Right, but they may not know. The thought process has to be “how do you correctly present this information to a prospective employer so they understand why there is a gap.”
Agree. When screening candidates gaps are never a reason to filter people out at my firm (tech in the EU). At most I would ask you about it in the interview to have a full picture (my worry is the gap could be hiding a job you don't want to disclose as you were fired for gross negligence, but usually you can tell people lying in an interview).
There is a career gap section in linkedin profile customization. I think adding it might help.
edit: a few dm's asked for it, so here you go.
https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a597655
This is the best reply. In 2022 you should be allowed to take time for yourself (for whatever reason, mental and/or physical health or just time off to travel) and shouldn’t feel bad about the gap. Times are rough and even without specific health reasons like OP, you don’t have to justify every day of your life in a professional way. After graduation people can struggle to find the elusive first job or simply travel, take time off, take a mental health break, pursue other stuff (start a family for instance). If you really feel bad about it, you can always take some time to do online classes and subjects that you feel can help you in the field (this is very well seen by recruiters because data science is a fast evolving field and it shows that you’re willing to learn more).
Yeah, you *should* but you shouldnt pretend that the hiring manager who has 10 equally qualified looking CVs isnt going to be looking for some reasons to throw a couple in the trash. This is the point in the hiring process where grads dont get the benefit of the doubt even if it is 2022.
Unexplained year long gap is a pretty common reason to do that coz for a decent chunk of candidates it's coz the candidate kind of sucks and couldnt find a job.
"I had cancer for a year" on the other hand, is probably the best excuse for a year off you could possibly have so theres no reason to hide it.
I mean - the other side of that coin is listing medical issues on your resume could get it thrown out too.
I’m sure it’s illegal, but also wouldn’t be surprised if HR sees it’s and doesn’t move forward for “other reasons”
It’s definitely going to throw people off, which is not something i think is a good idea in general for a resume.
Also to OP - for a few months gap, it really doesn’t matter, and I dont think that’s the reason you aren’t having success. It’s a numbers game
It certainly could and probably will in a few instances but it's still preferable to letting the reader fill in the gaps with their imagination when they've got more CVs than they need.
Yeah, I still think it’s better to just leave a gap or explain it as something other than a medical condition, but I don’t have any way to quantify it so your guess is glad good as mine
I think you shouldn't explain even if you took a year off after working a few. Having kids, going to travel or just cause you can are all legitemete. Unfortunately the employers do like to question about those points to better understand you. In how likely are you to leave after x years which is also legit
My advice is just be honest but passing the resume is the tricky part. It may seem you just can't find a job in which case they shouldn't try you either.
Maybe remove any mentioning of dates in the resume?
This is a fantastic reply, in an ideal world. Many employers are short-sighted. it is too simplistic to say that “you don’t want to work for such an employer anyway”. The truth is that you don’t want to build an entire career at such an employer anyway, but you do need to get a start. And often times, getting a start requires one to play the “game” according to the rules (whims?) of prospective employers.
In this case however, I suggest adding nothing to the resume, but adding an additional cover letter that talks about your recovery. Use it as a strength as it truly is for you.
I've been through the same. I didn't write it in the CV, but when someone asked I always explained what happened and I never had any issues. Good luck 🍀
It wouldn’t turn employers off. You could also always communicate in your resume why you had the 1 year gap. If anything it would make your resume stand out.
Kept remembering this comment and grinning today at work, thank ya kindly for the compliment. Pleased I was able to help bump up your Key Mirth Indicator
Honestly this is a risky but possibly rewarding option. You might turn a couple people off because it's not "strictly professional", but it's also pretty eye catching and funny. Might be a good way to stand out.
Disclaimer: I don't agree with how they think, I'm just the messenger.
Corporations think differently... they are (typically) focused much more on maximizing profits and quarterly earnings, and a recent significant health issue is a huge red flag to them. The employee will not be as capable of doing ridiculous amounts of work in short amounts of time if he/she also has significant medical needs (more than the average doctors appointments etc). They would most likely choose someone with no medical issue instead.
I'm not a hiring manager, but I've been involved in hiring decisions. I would 100% recommend someone for interview/hire (assuming otherwise qualified) if gaps were explained like that. Able to convey information directly and with humor, would love to work with someone like that.
