According to a study done by LinkedIn, more than half of people across the globe have taken a career break. And yet 60% still feel there is a stigma attached to doing it. As someone who took a forced career break myself, I have to agree.
Despite the world being in the midst of a global pandemic the last few years, resume gaps are still seen by many hiring managers as a red flag and reason to reject a potential candidate. LinkedIn says that one in five hiring managers outright reject candidates with career gaps. On the flipside, just over half of employers would likely call a candidate back if they knew the context of the resume gap. As a result, LinkedIn has launched a new feature as of February 28th that allows LinkedIn members to add a career gap to their Experience section.
Let’s take a closer look.
According to the LinkedIn feature launch blog,
We’re introducing a new way to represent a career break in the Experience section of your LinkedIn Profile, with options like caregiving and health and well-being. Although it may feel uncomfortable to bring up with potential employers, hirers actually want to know more about your career break: 51% say they are more likely to contact a candidate that provides context.
By adding a career break to your Profile, you can highlight how these life experiences can apply to prospective jobs. In many cases, it’s your off-your-resume experience that truly gets to the heart of your passions, gifts and strengths.
This feels like a step in the right direction, but I’m still on the fence about how it will be received by employers and recruiters. Some of the choices are voluntary and some are not.
For me, my career gap was not a choice. Because sales at my previous company were impacted by the COVID pandemic, they first furloughed me, then laid me off. During my career break I took courses to upskill my talents with classes in TikTok influencer management, Google Advertising and time management. I networked and updated my resume. I went back to doing consulting work for my small business Tai Freligh Consulting to keep my social media and marketing skills sharp.
This all helped me to explain the gap between my last job and what I am currently doing. It also helps me to explain to potential future employers why I am looking for work and why my unexpected break from work gave me time to reset and revitalize my career moving forward.
I am lucky in that I have the consulting work to help explain my gap, but for many job seekers, the new option on LinkedIn to add a Career Gap will go a long way towards helping explain to future employers why you are currently where you are.
Still on the fence about adding that career gap to your LinkedIn profile? They will be holding a special live event on March 11 to help the LinkedIn community address career breaks when looking to re-enter the workforce.
Hosted by LinkedIn Senior News Editor, Andrew Seaman and advice from career experts Audrey Daniels and Susan Davey, learn best practices on how to address career breaks with hirers, effectively represent them on your Profile and land your dream job. During the session, you can connect with others with similar experiences — a great way to start rebuilding your professional network. Learn more and sign up here.
So what do you think? Do you have the new Career Gap feature yet? If so, have you used it or are you still holding out? Drop your comments below on how you’re using or not using this new feature.
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