Hi everyone, hope you can help me. Everyone in this forum is so helpful and I hope you can give me some input or advice. I lost my job over a year ago. The company I worked for went out of business. I had been with the same company and same boss for 15 years. I was so deeply sad and cried for months and then I went into a deep depression. I still can’t think about the wonderful job I had without crying. It seemed like it happened yesterday.
I have not worked for the past year and half. I’m just now starting to feel better where I can actually submit my resume for a job.
My question is what do I say in a cover letter to address the fact that I have not worked for 1 ½ years? My resume stops at June 2008. I have excellent skills, great experience, wonderful references and my job history is solid. I’m a great worker and any company would be fortunate to have me working for them.
I just registered with an employment agency and the recruiter told me that he received 250 resumes for just one job. I’m scared about this economy. Can I make something up about what I was doing all this time? For example, in my cover letter can I say that I was working from home doing freelance word processing. Or maybe that I was working for relatives. Of course, I wouldn’t be able to provide any proof of this.
I don’t like lying but I don’t want a prospective employer to think less of me and not be willing to even interview me. I just don’t know how to handle this situation. Or would it be best to say that I took some time off to be with family but that I kept my skills current.
Thank you. I appreciate anything you can share with me about how to handle this.
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Being in the staffing industry, I would never recommend that you include false information on a resume. In the hiring process, most organizations do complete employment verifications and references to validate the information on a candidate's resume. In the "objective" section of the resume, you might include a statement to include your objective as to get back to work after a 1 1/2 year break following 15 years of tenure with one organization. Most importantly, let the 15 years of experience sell itself and be honest.
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Debra Higgins on
3/11/2010 8:39:16 AM
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Never lie on your resume or cover letter. It has a way of coming back to bite you. You can say, if asked, that you took time off for personal reasons. Until you do find a permanent job, I would suggest working for a temporary agency. This will fill in your time, give you more confidence going back into the working world, and most importantly, it will be something you can add to your resume. You never know, you could find that perfect job through a temporary agency. Wishing you all the best in your endeavors.
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Anonymous on
3/8/2010 12:29:28 PM
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You did not work because you were sad. You did not work because you chose to stay home and be a housewife or husband and maybe parent to your children. I'm sure you were not sad during all that time, only when you started reminiscing about the old job.
You stayed home. Be proud of it and annotate it on your resume. And while you're at it, add some things you did or learned during this period that could be viewed as improving your skill set. Did you volunteer or do things for others without getting paid? Counsel anyone? Provide service to anyone? Picked up a new skill or had a few "aha" moments along the way?
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Anonymous on
3/5/2010 1:58:02 PM
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Never lie on a resume. I am so sorry that you had such a difficult time and can only imagine how difficult this was for you. I have been at my current employer for 30 years and know that any type transition from here would be hard. I would just simply state in a cover letter that the company that you worked for last went out of business and you are now ready to get back into the workforce. Any further discussion can happen during an interview if more questions are asked. It is probably not that uncommon for one facing this same situation to need time to take a deep breath and refocus. I wish you well in your employment endeavor and wish you the strength and confidence to move forward.
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Anonymous on
3/5/2010 12:03:53 PM
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Anonymous - Please don't feel the need to lie. Your feelings about what you experienced are valid and you don't need to cover that up. I think you can address this in your cover letter very briefly, but you don't need to go into a lot of detail, at least not in the cover letter. You can say you took time off for personal reasons and during that time you did some freelance work. When the potential employer calls you for the interview you can go into greater detail then, IF they ask. I think your qualifications will far outweigh the short time you took off (and really, not THAT much has changed in a year and a half). :)
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Anonymous on
3/5/2010 11:00:46 AM
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Definitely do not lie on your cover letter. Lying is never acceptable. Be honest. Any good employer will understand that after such a long time working for someone you needed time to get over that loss. You don't have to go into great detail but be up front about needing time to recover that loss. Tell them a little bit about what you have done in the last year and a half. Have you volunteered? Spent more quality time with family? Good luck!
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Anonymous on
3/5/2010 10:57:21 AM
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I was unemployed myself for 8 months and actually worked part-time for cash and made a lot of new friends doing other things that I love. On my resume I addressed it when asked - that I was able to take some time for myself.
Keep your chin up when I was unemployed and went for interviews I too was told that for the position they were interviewing for had over 250 applicants. I did take a position where my salary was less than before but it "got my foot in the door" and I advanced quickly to EA for the CEO.
Good luck to you.
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Anonymous on
3/5/2010 10:48:36 AM
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Dear Anonymous:
I am deeply sorry about your job loss. I too would be devastated as I have been with the same company for over fourteen years and consider myself fortunate and blessed.
I agree with Ann's response. Be honest and there is no shame in taking time off to grieve. As she mentioned, analyze what you've been doing and you will come up with a great cover letter and response when asked.
Good Luck!
Rose Marie Thomas
BICSI
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Rose Marie Thomas on
3/5/2010 10:39:51 AM
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NEVER lie on a resume or cover letter - if found out (even years later) it can be grounds for immediate dismissal from a job.
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1member on
3/5/2010 10:38:09 AM
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Hello - and thanks for reaching out to the group. It sounds like you have spent some time grieving a very significant loss - good for you for taking that time.
You are right on about not lying about what you have been doing - and I also hear your concern about explaining your "gap." Here's a suggestion that might help: take some time to inventory your activities over the past year and a half. List all of the positive things that occured - did you travel, take up a new hobby, volunteer, take classes, help a friend with some word processing - then take a look at this list and see what picture starts to unfold. I'm guessing that you will be able to develop a response to the question that feels really good and authentic.
In addition - check out a book calld Rebound by Martha I. Finney. She has some very helpful tips.
Best of luck to you!
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Ann Yaggie on
3/5/2010 6:53:03 AM
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