How to Overcome an Employment Gap

How to Overcome an Employment gemeinsame agrarpolitikHow to Overcome an Employment GapAn employment gap is a period of months or years when the job applicant was not employed at a job. Employees choose to spend time unemployed for purposes such as attending school full time and having and raising children.Employment gaps also occur for involuntary reasons such as layoffs and downsizing, serving time in prison, or employment termination for cause. An employment gap or gap in employment history is important because it raises red flags in the eyes of a kompetenzprofil employer when the unemployed individual tries to return to work. Employers are justifiably nervous about hiring a job candidate without a consecutive employment history. Because an employment gap is either for positive or negative reasons, it will need an explanation for the potential employer. As an employer, any gap in employment that shows up on a resume or job application requires an explanation. Smart candidates expla in the employment gap up front in their resume cover letter. Candidates who are trying to cover up the employment gap or fool the potential employer, use tricks to make their application materials appear free of employment gaps. Applicants use years of employment, rather than years and months, as an example, to cover up short employment gaps. They also use functional resumes, that emphasize skills and accomplishments, rather than chronology to cover up employment gaps. Depending on the reason for the employment gap, candidates make up stories some true, some not - to explain their gap in employment. Savvy people use the time spent unemployed preparing to return to the job market. How to Overcome Your Employment Gap Concerned about getting back in the workforce after a gap in your employment? You should be when you consider the bad experiences some employers have had when they take a chance on people with a gap in their employment history. Additionally, the job market appears to have qualified candidates for most positions. How will your resume, with a one, five, orten-yearemployment gap, stack up against those of people who have been racking up career achievements and accomplishments for the same ten years? Stay-at-home moms and dads who raise their children, rather than their expertise and visibility in a workplace, are the largest group to sport these resume gaps. Even a couple of years out of the workforce can devastate your career if youre not careful. In worst case scenarios, you can become unemployable in your field. Even in best case scenarios, you will undoubtedly take asalarycut and find yourself reporting to someone who would formerly have reported to you. It is not to say that returning to work is hopeless. There are plenty of people who have walked back into an executive job, developed their dream job or created a career change following chosen unemployment. Its just that its harder for you with an employment gap. These tips will help you stay ready for employment while you raise the kids or take a few years for a non-work activity. Its much better to spend that time preparing to be employable than to hit the job market cold after years at home. Youll be better prepared if you heed these tips. Work With Your Current Employer Your current employer, assuming you are still working, may value you and your experience. Talk with your employer to identify potential part-time or consulting work or periodic assignments you can do during the years you plan to work less than full time. If you work in marketing, for example, perhaps you can do freelance work on social media marketing, brochures, the website or press releases. If you work in Human Resources, you may contract to update theemployee handbookannually or teach a class periodically. It is the easiest way to stay grounded in the workplace during an extended leave. Make your best pitch before you leave your job. Dont hesitate to call, however, even if you have been off w ork for a period of time. Build and Keep Your Network Before You Need It Youll find that it is easier to maintain current professional contacts than to build a new group a few years down the road. Professional contacts become dispersed to new positions mentors retire valued coworkers move on to new jobs. It is up to you to maintain relationships, sometimes for years, with people who will remember your talents when you decide to return to full-time employment. It is also imperative that you relate to friends and associates in your off-work life as an educated professional who has chosen to take time away from her career to raise a family. Talk about more than the children make sure your friends know what you do professionally as well. Stay Active in Professional Associations Most career fields have professional associations that sponsor meetings, conferences, committees, training sessions and more for members. Stay active in your local association by attending meetings, writi ng for the newsletter, acting as agoodwillambassador and attending national conferences. Volunteer for the activities that most closely match your career field and interests. Choose activities in which youll interact with many members to expand your network at the same time. Volunteer in Community,School,and Civic Organizations Challenging volunteer work can help to fill the gaps in your resume whether you return to your original career or createa career changein the future. Do invest thinking time in determining what kinds of volunteer work will be the most strategic for your long-termgoals? Serving as president of the school board is likely worth more when you return towork than sewing costumes for the school play. Do both if you have the time and energy they fulfill different aspects of your spirit. Do think about how the volunteer work will appear on the resume and stress contributing to volunteerism related to your future employment. Keep Your Resume File Updated Keep track of new skills and activities you have developed and experienced during your time away from the workforce. Keep the resume file filled with notes about your volunteer work and other contributions. When you want to return to work, youll be happy you kept good records of the time you were unemployed. Create a Small Business and Work Even a Few Hours a Week Think creatively. A mom just left the workforce to spend time with her eleven-year-old daughter. She is launching an Internet home baked doggie treat business. Active for years in Greyhound associations, she has identified her initial customer base and plans to expand from there. Write for newspapers, magazines and businesses develop marketing materials for organizations sell your professional expertise as a consultant make candles or other crafts design and maintain gardens operate a daycare center or a home-based school design and build websites paint, wallpaper and decorate homes and businesses cater special events and p rovide virtual geschftszimmer assistant services over the web. Keep Your Skills Current Can you imagine a computer programmer finding a new position after five years outside of the workforce? Not unless she can demonstrate current skills. Fields such as banking, employment law, securities, and financial planning change quickly. Attend school, take graduate seminars, participate in online learning, and read to stay current in your field. Your local college may have classes you can audit if you cant pay tuition. No, a quick refresher class wont help you out in most fields when you decide to return to work or change careers. Keeping abreast of your field every year is the best way to stay employable at something youd like to do. Use the Time at Home to Change Careers Maybe its time to try something new. A time away from work is perfect for pursuing career options and learning more about yourself and your interests. You may want to create the life you want with a mid-career cris is. If you decide to change careers, you can invest the time to earn a needed degree. Or, you can spend your volunteer or home-based business time on the skills needed for the new career. ConsiderPart-time Work Work part-time in your field, your career change field or just to keep your work record fresh. The money may also come in natel for the family or to fund your future goals. Consider Job Sharing Many people have chosen to leave the workforce for periods of time. Employers may have to consider creative ways to keep valued people working or to fill hard-to-fill positions.?Job sharing, either half days, or splitting the week can work for both the employees and the employer if lines of communication remain open. And, the shared work may work best for all concerned when two talented people invest their energy in the same job. With a consistent investment in yourself and retaining your job and career relevance, you can overcome an employment gap. Choose to be prepared for th e day whenthe hiring managerasks, What have you been doing for the past ten years. You can respond, A lot. Id like to tell you about that time. As an employer, look for candidates with integrity. They explain their employment gap in their cover letter. They are truthful when they account for the time spent unemployed during the job interview. With application materials fraud escalating, you need to know who you are hiring. Also Known As ?gap in employment, resume gap

