Tips for Discussing Your Gap Year

1. Use a different resume format.

One of the best ways to make a gap year stand out less is to switch up the resume format you’re using. If you’re using a chronological resume format, it makes it immediately obvious that you weren’t employed during a specific time period, which can raise questions. Instead, consider the functional format, which emphasizes skills and important achievements, or the combination format, which provides a combination of the two formats while highlighting skills.

2. Include your gap year under your experience section.

During your gap year, you may have worked, taught, or volunteered, rather than just taken time off. Through this, you may have gained valuable experience and learned new skills, including soft skills which are transferable across many professions, and hard skills, which are more specific technical skills and knowledge. Your gap year may work perfectly for your experience section, rather than being an actual drawback.

3. Add a breakout section in your resume for your gap year.

If your gap year experiences don’t line up with many of your other jobs in your experience section, you may want to consider putting them in their own section. For example, say that most of your jobs are in the construction industry, but for a year, you went to an underfunded reservation in the United States and helped them build a more robust healthcare system. You may want to create a special section in your resume entitled, “Volunteer work” or “Charity work” where you can include this.

4. Include accomplishments throughout your resume.

Your accomplishments should not just be included where you would put your gap year. During your gap year, you may have learned new skills, such as learning a new language or budgeting. These skills can go in your Skills section, and your Summary section can also benefit from some of the skills and accomplishments that you went through in your gap year.