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Addressing resume gaps between AD service and 12 yr career

Veteran

April Durrant Oceanside, CA

Hello and thank you for reading,

Background:
I served AD from 1999 to 2005.

After separation I had a job from 2005 to 2006, then a different type of job at different company from 2006 to 2007 before landing a long-term career at a company in Jan 2008 (12 years) in a different field from the others. I have also worked in Organizational Development (I have a Master's in OD) roles during that time till the present.

My query:
I include my military service on my resume, but not the 2 jobs in between as they are not relevant to the positions I am currently applying for.

Note: I was also in Vocational Rehab between 2005 to 2007 trying to get into a nursing program applying multiple times (and waitlisted so I moved on).

Is there a best way to address what looks like a gap on my resume?

How would you best this discuss during an interview when asked?

Thank you for sharing your insights!

10 December 2021 11 replies Resumes & Cover Letters

Answers

Veteran

April Durrant Oceanside, CA

Hi Jennifer!

Thank you for your response to my post.

Removing the USAF experience from that particular area and describing it elsewhere is definitely something to consider. I really like the shift you described to addressing this experience within my professional summary and thoughts on taking a new look at adapting/building my resume.

Thank you again for sharing your insights and Happy New Year!
April

Hi April! Something else to consider is removing the USAF experience from your work experience section and addressing it in the Professional Summary. Doing so would shift the intent from highlighting the specific work experience in your USAF role to keeping the experience high level and discussing the character and soft skills gained during your service. In doing this, you will not demonstrate a gap. For example "United States Air Force Veteran with 12 years of customer service and sales experience. [Then go on to concisely include key focused skills/experience in 2-3 additional sentences]."

What type of position are you looking to land is really going to drive what you focus on in your resume. My recommendation is to focus on that first, then on developing your resume and how you tell your story. People have gaps and frequent job changes all the time these days and many of them are still excelling. Good luck to you!

Advisor

Jennifer Goodman Fayetteville, NC

Hi April! Something else to consider is removing the USAF experience from your work experience section and addressing it in the Professional Summary. Doing so would shift the intent from highlighting the specific work experience in your USAF role to keeping the experience high level and discussing the character and soft skills gained during your service. In doing this, you will not demonstrate a gap. For example "United States Air Force Veteran with 12 years of customer service and sales experience. [Then go on to concisely include key focused skills/experience in 2-3 additional sentences]."

What type of position are you looking to land is really going to drive what you focus on in your resume. My recommendation is to focus on that first, then on developing your resume and how you tell your story. People have gaps and frequent job changes all the time these days and many of them are still excelling. Good luck to you!

Veteran

April Durrant Oceanside, CA

Hi Frank & Jerry,

Thank you both very kindly for your recent responses to my question.

Frank-
I really appreciate seeing things from your perspective as a hiring manager, thoughts on the long tenure, your awareness of this bias and how you have approached it. Thank you for having that awareness and I agree with you in terms of the biased hiring practices and how certain more biased companies are likely not a great fit anyhow. They essentially eliminate themselves.
Happy to hear about the recent training related to making things more inclusive I hope that leads to some very important and positive enhancements.

Jerry-
Thank you for your insights related to the functional type fo resume, the resources and articles you shared for additional information. I plan to connect with Hire Heroes USA soon, I look forward to the insights they will provide.
Thank you for your service. It was my honor to serve.

Happy Holidays to you both and thank you again for sharing your time and insights,
April

Advisor

Jerry Welsh Middleville, MI

April,
I would reach out to Hire Heroes USA requesting some assistance on the resume side of the employment question. If you are searching for OD positions, you should try and network more in this arena. If you Google Jerry Welsh veteran, you will find my name at the top of that search. The reason I pop up is weekly posts and discussions on LinkedIn with transitioning service members and the private sector versus military experience. A resume is needed once you find a position to apply to, building a network will bring that opportunity quicker.
I would suggest you speak with Hire Heroes USA about the functional resume, while I am not a recruiter is does raise red flags with some recruiters as there are reasons you are not providing an historical resume. Get some advise. If people get to know you, communicate with you via groups and discussions, this will add to your credibility and they would be hiring a well known network participant versus a resume. I am including a couple of quick reads on career research and how to become networked. Thank you for your service. Happy Holidays God Bless https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/come-prepared-transition-process-gap-between-civilian-jerry-welsh/
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/when-more-right-jerry-welsh/

Advisor

Frank Peacock Woodstock, GA

As a hiring manager, if the candidate shows a position with long tenure, I am not concerned with gaps in a resume. I may ask about it during the interview. I would be curious about the professional development that they worked on during the gap. I have had many resumes that listed "Professional Mother" or "World's Best Dad" for a significant amount of years and the candidate will discuss their professional development during that time. Whether it was formal education, entrepreneurship, leadership in a society or club, or other activities relevant to professional development.

However, it's not all rainbows and butterflies. There are bad hiring managers that will bring bias into their decision-making process or don't understand transition difficulties or life-changing events. The places that are bringing bias into their decision are not the companies that you would want to work for anyways. Great companies give their hiring managers the training and tools that they need to remove any bias during the candidate selection process. In fact, this week, we had training at my company about navigating the hiring discussion on accommodations, so that we can make our company more inclusive for those that identify as having a disability or need accommodations.