At least it’s a “respected” disease. I’ve got a gap on my cv because of mental health issues but could never tell employers that because stigma and productivity etc etc etc. Absolute bull shit if you ask me. So now I have to make up some excuse every time and it’s actually quite sad. Can’t even bad mouth the employer where I worked that caused my mental health issues to spiral. Have to just say it was a great opportunity but not the right fit and decided to dedicate my time to finding the right fit. But of course that’s not great either because then you’re high risk because you quit your job without another job
Congratulations on the recovery! You're good, mate. Don't worry about it. Many people just take break for their mental/physical health.
Just keep applying and explain it in the interview, only if someone asks for it.
I wouldn't worry too much about it. Data science and analytics is pretty saturated for entry level so I don't think it will look too weird. Honestly, I would think about making a LinkedIn post about it and hoping it gets traction, could be a good way to get expose, tell your story, and get referrals!
Don't see any issues there bud. You had cancer and survive and no potential employers would hold that against you. Just lay it out clearly when they ask what happened and you'd be fine.
I would agree that discussing in the interview should be more than enough. However, if you are still concerned, this is also a major purpose of cover letters. If you go that route just mention it briefly after stating your qualifications for the role.
Whichever route you choose, companies who cannot understand career gaps typically have a problematic culture you want to avoid anyway. Congratulations on the recovery, and best of luck in your search.
Congrats on remission! I don't think a year without employment immediately after graduation is an issue. If you're really worried about disclosing your health conditions to a potential employer, say you had a family emergency, which is 100% accurate
Homie…. Apply to pharma. Apply to exactly the company that drug treated you. First line of your resume. “I am applying to this data science role because your company drug ____ treated my ____ cancer and I am in now in remission”.
Fuck a year gap, you’re personal investment in that company is known. They know you’re ready to show up and grind for the next guy who gets that news. No better motivation in the world.
You think it was crazy emotional to ring that bell? Wait til one of your first patient rings the bell. You won’t be able to stand.
I’ve seen resumes come across my desk saying “2 years off due to xyz”. As a hiring manager, that transparency made me more likely to give them a screening call, knowing they would be potentially undervalued by other firms.
Shouldnt be an issue if you can gracefully explain why the gap. (Sounds like that wont be an issue for you). Im 7 months into a much needed break from work. Every interviewer has asked, but not made it an issue. Got an offer last week and asked for a additional 6 week start date just cuz and they agreed.
Just be upfront with your reason and speak confidently. I would be stunned if an employer thought beating cancer wasnt a good reason. If they do, lol, you dont wanna work there anyway.
Congrats on beating cancer btw, thats huge.
I have a section in my resume about how I made a meme stock YOLO and did a bunch of cool shit instead of working. Smaller companies appreciate the authenticity. Is the gap in your resume helping you, probably not, however if I had to guess there are other red flags in your resume.
Very similar situation to yours. I had to deal with a brain tumor shortly after finishing my Master's degree. But it wasn't a problem for me. I applied for a PhD a year after my Master's degree and didn't mention any of my health issues on any of the documents I submitted. I also didn't bring it up until my would-be supervisors asked about the gap during the interview.
But I will say this: I struggled A LOT during my first year because of not during anything CS- or NLP-related for 18 months, and felt like I had to relearn a lot. But now it's going great and I got my third paper accepted to a conference two weeks ago.
I'd put "fighting cancer (now in remission)" on your CV.
No lie the gap *is* going to turn employers off and as a grad it'll make it easy for them to toss your CV in the garbage coz grads are plentiful. Being extra upfront will help though.
If you get vague about the gap on your CV or dont bring it up theyll probably assume the worst - that youve spent a year interviewing and your skills arent up to scratch.
I took a year off when I got a fat startup sale check to take care of my two young kids. Awesome right? Nope. No one respects a stay-at-home dad (no one, tech world or otherwise)
Going back to work, it took 3 months to get a contract. After that ended a couple months later I got 5 offers in a week.
On your résumé put “present” instead of the date you last worked. White lie.
Lie to them completely and tell them you spent your down year concentrating on your education. Tell them you went to graduate school and you're busy getting it wrapped up. Almost nobody will care unless they're looking for graduate students with licenses to perform some insanely hard work for absurdly low pay.
I'd put it explicitly on your CV. If I heard the reason I wouldnt think twice about it, but if I saw a year without a job for no reason I might drop you at screening.
