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How do I respond to questions about gaps in my resume?

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What are some good questions to ask if I have the time?

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What research should I do before a job interview?

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What should I say when I'm asked to summarize my job experience?

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View more ...

Karen Chopra

Licensed Professional Counselor

www.ChopraCareers.com  

Karen James Chopra, LPC, MCC, NCC, has been counseling career clients since 1999 and has helped hundreds of clients change careers, find new jobs and deal more effectively with workplace challenges.

In addition to her private practice, she has worked for two national corporate outplacement firms: Lee Hecht Harrison and Resource Careers. These are the organizations that help people who have experienced a layoff or downsizing to find new jobs, and their programs are usually considered the gold-standard of job search technique.

Ms Chopra is a regular presenter on career issues, having taught career theory at the graduate level, designed and delivered numerous workshops, and served as a regular guest commentator on WMAL’s career radio show “Your Career Life.”

She is a career-changer herself. Before entering the counseling field, she worked for nearly a decade as a trade negotiator for the United States Government, first at the Department of Commerce and then at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

Ms. Chopra holds a number of relevant licenses and certifications: licensed professional counselor (LPC) in the District of Columbia; Master Career Counselor (MCC), a designation of the National Career Development Association (NCDA); and National Certified Counselor (NCC), a designation of the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC).  She belongs to all of the relevant national and local associations involved in career counseling, including the American Counseling Association (ACA),  the National Employment Counselors Association (NECA), the National Career Development Association (NCDA) and the Washington Metropolitan Area Career-Life Planning Network (MAC-LPN).

Her B.A. is from the University of Virginia, and she received a masters of science in foreign service from Georgetown University, and a masters in community counseling from George Washington University.

How do I respond to questions about gaps in my resume?

Host: How do I respond to questions about gaps in my resume?

Karen James Chopra: Employers are going to ask about gaps in the resume because they are trying to find out what was going on in those gaps. They are worried that something serious might have happened. In the worst case, you might have been in jail or you might have been hospitalized and so they are probing around to find out if there is any real problem here and so what you are looking to do is just to provide a story that explains the gaps in your resume in such a way that the employer gets over it.

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Host: How do I respond to questions about gaps in my resume?

Karen James Chopra: Employers are going to ask about gaps in the resume because they are trying to find out what was going on in those gaps. They are worried that something serious might have happened. In the worst case, you might have been in jail or you might have been hospitalized and so they are probing around to find out if there is any real problem here and so what you are looking to do is just to provide a story that explains the gaps in your resume in such a way that the employer gets over it. So you may say, "I had an ill parent and I took some time off to look at them.

" Or "I happen to be in the telecom industry in 1999 and 2000 and that was the period when jobs evaporated pretty quickly so I had a period of time where I worked for six months and was off for three months and then worked for nine months and was off for three months.

" But then point out to them, "You'll notice in the last several years, I have only had one job and I have been there for three years.

" So the gaps in the resume question is one where you want to show them I am not worried about these gaps in the resume and you don't have anything to worry about either.

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