour Name - Thank YouDear Mr./Ms. Last NameThank you for speaking with me today. Your insights were truly helpfuland have confirmed my decision to gain additional work experience in the field before applying to graduate school.I will regularly check the websites you sugg ested for job leads, and have already contacted the ABC professional association regarding membership.I will follow up in the near future to let you know about my progress. Thank you again for your assistance.Sincerely,Your NameYour Email AddressYour Phone Number Expand Follow-Up Thank-You Letters If your informational interview leads to a good job lead or a job offer, you should send a follow-up thank-you letter to the person who gave you the interview. This will keep your connection active and it gives them kudos for their knowledge about the industry. As you start a new job, you need contacts when you are ready to step up to the next phase of your career. You may even be in a position to do the hiring and ask your informational interview contact to recommend people to apply. How to Get the Most out of an Informational Interview After completing aninformational interview, its important to think over the experience and identify how you would like to move forward given what y ouve learned. Remember, the goal of the interview is to learn more about whether or not a particular company, job, or industry is a good fit for you. Setting aside time to reflect upon the interview will help you decide if it is acareer pathyou want to pursue. Reflect on the interview as soon after the interview as possible, when your impressions are still fresh. Consider writing down answers to some of these questions. Even if you only write down brief notes, writing may help you process your thoughts about the interview. Here are some questions to ask yourself when thinking about your takeaways from the interview. What are the most important new facts and understandings that you have acquired?Do you think you would be satisfied with the situation your contact described?Do you think you would be dissatisfied with the same thing(s) your contact described as dissatisfying?What is your reaction to the number of hours and type of schedule (set/flexible) described?What is your reaction to the stresses and anxieties of this occupation? Do you want to deal with them?What do you think of the culture of the occupation and company (the work environment, the relationships between employees, etc.)? Does it sound like an environment in which you would like to work? What do you need to do to make yourself a competitive candidate?Have you changed your opinion of the occupation as a result of your interview?What misconceptions did you correct?Did any other big red flags come up about the occupation?

10 Skills Every HR Manager Needs to Succeed at Work

10 Skills Every HR Manager Needs to Succeed at Work10 Skills Every HR Manager Needs to Succeed at WorkYou wanted a job in Human Resources because you like people. But, liking people is not enough. There are many skills every HR manager needs to become truly successful. Here are 10 of them- and not one of them is liking people (although that does help). 1. Math You were promised that you would not have to do math in HR thats why you chose it instead of accounting. Sorry While you dont need to do as much math as you do in accounting, a lot of compliance work requires a solid understanding of math and statistics. Youll need these skills to interpret affirmative action reports, create turnover reports, determine salaries, and speak intelligently with the geschftliches miteinander people who are very number focused. Measurements to confirm the viability of HR practices and programs are more vital than ever. 2. Compartmentalization Compartmentalization is a skill that allows you to put your work into one box and the rest of your life into another, and never the twain shall meet. You dont need to make the divide severe, but you do need to separate work and home life if you want to succeed in HR. Why? Because HR problems never, ever end. You will never have a day when you can say, Im finished. All the employees are happy. All policies and procedures comply. All managers have had proper training. And everyone is getting along beautifully. It will never happen. Youll need the ability to go home and not think about work or youll go crazy. 3. Compassion You dont have to like people, but you do have to show compassion. Employees expect you to listen to them and their problems. While youre not a therapist, you do have to act like one from time to time- at least long enough to talk the employee into calling yourEmployee Assistance Program (EAP) for real help. There are also legal reasons for why you need to behave compassionately- its often the law.Walgreens ended up paying $180,000 to settle a lawsuitfor firing an employee who ate a bag of potato chips without paying first. Why? Because the employee had diabetes and her blood sugar was dropping. If Walgreens had shown a bit of compassion, they could have figured out that the employee wasnt stealing and needed the food to keep functioning. This is a reasonable workplace accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act. 4. Legal Knowledge HR managers are not lawyers, nor do they need to be lawyers. However, a good understanding of basic employment law is critical to success. Like the compassion example above, HR managers are often faced with on the spot decisions that have legal consequences. When can you say no to a request and when do you need to engage in an interactive process, for instance. Or, when can you fire this person but not that person? A good HR manager also knows when shes out of her depth and when its time to call the employment law attorney. 5. Multi-tasking In some big companies, every HR person has one specific function such as training or compensation. But, in most companies, youre responsible for many things at the same time. You need to switch back and forth at a moments notice because you will deal with crises often. You have to be able to step away from the affirmative action report right now to help an employee who just got word that her mother was in a car accident and then come back to the report, 30 minutes later. 6. Understanding Health Insurance (and Other Benefits) One of the biggest parts of a compensation package is health insurance. HR is the face of that program for employees. Yes, the insurance company itself will happily help employees, but you need a solid understanding of how different plans work to help employees with their benefits. If youre a senior level HR manager, youll play a key role in choosing your companys plans. In that case, youll need more than a surface level understanding of how health care and ot her benefits work. 7. How to Recruit and Hire Recruiting and hiring involve far more than getting people in the door. Its also a public relations job. Why? Because every candidate will walk away from his application process with feelings about your company. If the recruiter is non-responsive, hell walk away with bad feelings, and even if he is the best fit for your job, he may not take the job because the recruiter was ineffective. Understanding where to find great candidates, and how to bring them on board is a critical HR skill. 8. Managing People As an HR manager, you may have no direct reports, but you need to understand how to manage people. Youll coach and act as a confidant for managers youll need to help them manage their people. In some HR roles, youll act as a de facto manager for many people, even if you arent the one who writes their annual performance appraisals. 9. Discretion HR managers arent required by law tokeep information confidential (although many e mployees think that they are). Youre not a lawyer, doctor, or priest, but youll deal with confidential information all day long. You need to know when to share and when to keep information confidential. For instance, if an employee comes to you with a health problem that is affecting her work, do you tell her manager? If you know that an employee is getting laid off next week, and she mentions in the line at the cafeteria that shes putting an offer down on a new house, what should you say? These are problems that come up frequently in HR. You need to know how to handle them. 10. How to Fire Firing is much more complicated than saying, Today is your last day. The goal in firing an employee is to have that person leave the company and move on with her life. A good HR manager understands the second half of that. A bad one only understands the first half. You need to know how to stay legally compliant, fair, and compassionate, but also think through the possible legal implications o f every action. You need to know what to say and how to say it, and how to support a manager through a termination. Learning each one of these skills requires their book. None of them are easy, and no one enters an HR job with the ability to do all of them well. But, to succeed in human resources, these are a few of the skills you need to work on and (hopefully) perfect. If you can do this, youll become a great HR manager- and isnt this what all HR people strive to achieve? Suzanne Lucas is a freelance journalist specializing in Human Resources. Suzannes work has been featured on notes publications including Forbes, CBS, geschftsleben Insider and Yahoo.