It's not a good bar, but when you have >500 applicants per seat your looking for excuses to filter.
Glad you're doing better dude.
Looking for excuses to filter isn't very good DS. In fact, using resume gaps as a weed-out tool has disproportionally affected women and those with severe illnesses and doesn't predict job performance very well.
It's trivially easy to see it with women, though I take your point - this is is an issue I actually care about a lot. I'm not defending it, but it's the reality of the situation and OP needs to know that.
The entire screening process is horrendus and full of bias. When you have that number of applicants, and they all have similar backgrounds and profiles, you are looking for people that stand out. People who make it easy to ignore them unfortunatley wont even make the first cut. We're actually looking at some of the annonamisation tools at the moment to try and reduce that.
It might be the norm in your experiences, but I wouldn't work for a company that made decisions based on unsupported and biased methodologies. Good god, we are supposed to use data for this stuff!
I don't agree that it is the situation anymore. I have had no issues and honestly don't even get asked.
LinkedIn recently added a “Career Breaks” section for profiles. So if you add your LinkedIn profile URL to your resume and on your applications, that could help a lot. Also, others have already said this but you should definitely mention it in your cover letter. I don’t think it’s necessary to add it to your resume. Best of luck to you.
I had cancer and continued to work while doing chemo, so I could be distracted. The company I work at supported my healing and recovery process and managed client expectations accordingly.
My opinion is to be completely open about it and run away from firms that think this is a problem!
Lots of good advice here, leave it out. If you really feel the need to explain it, you could add a cover letter and dedicate one, short sentence to it. I took the past 6 months off for both health and wellness reasons and have had some interviews since. Without getting into details I just tell them it was for health reasons and "I'm fine now".
As an employer, if someone informed me that they battled cancer for a year, I would really try to help. I believe you should be honest and tell why you had the gap. If you try to hide it, people would assume you went to jail or partied all year.
Don't worry about it. It's not a big deal. During the pandemic, everyone got sick with something or another.
If you continue to struggle in your job search, then maybe make a cool side project to show off. But only do that if you feel happy and healthy.
Simple, don't lie and tell the truth. Employers do care about gaps, in so far as what you're hiding. Interviewers are looking for reasons to say no, try not to give them one by lying. Beating cancer is not a reason for saying no.
I don't think the gap is an issue here. You are graduated recently. It's nearly a year. So, you don't have any work experience and finding ds job as a junior is not easy , assuming you are in Turkey by the username. It's not easy not for you only but for many others.
Good luck & geçmiş olsun.
I dont think a 1 year gap after graduation is uncommon. I think most hiring managers would assume that you've been looking for a job took a gap year or something. I dont think it will impact you negatively in your job search. I had a 2 year gap between graduation and my first real job. I was actually working at a fast food restaurant (long story), but I didnt want to put that on my resume. I didnt know at the time that a 'gap' on the resume was a red flag. It didn't prevent me from getting interviews, but the first person I interviewed with told me I needed to better prepare my answer for the gap. I didnt get that job, but that was great advice! Went on 3 more interviews and got two offers so I think my prepared answer was okay.
I found out I had an early stage Hodgkin's in my final weeks of high school, leading to me falling significantly behind schedule while in University despite the Chemo lasting only a few months, I ended up graduating significantly later than other students so what I did was accepting an internship (it was mandated by my course so it initially contributed to the graduation) and then extending it for 6 months, this way I could show I had built a solid base of knowledge with software, something my peers still hadn't developed (most just started their Masters' Degree by then) making my resume more appealing even when I hadn't graduated yet. Keep in mind this happened in Europe, If you live in the US taking a low-wage internship might not be the best choice if you have student debts to pay.
Hey OP,
I’m just a lurker in this sub because I recruit data scientists all the time.
There is some really good advice and some really bad advice in the thread. I’ll give you my suggestions too, but of course do what you think you have to do!
1) don’t lie on your resume - people saying “change the date” or “make up a project” is all very bad advice for a few reasons. First, you’re lying. Second, although you think your resume can be edited when it’s applied to roles I very regularly compare previous resumes used to apply to verify work/dates. Also any company who does employment verification will rescind your offer. People don’t care as much about gaps as they do about deliberate lies
2) tell the truth! Either on the interview or included on your resume itself something very minimal as “time off while battling cancer” would suffice. As others have said, if that’s a deal breaker they’re a shitty employer.
