Should I include temporary production work to avoid the appearance of a gap in my work history?
by Fred
(Fort Deposit, AL, USA)
I am currently applying for a managerial position with a retail chain and am a manager at my current job. However, when I list the jobs on my resume that I have that are relevant to the position, there "appears" to be a gap in the history of a year, even though I was working for temporary agencies doing production work during that time.
I was just wondering if I should include that or just explain in my cover letter that I was working a job unrelated to my current career goal?
Answer: Fred, I generally advise people not to create a gap in a resume if one doesn't exist. So, if you were working during that time, I think I'd include it, but you don't have to give a lot of space to it. Just list it with the dates, title, employer and maybe a short explanation of what type of work it was.
Then, in the cover letter, I'd probably mention why you did that type of work during that time period, since it's so unrelated. No long explanation necessary, just a brief sentence. Or, alternatively, just be prepared to answer that question on an interview.