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Without knowing the details of a person’s history, employers rely on signals of quality to make bets on who will make quality employees with a strong organizational fit. Resume gaps used to be clear negative signals, but attitudes seem to be changing today. For example, LinkedIn recently adopted a new “Career Breaks” feature in which users can showcase skills acquired during a professional pause. While tempting to declare the present day a new age of tolerance and compassion, a deeper analysis suggests it might be wise to take a more guarded perspective, as the reality of the post-pandemic labor market is still unfolding. Drawing on both current studies as well as executive compensation data from the 2008 Great Recession period, the authors show that resume gaps hurt job seekers, both in their ability to get jobs and their pay.
Attitudes toward resume gaps seem to be changing. While they once were considered a serious red flag for job candidates, today we’re seeing more people talking openly and without reservation about taking a break from employment. A 2022 LinkedIn survey of 23,000 global workers indicated that nearly two-thirds of respondents indicated that they had taken some sort of career break. LinkedIn released this survey data while introducing a new “Career Breaks” feature, allowing its users to showcase non-employment experiences and skills acquired during a professional pause.
