Does anyone know how to explain a 1 year 4 month employment gap on a resume? Took time off for health/family reasons and I keep getting auto rejected by the ATS. Sent out 100 applications, only 1 interview. Applying for financial analyst roles, 2 years corp tax Big 4, 3 years audit senior at smaller niche mid sized firm w/ an international office 1.5 years Internal Audit $22B healthcare Company in that order.

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Candidly, it could be multiple factors: 1) It could be your resume, 2) the roles your applying for, 3) how you sell this ‘gap’ on your resume, and/ or 4) you’re not catering your resume to the job description

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Well for starters, I would update the resume to only show years, not months. That helps with the AI some when they are letting a computer do the first pass. It doesn’t help in the MANY roles where you still have to type all this back into an online form with set dates, but it’s a step.

I’d also run your resume through an optimizer to make sure formatting isn’t an issue.

Then as others have suggested, focus on key skills instead of jobs. Highlight the systems you work with, anything you are a SME on, etc.

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I’ve been working on a Financial Modeling Course w/ Career Principles, and plan on doing Wall Street Oasis Premium next and then SQL, after that maybe power BI/Tableau, to skill up. I don’t want to give up on being an FA just yet.

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Also - re-reading your post, I would HIGHLY suggest that you cater your resume to industry tech products (master excel, master tableau, PowerBi, and then get certified in the fancy SQLs, Allteryx, Python, etc.)

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Good luck buddy! There truly is need for these skills! I consider myself an intermediate on several of these ‘products’ - and I am by far the most proficient across the next 50 or so folks on my team.

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There could be many reasons why this is happening, but beyond figuring out if a 1 year gap is truly what's affecting you, it might be something else. A lot of times, our resume in itself has to be tweaked here and there to be made more exciting for potential employers, and this is only heightened if you apply to roles that are very industry-specific.

Explain with the truth. I have interviewed candidates with large time gaps and they had reasons. You should not try to figure out how to explain it - if you have reason(s) then you do.

Then you should tell them what you exactly said here. And I agree, omit the months bc it just makes it look more than 1 yr and 4 mos.

Have you tried Upgrade ? I highly recommend the company , has great work culture and work life balance.

No I haven’t heard of Upgrade! are they hiring or know someone who works there that can refer me?

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I would just be honest. If you are candid they will likely be understanding and it probably won't be a huge deal. I don't think gaps like that are as glaring on a resume as they once may have been.

Just be honest with the interviewer. Health and family reasons are valid. Also, it would be better if you tailor your resume based on the role/job that you are applying for. Good luck!

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