gap in employment: what to do?

I took 10 months off due to an illness in the family. Now I want to start working again.

Anyone been in similar situation please give me your advice on how I should approach the matter in the cover letter and/or interview.

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Comments

Heero

binarysoul wrote: »

I took 10 months off due to an illness in the family. Now I want to start working again.

Anyone been in similar situation please give me your advice on how I should approach the matter in the cover letter and/or interview.

Pretty much the same way you approached it when describing it to us in this post. Mention the reason behind it briefly in the cover letter (not the resume), and in the interview tell them what you said in this post. Don't descend into a deep explanation about the specifics, but answer what they want to know.

mikedisd2

Heero wrote: »

Pretty much the same way you approached it when describing it to us in this post. Mention the reason behind it briefly in the cover letter (not the resume), and in the interview tell them what you said in this post. Don't descend into a deep explanation about the specifics, but answer what they want to know.

+1
What Heero said.

chrisone

I agree with the posters above, also if you did some reading or studying also include that. At least it shows you were keeping up to date on your skills. If you did any side projects or helped out friends you can include that, only if they asked you though and has to be IT related.

JDMurray

Gaps in my employment I filled with attending school or getting certs. The tricky part is that you never know how long you will actually be unemployed. The tendency is to expect that you will get another job right away rather than saying, "Oh heck, now I'll be out of work for at least six months; I'd better enroll at the local community college, or get crackin' on that XYZ cert."