Whether you’re part of the ‘great resignation cohort’ that saw thousands of UK employees quit their jobs during the pandemic, you took some time out of the workforce to raise your family or you went back to uni, gaps in employment can occur for a myriad of reasons – not to mention the fact they can contribute positively to your overall career.
But when you’re applying for a new job, a CV littered with unexplained gaps can immediately raise red flags for hiring managers and HR professionals, as well as applicant tracking system (ATS) software, which is fine-tuned to pick up on any irregularities.
So how can you get around a gap, and let your experience and skills catch their attention instead?
Be upfront
Rather than shy away from a career break, think about how you can seamlessly weave it into your CV. The bottom line? Honesty is the best policy. And with more and more employers conducting informal background checks via social media platforms, any inconsistencies will immediately become apparent.
For example, if you suffered burnout at your last job and needed to break away from your previous employer without any kind of backup plan, reframe time spent focussing on your own wellbeing as a ‘wellness sabbatical’.
Similarly, if you didn’t return to work as planned after your maternity leave ended or decided to take time out to focus on raising your children, ‘extended parental leave’ works.
Transfer window
For decades employers have valued hard skills like technical proficiency over soft skills like communication, teamwork and collaboration, problem solving and critical thinking. But the tides have turned and soft skills are now recognised as integral for career progression. According to a recent report by Deloitte soft skill-intensive jobs will account for two-thirds of all jobs by 2030.
The good news is that the workplace isn’t the only place to acquire soft skills, and often the school of life is a much better teacher than a professional mentor. With this in mind, don’t be shy about furnishing your career break entry on your CV with details about the soft skills you’ve learned along the way. Not only will this help future employers view your time out of the workforce in a more constructive light, it will allow them to see how adaptable you are.
Ready to put your new and improved CV to the test? The Fintech Times Job Board has hundreds of opportunities in companies that are actively hiring, like the three jobs below.
Mobile Product Tester, Starling Bank, Cardiff
Starling is open-minded when it comes to hiring and cares more about aptitude and attitude than specific experience or qualifications––good news for returners. Working as part of its product delivery teams, the Mobile Product Tester will perform both functional and non-functional testing of mobile applications, ensuring that they perform as expected. In this role, you’ll be expected to use your own initiative to test and validate features, functional controls and logic flows, as well as planning and executing regression testing. Applicants should have two-plus years’ of experience testing mobile applications, have experience automating E2E user journeys, Espresso and Kotlin. See the full job description here.
Director of Data Science, Business Banking, Monzo, London
As the Director of Data Science, Business Banking at Monzo, you’ll generate high quality insights that help shape the direction of the product. You’ll be a key leader in building a discipline of exceptional data scientists working on making Monzo world class at tackling data problems and will bring data leadership and rigour to its approach to product development. If you know what it takes to hire and retain top tier talent, have multiple years of experience in a leadership position in data science and you’re familiar with using a variety of data science tools and coding languages (Python and SQL), you should apply for this role.
Client Engagement Manager, eClerx, London
eClerx is looking for a talented Client Engagement Manager (CEM) who will be the senior point of contact for all aspects of the client’s relationship with eClerx. You will be responsible for partnering with clients who have functional responsibilities within and/or across operations, data, technology and change management to help them achieve their goals through developing solutions that best leverage eClerx’s products and services. You should have a strong understanding of capital markets, the ecosystem of businesses and departments participating in and servicing those markets, their underlying platforms and operating models, and the industry forces driving structural changes. Apply for this position here.
For more opportunities in fintech, banking and finance,
visit the Fintech Times Job Board today.
Image and article originally from thefintechtimes.com. Read the original article here.