Since the recession has dragged on for three years now, many attorneys are facing work history gaps that last for a year or longer.  Once they find a position that offers promise, they are then face with explaining huge work history gaps to hiring managers who may still become hesitant when a job candidate has remained unemployed for “too long.”  So how can a job seeker address these work history gaps with finesse?  Let’s take a look at a few tips:

The “Black Hole” Resume Gap

If you haven’t done anything constructive during unemployment other than commit all of your energy to a full-time job search, you will want to explain why that’s the case to the hiring manager. You might say, “Because I wanted to find the right job, not just any job, I decided to commit the past (fill in the time you’ve been looking) to looking for a good match for my skills and experience.”

The “Square Peg” Resume Gap

If you’ve been working way out of your field for the past year or more, you will need to take care to assure the hiring manager that your skills haven’t rusted and that you’re not desperate. You might say, “Instead of taking a job in my field which I wouldn’t like, I decided to work in an unrelated field while taking (insert educational and career activities you have participated in) and looking for the best job opportunity match.”

The “Work For Free” Resume Gap

If you have been working in an unpaid volunteer position or internship while unemployed, you need to take care to explain to the hiring manager that you did this because you wanted to, not because it was all you could get.  You might say something along the lines of, “When I saw this volunteer opportunity, I saw it as an opportunity to give back while continuing my job search.”