Andy Hibel 0:03
Welcome to the HigherEdJobs podcast. I'm Andy Hibel the chief operating officer and one of the co-founders of HigherEdJobs.

Kelly Cherwin 0:09
And I'm Kelly Cherwin, the director of editorial strategy. Today, we're happy to have Chris Lee back for our Ask the Experts series. Thanks, Chris, for joining us today

Christopher Lee 0:17
My pleasure.

Kelly Cherwin 0:18
So today's question from our listener is what is better for my career development and future to take an open position in a department outside of my professional interests, even if my time there is short or to have a gap in my resume while waiting for that right fit. Chris, what are your thoughts on this question?

Christopher Lee 0:35
Well, this one is one where the contexts in the various variables matter and only you can decide what is most important to you. Because this is kind of a choice that has some tradeoffs. But there are some themes that that make it clearer and how you might decide. First of all, gaps in resumes are tenuous for one important reason, and that is because they create questions that must be answered. The pattern is that when most people review resumes and that sort of thing and CVS, they kind of sort them initially into three piles. Yes. No, maybe. Right. No. Those who are just not going to be players here. Yes. Those that look really good. And then the middle ones, they have to kind of make some decisions about one of the times when they have to make some decisions about things is when there are gaps in resumes and they don't know why. So a person's background may be stellar. And then there's a year absence with a six months absence, you know, or gap and people what happened there. Sometimes people will default to things that are bad. The person was relieved of their responsibilities. Or it could be, you know, whatever. But the point is, they have a question. Not often does an H.R. department or a hiring manager pick up the phone and call and say, Hey, Andy, your resume has a gap in it. We're trying to use this information to fill in the blanks. What are we going to bring you for an interview that you know that doesn't happen? So the most important thing is if there's a gap to answer the question from your perspective for the reader. Sometimes people just ignore that and hope that the reviewers won't notice. But, you know, if you have a search committee, someone will notice the H.R. Manager or the committee, they're going to notice. And then those people don't move forward in the process, provided that there's enough candidates in the yes panel. Right. If the yes panel is kind of weak, then we might have to kind of follow through because we want to make sure we have a competitive pool. So there's a big risk there. So gaps as a whole are problematic, mostly because people don't know. And there's a question, so answer that question. The big advantage here is that you get to tell the story and sometimes, the gap is because I was tending to family member or I had a medical problem, you know, myself, or there's a maternity leave or paternity leave or I just didn't like the place I was working. And I didn't, have to have the income. And so I decided to take a break. but the point is, you get to tell the story and provide your version of the truth. The big problem is not telling the story in a favorable way, which is obviously the way that you would want to present your version of the truth. So that's the biggest challenge with gaps. Now, adding to that is the question related to taking another position. Sometimes you have to take another position because you need the income. Right. Barring that, then you can decide how that position will look, because it's the same thing. You took a career detour. Right. you relocated to state. You took lower level position. When you do, though, sometimes people might have questions. So you might want to say that they have relocated to Colorado because it's an amazing place. It's a beautiful place. And I'd been there on vacation. And then I discovered I don't like the lifestyle as much. And so I'm moving back home. Right. that's a much better story. Then why was this person a, senior vice president? And then they took a position as a director. Hmm. That doesn't look as good, right? So the point is that in either situation, it's a decision that only one can make in context. But either way, they might want to explain it or tell a story in the cover letter and or the resume so that the reviewer doesn't make up an answer for themself or fill in the blank. That may be disadvantageous for one.

Kelly Cherwin 4:36
think that's great. And I was just going to say that I think sometimes when we don't as a, you know, reviewing a resume, if we don't see an answer, we assume and we make up potentially a wrong answer. So I love your advice of having the job seeker, no matter which situation, if it's, you know, taking a career detour or, you taking some time off to explain it in the cover letter. And I guess, Andy, this goes back to our question, Is a cover letter necessary or not in this situation? I definitely think a cover letter can help your candidacy

Andy Hibel 5:03
think in some instances, if you're let's for those of us who may not always be pro cover letter, I think you can address it in the resume as well. I think Look at that little gap and say took a hiatus to care for ailing family member. also would probably make sure to underscore that on either side of that hiatus, you had two positions that were 5 to 7 years and you have no other gaps in your resume. I think that's a lot easier to gloss over than somebody who has cycled through a dozen positions and there's six or seven gaps in some of those positions. I think That's much more difficult story to tell than one where you see consistent employment and there's 6 to 12 months while they were off doing something else. In that instance, for me, if I was reading that resume, it probably I'd want to know maybe an interview. Hey, why did you take six months off? But I wouldn't be shocked that they just took a break. I mean, this is a person who has pretty, pretty consistent work history.

Kelly Cherwin 6:08
That's a good point. If you see a trend in tons of gaps or tons and tons of detours that just don't make sense, then yeah, that's different than just a 6 to 12 month pause. Yeah.

Christopher Lee 6:20
Kelly, you said it best. Things that don't make sense when they don't make sense. You have to tell people so that it makes sense, right? And military spouses often have a tough time, right? If you're a spouse and you move around a bit and people make assumptions and then I just want to say my fellow veterans and their family members you can kind of look at the pattern of the folks are located at their military bases nearby. I detected that right. And I personally have made an effort to kind of even the playing field you know, to say, I'm going to use that as an advantage, you know, to say this person has a lot of experience versus to say that person is going to leave in, you know, in three years, because that's not always the case, because the person can get a follow on assignment and stay where they are. then you have the remote stuff and things like that. So I've heard many folks comment, on this person who's moved around in the military spouse should say, just say the truth. Right. You know, my partner, is, you know, x, Y, Z, and we've moved. But you've noticed I've had increasing levels of responsibility and we are planning to homestead near your institution, on our next assignment because the person is retiring or we're looking for follow on assignments. That's a better story than not to be put into. The pile of people have changed jobs every 3 to 4 years. Right.

Andy Hibel 7:41
one of the things that we were excited about with higher Ed military. We have a Fellows program and our current Fellows class actually includes military spouses higher education. And what I would probably not only emphasize strongly what Chris said, but I'd probably I talk about with pride I mean put that within your bio on your resume and let them know in your own words that you're a proud military spouse and you're delighted to be able to contribute to communities where your spouse serves.

Christopher Lee 8:11
Absolutely. Yeah.

Andy Hibel 8:12
It's a plus.

Christopher Lee 8:14
It is. It is. But the key is to tell your story, Right. help me help the reviewer make good decision versus trying to hide something or not mention it, hoping that the question won't be there any decent reviewer will have a question in their mind. And you don't want to rely on them coming up with a answer that is not in your favor.

Kelly Cherwin 8:35
Fantastic advice, Chris. Thank you.

Andy Hibel 8:37
Thank you, Chris. That was wonderful.

Andy 8:39
If you have any questions or thoughts, please feel free to email us at pocast@HigherEdJobs.com or send a direct message to us on X @higheredcareers. Thank you for listening and we look forward to speaking with you next time.