The gap as a jewel

Some time ago I read an article about gaps in people’s CVs. The advice provided was that you should describe the gap as creatively as possible so that it could be used as a “jewel”. That’s a good idea, of course. However, what I find more interesting is the question of what a company thinks when it looks at a candidate with a gap. In today’s fast-paced world, all kinds of impressions and experiences are relevant. Is it a flaw or a positive attribute if someone has stayed at home between two jobs and perhaps got an impression of the world during the day? Might the information on how public transport works be relevant? Who has what kind of buying behaviour and when? If in the meantime the candidate has taken on a 400 euro job in order to obtain additional financial means, what insights has he or she gained that could be relevant? Perhaps the candidate has also taken some time off and has travelled. What international experience has he or she gained that is relevant to the new position?

The whole person

After all, the point is to look at people as a whole. All experiences, successes and setbacks shape our character and influence our behaviour. The richer and more varied the impressions, the better. Isn’t a managing director who has had many different experiences and had to carry out a wide variety of tasks more able to react to all eventualities than one who has worked his whole life in the same company, in the same place, in the same department? Who is more trained to grasp and read people: the one who always had the same people around him or the one who got to know a range of different countries, cultures and religions from Argentinians to Zambia? Someone who has also been with socially weaker people and does not only know successful business people? Someone who may have founded his own start-up company and then suffered a crash landing? There is much talk about the German preference for success: failure is not an option.  But what is important here is that failure makes you grow. Personally, I always find CVs with gaps the most interesting. You hear extremely impressive stories. And you can do a lot with that. You want to know what exactly? I’d be happy to help you explore the options.