Short TED Talks to Get Out of Tough Work Situations- The Muse

Short TED Talks to Get Out of Tough Work Situations- The MuseShort TED Talks to Get Out of Tough Work SituationsDo you sometimes feel like the right advice for your problems are just one Google search away- but you cant even find the time to do that search? We hear you Youre busy doing your job, leaving little time to actually seek out help. Thats why we found five super short TED Talks to inspire you to push through common challenges.Well just stop talking now and get right to the good stuff1. When Your Boss Asks You to Come Up With Five New Ideas Today Play This ja genau Game to Come Up With Original Ideas by Shimpei TakahashiTakahashi is a toy developer who realized that in order to think outside the box, you have to get a bit wacky. Which is why this one-word association game helped him come up with some of his proudest and most successful ideas.2. When Your Co-worker Keeps Posting NSFW Statuses Dont Like Clickbait? Dont Click by Sally KohnSick and tired of being surrounded by ba d media? Wish you could filter your social media of rude or inappropriate comments? According to Kohn, you have all the power to fix the internet yourself- so stop clicking on things that dont matter to you.3. When Your Colleague Says You Have Weird Ideas Weird, or Just Different? by Derek SiversHeres how you can respond to everyone who tells you your ideas are strange No theyre not, theyre just different. Because even some of the oddest things here are considered normal somewhere else, states Sivers, an entrepreneur. And for that reason, they just might work.4. When Your Manager Catches You Drawing During a Presentation Doodlers, Unite by Sunni BrownYes, doodling is actually good for you. According to Brown, people with this stigmatized habit are actually more likely to retain, remember, and focus on information than regular listeners. So carry on drawing.5. When You Hopelessly Try to Explain Your Job to Your Parents Talk Nerdy to Me by Melissa MarshallIf youre one of those people who tries to explain your job to friends and they respond with blank stares, youll want to watch this. Marshall will show you how intellectuals can break down their jobs to the average listener so that everyone benefits. Dont let your awesome accomplishments get overshadowed by confusing communicationPhoto of person listening and working courtesy of Hero Images/Getty Images.