Veteran

April Durrant Oceanside, CA

Hi David & Susan,

Thank you both for your replies and insights.

David-
That is a big relief to hear that this gap it is unimportant with this format so I stick will with functional moving forward. I appreciate the thoughts regarding the focus on the cover letter. Thank you for your service as well.

Susan-
In terms of the gap and any concerns would mostly be related to lack of commitment to one role/company but I concur and really resonate with your thoughts regarding the commitment to USAF and Delta would override those concerns.

In terms of the soft skills with the Flight Attendant role, you are on point and those skills and experience have been very valuable to the type of roles I am applying for. Unfortunately a few individuals have mentioned that some hiring managers/recruiters may have some bias/lack of understanding related this field in terms of what flight attendants actually do and the skills they need, which may impact me in terms of getting interviews.

Thank you both again very kindly with sharing your thoughts on this matter, this message process has been very helpful!

April M. Durrant

Advisor

Susan Tabor-Kleiman Bala Cynwyd, PA

Hi April.

To add to what's already been said, a couple of things stand out to me.

1. The gap is likely far more noticeable to you than to others, particularly if you have a functional resume.

2. If you're asked about it, what is the most truthful reason? Without any spin, why is there a gap? (Which by the way, is brief! I had a 10 year gap to be an at home mom). Often just being straightforward--without apology or lack of confidence--is the best way to go. If I understand your comment, it's because you thought you wanted to do X but it turns out that you didn't. Given that you committed over 6 years to the military and 12 years at Delta, I don't think that you'll appear as someone who has no direction or is aimless.

3. I encourage you to reflect on your soft skills as well. Twelve years as a flight attendant had the potential to tell me a lot of good things about you: flexible, problem solver, resourceful, quick thinker, and so much more.

Advisor

David Eastman Gresham, OR

Dear April. Thank you for your service. Regarding your work gap, it becomes apparent when you do an historical resume and simply becomes unimportant when you do a functional resume focusing on your experience in different areas and the expertise you can bring to the position you are applying for. In your cover letter focus on demonstrating your value to the company you hope to work for. I hope this is helpful. David Eastman, Life Science Marketing Consultant. U.S. Navy Veteran

Veteran

April Durrant Oceanside, CA

Hello Richard & Dr. Hank,

Thank you both for your insights related to my query.

-Richard,
Thank you for the links to additional information in terms of resumes and job search information. It is wonderful to see so many wonderful positions right now.

-Dr. Hank,
Thank you for the insights related to talent focused approach.
The question about the time period gap came up during a recent resume review from my mentor. As you mentioned the focus on talents was a good approach, so they had suggested I adapt my 2-page chronological version to a 2-page functional resume outlining my talents, however this leaves the employment section as follows:

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

Owner and Principal Consultant, Integrated Perspectives Co. Nov 2019 – Present
Onboard Services Leader, Consultant, Delta Air Lines Jan 2014 - Dec2019
Flight Attendant, Delta Air Lines Jan 2008 - Jul 2020
Emergency Medical Technician, Document Analyst, USAF Jul 1999 - Jun 2005

This version currently shows a visible time gap between USAF and Delta (2006 to 2007). I had two completely different roles at different companies during that time, and also attended school through the Vocational rehab program. I am curious on the best approach to what to add between the USAF and Delta as it was a time of post-separation transition.

The question I was asked during the review is, is there a blanket or generic post-transition period statement to add to the resume as I didn't stay in either of those roles for more than a year?
Other thoughts were: add both companies and roles or perhaps leave as is since both are over 14+years old and not relevant for roles I am applying to and answer to gap question during interview?

I would like to have a better understanding if one is way is most preferable from the standpoint of a hiring manager/recruiter and potential employer.

Thank you both again kindly for your quick responses to this question and helping me figure this out,
April M. Durrant

Advisor

Henry ("Dr. Hank") Stevens Fort Lauderdale, FL

I suggest a shift in your approach - from that of education and experience to that of your talents. As a well-seasoned H-R pro, a "good education" has always meant to me that someone CAN learn; and "relevant experience" means that there is a modicum of exposure to filling the vacancy that I would have. BUT, what I cherished is a talent profile that fits the demand of the job to be done.

Thus, I suggest shifting your focus from trying to fill a gap in your experiences to that of just how YOUR talent set fits the requirement for the position(s) you seek.

Talent trumps experience and education every time!

Dr. Hank

Advisor

Richard Byrne Hillsborough, NJ

I added some links to one of my webpages that might be useful
http://eehot.com/ee.html#resumes

What I would do would be to simply list the activity rather than treating it as a gap.

I did a job search using your location and keywords:

https://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=Human%20Resources%20Organizational%20Development&l=Oceanside%2C%20CA&vjk=f32f7b769d0aac6c

Yet another fruitful search:

https://www.usajobs.gov/Search/Results?l=Oceanside%2C%20California&k=Human%20Resources%20Organizational%20Development

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