We get it. The resume advice you’ll often hear is to hide your career gap. That’s because of the unfortunate stigma still around about hiring people with breaks, especially those who put their careers on pause in order to provide care.
For returnship positions, though, the opposite is true! A gap is required and needs to be apparent on your resume. For these opportunities, there’s no need to justify your time away or to “hide” your career gap behind freelance and consulting titles. Companies create returnship programs specifically for individuals like you – experienced professionals who are coming back from a career break and have the skills, experience, and potential to contribute to a team.
How refreshing, right?
When applying for a returnship, our suggestion is to submit a modified version of your resume so you can state upfront that you’re a returner. Two options for doing so are to:
- Indicate in your summary statement that you took a career break; or
- Create a separate block in the experience section listing the dates of your career break and a brief explanation, such as “Career break to accommodate family caregiving.” You can even use this block to highlight any reskilling opportunities you’ve taken advantage of as preparation for your re-entry into the workforce.
Here’s a great example:
In addition to updating your resume, you’ll also want to update your LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn now offers a feature that allows you to add career breaks to the experience section of your profile – instructions are here. Our article Should You Call Out Your Career Break on LinkedIn? offers some pros and cons of doing so.
Take pride in your time off and remember all that you have to offer!
It is our mission at Path Forward’ to make career gaps the norm, so that all breaks to care for family, self, or others are not questioned but honored and celebrated.
For additional advice about updating your resume, view our Revamping Your Resume webinar.