How to make your idea the 1 in 5000 that actually makes money

How to make your idea the 1 in 5000 that actually makes moneyHow to make your idea the 1 in 5000 that actually makes moneyLeicestershire, England serial inventor turned entrepreneur, Graham Harris, who succeeded in creating world-class, print related products from his garage before selling them world-wide, believes the tough lessons he learned along the way gave him the knowledge and insight to help any creative person with passion and desire to forge a similar path.Its a fact that the invention itself equates to only 10% of what is needed to get it sold, the other 90% is down to other mora important factors, like implementing marketing and sales techniques to get it in front of the right people. And with 80 patents already to his name and hundreds of products selling through global channels, heres Grahams top tips on how you too can make your idea the 1 in 5,000 that actually makes money.Find a powerful reason to get started in order to sustain your passion throughout the journeyIf the thought of developing one of your own ideas and seeing the end product sitting on the store shelves sounds exciting, you must hold that vision or sohonigweinhing similar. It will sustain your passion to succeed throughout the journey, especially when the going gets tough, as it certainly will do.Harris says I loved my day job but had ambitions to start my own business, one day I had this vision of the grey haired version of me mucksmuschenstill working for my boss in 20 years time, and it welches enough to drain the color from my face. I was so determined not to go back to the factory floor that I worked day and night to make sure my dreams stayed alive, even when I hit the lows.Think up a simple idea that your customers will pay a premium to ownIf you havent already thought up an idea Harris advice is to look around in an environment that is familiar to you and where you have some experience or knowledge, at work, at home, in the garden, or out walking your dog etc. This may so und clichd, but you then have to say to yourself, if I could solve that problem it would make me a millionaireIts true, the best ideas in the world are the most simple, and parte of the reason so many inventors fail to make money is because they create the most complicated products that only they understand.Inventing can be an undeniably expensive process, and anything you can do that will lead to higher profit margin will help you pay your way through the journey, and keep the dream alive. This is why it is essential that you keep your product simple, looking slick, and as easy to use as possible. Harris tells YCB.Adopt a business mindsetThis tip is absolutely key. If you truly believe your idea might turn into the next best thing, it is critical that you adopt a business mindset and become professional in your approach to everything you do.Unfortunately, inventors usually adopt an inventors mindset, one that tells us that we are only the ideas people, and it is someone elses job t o work out how to sell what we created.Believe me, even if you unearth a multi-million pound idea, no one will be queuing at your door to make you rich. You need to do everything within your own resources to add value to your invention before you pursue customers or that elusive investor, and that will involve many disciplines, including costing of materials, packaging, creating a brochure, building in benefits/features and figuring out some marketing strategies. Harris explains.He continues I am absolutely certain that one of the main reasons those odds of success opened up for me was based around my decision to set up a business and take myself seriously from day one.Keep things secret dont seek evaluation or praiseIve lost count of the amount of times people I have met who tell me about fantastic idea they thought up but were put off from proceeding with it because a friend or someone else they confided in thought it was crazy.The most vulnerable time for any would-be inventor i s at the initial stage of idea conception and proto-typing, this is where the temptation to seek approval, praise and even adulation is at its most potent level, dont do itIf youre doing things professionally, you would have carried out more than a basic amount of research to develop your solution to some big problem you encountered, and also worked out what it could mean to your future customers.So why seek affirmation from those closest to you who dont have the same degree of insight. Many of us have already been in this situation and so has Harris. In one case a friend told me he thought I was delusional with a certain idea I wanted to develop, thankfully (although he nearly convinced me to give up) I got back on track and my solution turned into a best seller.Another reason for keeping things secret is to limit the chances of your invention being invalidated further down the line because someone laid claim to ownership of some ideas you put out there in the public domain before you registered your patent.Beat the 12 month patent clockIts a sad fact that so many incredible inventions never get to see the light of day simply because the majority of inventors fail to monetize their idea within the first year.Harris explains Applying for a patent can cost anywhere from $4,000-$8,000, which gives you 12 months to prove your idea is unique and can generate cash before you look to protect it world-wide, which equates to thousands more.When I set out on my journey to invent, I knew I had only one year to develop my proto-type, find a company to produce some products, before knocking on doors to sell a few so I could pay my ongoing manufacturing costs and patent fees. My business mindset helped me to adhere to this strict time frame and avoid the possibility of borrowing again and going into debt.Graham Harris is founder and Managing Director of Tech-ni-Fold Ltd and Creasestream LLP, global leaders in print creasing technology. His book Against the Grain is availab le now on AmazonThisarticlewas originally published on YourCoffeeBreak.