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When you’re preparing a resume for a dream job in marketing, you want it to sell you in the best possible light. With this goal in mind, gaps in your employment history can provoke anxiety. How do you demonstrate your value and commitment to your field when so many hiring managers zoom in on the times you haven’t worked?

Here are several ways to address the employment gaps in your resume – and increase your chances of landing in the “must interview” pile:

  1. Use months, not days. If you were out of work for only a few months, list the month and year of your employment rather than the specific date. For instance, if you left one job on April 2, 2014 and started a new one on June 28, 2014, listing your first job’s end date as “April 2014” and your next job’s start date as “June 2014” helps shrink the gap and stays in line with the usual convention of listing only month and year on resumes. But don’t indulge the urge to limit all your jobs to employment years only – that’s a trick hiring managers easily spot.
  2. Include short-term and contract jobs. If you held a temporary or contract position between long-term jobs, don’t leave it off your resume! Note it was a “temporary position” to explain the short duration, and list the skills and accomplishments you achieved while you worked. Temporary work demonstrates your commitment to staying current in the job market and to learning new skills, which hiring managers appreciate.
  3. Include volunteer work. Any time you spent volunteering also makes a valuable gap-filling tool for your resume. Volunteer work demonstrates that you’re passionate about making a difference and that you’re willing to share your time, energy, and skills with others. Mine volunteer opportunities for skills and accomplishments just as you would any paid position.
  4. Play up the “soft skills” you learned. If you took a temp job, did volunteer work, or stayed home to raise children or care for an ailing family member, you used valuable “soft skills” even if the specific tasks aren’t related to your marketing career. Communication, time management, conflict resolution, and project organization skills all come into play in a wide variety of jobs, volunteer positions, and family and household tasks. Take a “managerial view” of your time, review your day to day tasks as if you’re an employee, and note which soft skills you strengthened.

At SMR Group Ltd, our recruiters specialize in connecting experienced marketing professionals to great companies in the pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device industries. Contact us today to learn more.


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