Beyond the Resume: How to Evaluate Candidates with Employment Gaps

In today's dynamic work environment, it’s increasingly common to encounter candidates with employment gaps. Historically, it’s been a workplace best practice to prioritize candidates with continuous work histories, but that preference is shifting. Companies today are more open to considering the entirety of a candidate’s background by recognizing the value of nonwork-related and other life experiences.

This article helps recruiters and hiring managers explore the nuances of employment gaps, the need to rethink recruitment strategies, and strategies for making astute hiring decisions.

How to Evaluate Employment Gaps

Employment gaps, characterized by extended periods when an individual isn't engaged in formal work, are becoming more normalized in contemporary career paths.

Some of the reasons and implications include:

Pursuing Higher Education or Professional Training

Taking time off for studies can result in candidates returning to the workplace with sharpened skills, innovative perspectives, and renewed enthusiasm.

Taking a Career Break or Sabbatical

Planned and even unplanned career breaks often lead to personal development, new skill acquisition, or even a clearer career vision.

Personal Health Issues or Caring for a Family Member

Individuals who take breaks for health or family reasons demonstrate resilience and commitment and often develop strong empathetic skills, patience, and a profound sense of responsibility.

Parental Leave

Beyond childcare responsibilities, parental leaves can enhance skills such as time management and multitasking. They can also foster heightened understanding and compassion for other working parents, extremely valuable tools for team cohesion and mutual support. 

Economic Downturns or Company Restructuring 

Layoffs and workforce reductions are forced breaks that can produce periods of reflection, upskilling, and pivoting. Candidates often use these types of breaks to explore freelance work, online courses, or even starting a small business, all of which showcase their adaptability and resilience.

While employers might initially view unintended employment gaps as concerning these types of forced breaks often result in a trove of invaluable experiences that can benefit hiring companies.

Revising Recruitment Strategies

Traditional recruitment programs often stress that candidates have continuous work experience and specific skill sets. However, inflexible hiring criteria can cause recruiters to overlook worthy individuals with employment gaps, especially if candidates have amassed diverse skills during their hiatus.

Below are some actionable steps you can take to build a holistic recruitment strategy that’s inclusive of candidates with employment gaps:

• Diversify job listings:  Modify job descriptions to be more inclusive, emphasizing core competencies and transferable skills rather than just years of experience.
  
  
• Training workshops:  Conduct training sessions for your hiring team on the benefits of hiring candidates with diverse backgrounds and the potential value they can bring.
  
  
• Revised screening processes:  Implement AI or software that reduces bias in resume screening, ensuring that candidates aren't overlooked solely due to employment gaps.
  
  
• Networking:  Engage with career transition groups or organizations that cater to professionals taking sabbaticals, so you're tapped into a diverse talent pool.
  
  
• Tailored interview questions:  Craft interview questions that allow candidates to showcase the experiences and skills they've acquired during their employment gaps. For example, "Can you share an experience or skill you learned outside a traditional work setting that you believe would be useful in this position?"
  
  
• Feedback mechanism:  After interviews, gather feedback on the candidate's qualifications and the unique perspectives or skills they might bring because of their diverse experiences. 

Assessing Transferable Skills

Candidates with employment gaps often possess valuable transferable skills that they can apply across different roles and sectors. For example, nonwork experience often provides people with opportunities to develop proficiencies in areas such as:

• Problem-solving
  
  
• Time management
  
  
• Communications
  
  
• Adaptability and resilience 

By highlighting these skills in job descriptions, employers provide an opportunity for candidates to explain the unique but relevant ways they can add value to the organization.

Implement Behavioral Interviews

Behavioral interviews provide hiring managers with deep insight into potential candidates, as an individual’s past actions tend to indicate future performance. The behavioral interview format is particularly helpful when interviewing candidates with employment gaps, as it can reveal abilities that might not be evident on a resume.

The following guidelines will help you effectively conduct behavioral interviews:

• Craft pertinent questions:  Develop a set of behavioral questions tailored to the role in question. For instance, for a leadership role, you might ask, "Describe a time when you had to lead a team through a challenging situation." 
  
  
• Scenario-based queries:  Incorporate hypothetical situations to assess a candidate's on-the-spot problem-solving and critical thinking abilities.
  
  
• Training for interviewers:  Organize workshops for hiring managers to hone their skills in conducting behavioral interviews and interpreting responses effectively.
  
  
• Structured rating system:  Implement a consistent rating system to evaluate candidates' responses, ensuring objectivity and reducing biases.
  
  
• Feedback integration:  After the interview, collect feedback from various interviewers to understand the candidate's full potential.
  
  
• Follow-up questions:  Equip your interviewers with a list of potential follow-up questions to probe deeper into candidates' responses and better understand their thought processes.
  
  
• Reflect on employment gaps:  When discussing employment gaps, weave in behavioral questions like, "Can you describe a skill or lesson you acquired during your employment break that you believe is relevant to this role?"

By adopting these actionable steps within the framework of behavioral interviews, you can refine the evaluation process. This approach ensures that you assess candidates based on their intrinsic merits and potential, rather than solely on their chronological career trajectory.

Addressing Employment Gaps in Interviews

During interviews, try to discuss employment gaps with sensitivity:

• Approach the subject with an unbiased mindset.
  
  
• Allow candidates to explain the reasons behind their gaps.
  
  
• Ask candidates to highlight any skills or experiences gained during their hiatus.
  
  
• Consider the unique value the individual can bring to your team. 

Evaluating Candidates With Employment Gaps 

It’s not unusual for candidates to experience employment gaps during their careers. By understanding the underlying causes, gaining behavioral insights, and looking for transferable skills, employers can boost their talent pool with many well-qualified people who can ultimately benefit the organization. 

Interested in refining your hiring process? Talk to an account manager to get started.