If you are resume building to return to your career after a hiatus of a few years, be prepared to return at the level and compensation you were at when you left. Organisations are often willing to positively consider a gap taken for skill enhancement and will even hike your pay and level in the hierarchy. However, if the gap was necessitated by personal problems that came in the way of new learning, you may have to prove your capabilities before you can expect to be treated as you were earlier.
Explain the gap
Were you taking care of your children and waiting till they grew to be a certain age before you returned to work? Did you manage to put some time aside for any assignments from home or on a part time basis? Allow your covering letter and resume building to cover the reasons for the gap and your associated learning. All our experiences give us important lessons that can be applied to any field. Use the opportunity to market the reasons for the gap.
Highlight skills learned
Maybe you had to manage the house and the kids which taught you about the importance of marketing an idea to make children and adults listen to you. Did you learn about money management and administration in this time? Did you learn how to manage events for children with creative themes? Identify how you spent your time and the things you enjoyed doing to convert your activities into skill statements for effective resume building.
Get creative
If you were an HR professional doing a resume building in an effort to return after a long gap, consider viable alternatives to the job that you were doing. Were you strong on interviewing techniques or process improvements? Draw on the skills you picked up in the course of your work experience and see in what way you can convert it into a lucrative business opportunity. You can offer your skills as an interviewer and provide consulting and training services to companies. Write about this initiative in your resume to impress upon recruiters that you have the ability to tap your skills and utilise it to advantage. Your entrepreneurial drive and marketing capability will prove your skill and enable you to bide your time till a suitable vacancy arises.
Be informative
Focus on your skills and cater your resume building to the needs of the job description. Guide the recruiter through the story of your hiatus by providing a brief insight into what triggered your move. The gap may have been caused by your decision to study further, what were your aims when you chose a course. If your children were in their teens when you took a break, what were the insights that triggered the action? Bear in mind that the recruiter is looking for answers to certain questions: Will you be able to revert to a time based work schedule that offers less flexibility? Have you kept in touch with your skills or have you added to them? Do you sufficient support on the home front? Will you be regular at your job? If your resume building focuses on your activity and skill, these questions are largely answered.