How to Explain a Gap Year on Your Resume

How to Explain a Gap Year on Your ResumeHow to Explain a Gap Year on Your ResumeA gap year can take many forms A year in a kibbutz in Israel. Volunteering in Guatemala. Teaching English in Vietnam. Skiing on slopesacrosstheglobe. Caring for a sick parent post-college. This year can often be a world-opening, beneficial experience. While theyprimarilyoccur in the year preceding or following college, you may also choose to take a gap year between jobs. That can seem particularly appealing if you arelaid offwith generousseveranceor quit a high-stress job that doesnt feel like the right path forward. A gap year can be,asitsanthroponymimplies,a year long. When you end your gap year and seek to return to the workforce, you might find it challenging to figure out how to list this time on your resume. It wont necessarily fit into the experience and educationsections. And yet, you likely gained a lot of experience and knowledge during your time away from the workforce. Here is some key advice on how to approach mentioning your gapyearon your resume. Create a Non-Chronological Resume One option, of course, is to leave your gap year off your resume and diminish its visibility. There are manydifferent types of resumes, and while achronological one, which lists your most recent experience first, is most common, its not the only option. You can also create afunctional resume, which focuses on your skills and experience, rather than when you gained them. A functional resume might be particularly appealing if your gap year has a more recreational feel or if it happened because of personal family circumstances that youd prefer not to detail. With a functional resume, you can include any skills you picked up during your gap year while not listing how you spent the time outright. List Your Gap Year Under Experience If you worked, taught, or volunteered, this is a valuable experience. Why hide it? You can list this just like any other role in the experience section of your resume. Your gap year may also show that youre a leader, independent, or possess other qualities desired at many companies. As you write up a description of your gap year experience, take note of the job posting. Tailor yourpointsto emphasize the skills mentioned in the job description as well as the required tasks. (Heres advice on how tomatch your qualifications to a role.) Aim to usepowerful, action-oriented verbsandquantifyyour accomplishments and tasks as much as possible. Here are examples of how to list a gap year in your experience section ESL Teacher - September 2018-August 2019 Taught conversational English to adult learners in Tokyo, Japan.Developed curriculafor two levels of English speakers, basic and intermediateTaught 6 three-hour classes per weekBrainstormed and implemented program improvements during weekly meetings ExpandVolunteer at California Resettlement Nonprofit Organization - August 2018-December 2018 Worked to coordinate volunteer efforts in the wake of th e California wildfires.Assigned tasks and work rotations to 500 volunteersCoordinated with FEMA and other organizations to find shelter options for people displaced by wildfires ExpandIt can sometimes be helpful to include only the year (and not the month) when you worked or volunteered at jobs for short periods of time. Include Your Gap Year in a Breakout Section of Your Resume If your gap year time feels discordant with the rest of your resume - for instance, if you have a string of accountant jobs and then spent a year building access to clean water - you might want to set it off in a different section. You might call this section International Experience, Volunteer Experience, International Travel, or Additional Activities Experience. Do Highlight Gap Year Accomplishments Throughout Your Resume Most likely, you learned and grew a lot as a person during your gap year. And while some ofwhatyoulearnedmay not help in the business world (like the ability to find the cheape st hostel, say), other skills may be applicable. Add Skills to Your Resume Some skills you may have gained are speaking a foreign language,communication, planning and coordinating, and budgeting. Depending on how you spent your gap year, you may have other skills to add (or remove) from this list. You can include these skills in the write-up of your gap year experience as well as in theskills section of your resume. Use the Summary Section Think of this section as telling a (short) story about you - who you are, what youve accomplished, and what you want to work on next. In that framing, it makes logical sense that your gap year might be helpful to include. For instance, yoursummary sectionmay read World-traveler and experienced ESL teacher looking for a role teachingtheSpanish language to middle school students. Bottom line Go beyond thinking of your gap year as a fun break and consider what achievements and skills youve gainedalongwithhow they potentially apply to your next role. Then, include this insight on your resume.