gap in work due to school

jamesleecoleman

Alright, I have five weeks left until the end of school. My current position will not allow me to work through the summer because I'm on workstudy and I don't have enough funds to last me through the summer. I will have the position when I come back to school. How should I put this on my resume? I know a three month gap will not be cool along with the seven month gap that I already have due to being laid off. This is my second job and I'll have a years worth of time at the job after the first semester is done.

Essendon

Some might percieve this as sneaky, but dont mention the gap at all. At an interview, dont talk about it if you can avoid it. A 3 month gap in let's say 2-3 years of employment isnt much. Before my current role, I did contracts for about 3.5 years and there were gaps between them. No one ever asked me why or what I did during the gaps. Even if someone does ask you about the gaps, you can say you studied up for the certs (which most people do anyway).

skrpune

I don't think it's a big deal - work study positions are subject to funding availability and to school need, and during the summer both funding and positions can tend to dry up. If you want to be totally up front about it, you can specify the different times/semesters you were working in that position on your resume. If you ARE asked the gap in an interview, there's no shame in being honest and specifying that it was a work study position and that there was not sufficient demand or funding for the summer semester.

Just out of curiosity, is there any reason you can't go after a temp/contract position for the summer until you restart school? It would be a good way to fill in the gap AND make extra money.

jamesleecoleman

I do plan on studying for three certs during the summer and fall semester.

I've been thinking about doing what you are asking skrpune. I'm currently trying to get into the reserves and I don't want to mess things up with a job if I actually do get into the reserves because I could do my basic training during this summer. I'm also trying to find a computer related job and I've found a few but they aren't temp/contract. I was looking into contracting but I have to do more research on contracting.