Resume Creating & Updates

@KristenHR Sure thing! Job hunting can get tricky when there are gaps in your work history or when you're fresh out of school. Here are some tips:

Oh wow, this post came just in time.

I've been working on Cover Letter and Resumé myself the past few weeks too. I've gone to the library for about a week to take notes on how to write a Cover Letter and Resumé.

For the Cover Letter, if you don't have the work experience because you're a new graduate or changing careers, tailor the Cover Letter and focus on the Transferable Skills that you can bring to the company you're applying to. You can identify problems or improvements you feel the company may have or need, and use your own experience and skills to have a solution. Basically, the focus of the Cover Letter is on the needs of the company, the requirements they listed on the job posting. Then, based on your skills and experience, write your Cover Letter in a way that shows you qualify as a candidate, and how you can achieve above and beyond what they require.

As for the Resumé, if you don't have the work experience, or it's in a completely different industry. You can list the skills you've developed in your current job, and word it in a way that compliments the needs of the job you're applying to.

The main focus is to highlight all your strengths in the Cover Letter, based on their requirements, how you're able to deliver it. The Cover Letter should be written in a way that summarizes your Resumé or if you have great achievements in the Resumé, your Cover Letter needs to make the reader want to go with looking at your Resumé after reading the Cover Letter.

A lot of the times, we don't have experience in the job we're applying to. Whether that be our first job or that's it's a career change in a completely different industry. There's always a first in everything. That can also be in regards to our work. So, the way to write the Cover Letter is tailoring it.

Looks like everyone has really good advice!

Here are my answers:

How can you create or update your resume when you have fairly large gaps of time without employment?

During that time, I typically try to do side gigs (ex. Driving), Freelance, or I will volunteer until I find a job.

What things can you put on your resume to help you stand out when your resume doesn't seem to be very strong for either being new to the employment field or gaps of employment?

If I don't have experience in that field, I hone in on transferable skills I have, or I focus on a cover letter explaining how the skills relate to the job position.

What has been your biggest challenges and successes in creating or updating your resumes with these situations?

The biggest challenge so far is that instead of having too many gaps, I have too many job hops... I explain away by letting them know those are temporary contracts. I did have to leave some due to son's illness and the company not being understanding, but I do not mention that... As for how I put it in my resume, I work for one temp agency, and instead of separating each job assignment, I combine them into one, so it doesn't look like too many job hops.

These are all great answers.  I think the only other thing I can add is that if you don't have a lot of experience in the field, make sure you let them know you are trainable.  Specify in your resume and cover letter that you are a quick learner who is willing to step up and learn.  List any courses, professional development, or other continuing education, even if it doesn't directly relate to the position because it shows that you started and completed a specific learning task and shows the potential employer that you are capable of learning and training for a position you may not have any experience in.  

First of all I want to say I love you reaching out with resources on this topic to help people be successful. I am the same way and I hope they use those resources.

But I also wanted to ask a philisophical question about this. What gives HR people the moral authority to judge and reject people for positions based on gaps? Why is it their business? The assumption here is that the only acceptable state is you should be working yourself to death at all times no matter what and never ever be jobless as though that is a sin or a crime. It is offensive to scrutinize gaps in a judgmental way as though you own this person and they have to account to you for every single week and month of their adult life just because your org MAY have a job opening. There are any number of good reasons people could have work gaps and I am sick and tired of HR people playing judge or jury with that.

I will never forget this one interview I had with this one witch of a prospective manager who took out a red fountain pen and marked up my resume as far as how many months were between each job I had and then totalled it up saying "Well! I count a total of 4 months over the last 12 years you weren't working. WHY is THAT?!"

I promptly thanked her for helping me realize the position wasnt a fit for me and walked out ignoring the rest of what she said. It was literally like interviewing with Joan Crawford or Bette Davis on their worst day.

No most HR people arent that bad but some are. I just bring this up for dialogue because after 30 years of job hunting I am tired of HR people doing 95% of their work to screen people out and 5% to hire them. They hold our lives hostage based on how they look on paper and what others say or said about us in the past. They communicate very little with applicants and also now often engage in gaslighting: posting and interviewing for positions they never intend to hire anyone but a preselected internal employee for. Thats a huge waste of many applicants time.

Generally I find the whole setup of applying for jobs intimidating, discouraging, one-sided, unaccountable and misleading. Yes we all are subject to it and we help each other try to be successful but I dont like how all this behavior is normalized and accepted and never changes. Thanks.