Recently, a friend I hadn't spoken to in a while shared a concern. After taking a year off from work, they were unsure how to address the gap on their resume during interviews.

Surprisingly, many people share this concern. A survey conducted by the hiring platform MyPerfectResume in 2025 found that 47 percent of American workers have experienced an employment gap at least once in their careers.

What's remarkable is the attitude of employers. In the same survey, 95 percent of HR professionals reported being much more lenient about employment gaps than in the past, indicating that the world is changing faster than we might think.

However, it's not a reason to be completely at ease. Still, 30 percent of respondents view employment gaps as a red flag, and one in five hiring managers admitted to filtering out applicants due to long gaps.

Ultimately, the key is not the gap itself, but how you explain it. A survey by LinkedIn revealed that when candidates first explain the context of their gap, 51 percent of hiring managers are more likely to reach out to those candidates.

This means that silence is the most dangerous choice. Instead of trying to hide the empty line on your resume, it's much more advantageous to calmly explain what you did during that time.

Another LinkedIn survey found that 52 percent of hiring managers prefer candidates to bring up their employment gap during interviews, and 46 percent believe that candidates often underestimate what they gained during that time. Often, it's the candidates themselves who think they did nothing during their break.

In fact, the wisdom of not fearing rest is quite old. The term "sabbatical" itself comes from an ancient custom that says both fields and people should rest every seven years, so there's no reason to feel guilty about taking time off.

In Egyptian mythology, there is a bird called Bennu. It is the archetype of the phoenix, which turns to ashes and is reborn, and the ancient Egyptians viewed this bird not as a symbol of fear but as a symbol of new beginnings.

A similar attitude is needed when explaining an employment gap. Instead of treating the time off as a flaw to hide, it should be presented as a necessary process for starting anew.

There is a formula for effective answers in actual interviews. Acknowledging the gap briefly and factually, stating what you did during that time in one or two sentences, and concluding with why you are now ready is sufficient.

For example, saying, "I took a break for personal reasons and kept up with industry trends during that time. Now, I am ready to leverage that experience in a new role" is concise and to the point.

Conversely, there are certain ways of speaking to avoid. Starting with an apology like, "I'm sorry, but I had a gap" immediately makes it seem like you are confessing to a failure, and blaming a former boss or company only leaves the impression that you are difficult to work with.

There's no need to go into detail about personal issues like health problems or family matters. A simple phrase like "for personal reasons" is enough to maintain politeness while drawing a line.

There are also aspects of the resume format that can be improved. By listing only the years instead of months, short gaps become less noticeable, and if the gap is long, it's better to create a separate section titled "Career Break" to summarize what you learned during that time in one or two lines.

LinkedIn introduced a feature in 2022 that allows users to specifically indicate career breaks on their profiles, letting them choose from one of thirteen reasons, such as caregiving. Utilizing such tools is a much more sophisticated choice than leaving a blank line.

Personally, I believe that short, forward-looking answers convey much more trust than overly lengthy explanations. Just having an attitude that doesn't shame the gap already completes half of the explanation.