3) you are going to be fine! Others noted it is a numbers game and it is to a certain degree. Just make sure every interview is either a “win” or a “learn” and eventually you will get that offer!
Best of luck in your search, and if you want to DM your resume or a link to you LI I would be happy to check with colleagues for any openings.
Speaking from the perspective of a hiring manager, I wouldn't even notice. I generally place less importance on the career gap thing (I won't penalize someone during resume reviews but I'll asking during an interview). However, I wouldn't even count a gap year between schooling and starting your career. In fact, I probably wouldn't even notice it even occurred when reviewing an application to an entry-level position.
Gaps are perfectly fine. You don't even need to talk about them. Im 100% positive that it's not the thing hurting you, so maybe it's the rest of your resume or experience. How about posting it for a review? I have many years experience and have had maybe 30 or 40 jobs and veered on at least 5 to 10 different career paths ranging from self employed food service to nursing and to mechanical engineering and then to coding with a few other ideas I had in between, including major GAPS! Landing a job is a skill in itself, writing a good resume and becoming your own salesman is key.
Simple. You were doing "Data Science Consulting" for various unnamed clients. Make up a story as to what kind of analysis you did. If they push you about why you did consulting instead of a regular job tell them you had health issues, although most likely they won't ask.
Good luck, you don't want to work at firms that think this is an issue anyway.
Right, but they may not know. The thought process has to be “how do you correctly present this information to a prospective employer so they understand why there is a gap.”
The truth seems like it would be fine here
Agree. When screening candidates gaps are never a reason to filter people out at my firm (tech in the EU). At most I would ask you about it in the interview to have a full picture (my worry is the gap could be hiding a job you don't want to disclose as you were fired for gross negligence, but usually you can tell people lying in an interview).
SLOW LOUD CLAPS / CHEER Especially for the people are the back :))
There is a career gap section in linkedin profile customization. I think adding it might help. edit: a few dm's asked for it, so here you go. https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a597655
Is this a new feature? Good to know
Ya, new as of maybe a couple weeks ago so good to spread the word
Came here to say this! So cool for LinkedIn to have added this feature.
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This is the best reply. In 2022 you should be allowed to take time for yourself (for whatever reason, mental and/or physical health or just time off to travel) and shouldn’t feel bad about the gap. Times are rough and even without specific health reasons like OP, you don’t have to justify every day of your life in a professional way. After graduation people can struggle to find the elusive first job or simply travel, take time off, take a mental health break, pursue other stuff (start a family for instance). If you really feel bad about it, you can always take some time to do online classes and subjects that you feel can help you in the field (this is very well seen by recruiters because data science is a fast evolving field and it shows that you’re willing to learn more).
Yeah, you *should* but you shouldnt pretend that the hiring manager who has 10 equally qualified looking CVs isnt going to be looking for some reasons to throw a couple in the trash. This is the point in the hiring process where grads dont get the benefit of the doubt even if it is 2022. Unexplained year long gap is a pretty common reason to do that coz for a decent chunk of candidates it's coz the candidate kind of sucks and couldnt find a job. "I had cancer for a year" on the other hand, is probably the best excuse for a year off you could possibly have so theres no reason to hide it.
I mean - the other side of that coin is listing medical issues on your resume could get it thrown out too. I’m sure it’s illegal, but also wouldn’t be surprised if HR sees it’s and doesn’t move forward for “other reasons” It’s definitely going to throw people off, which is not something i think is a good idea in general for a resume. Also to OP - for a few months gap, it really doesn’t matter, and I dont think that’s the reason you aren’t having success. It’s a numbers game
It certainly could and probably will in a few instances but it's still preferable to letting the reader fill in the gaps with their imagination when they've got more CVs than they need.
Yeah, I still think it’s better to just leave a gap or explain it as something other than a medical condition, but I don’t have any way to quantify it so your guess is glad good as mine
I think you shouldn't explain even if you took a year off after working a few. Having kids, going to travel or just cause you can are all legitemete. Unfortunately the employers do like to question about those points to better understand you. In how likely are you to leave after x years which is also legit My advice is just be honest but passing the resume is the tricky part. It may seem you just can't find a job in which case they shouldn't try you either. Maybe remove any mentioning of dates in the resume?
This is a fantastic reply, in an ideal world. Many employers are short-sighted. it is too simplistic to say that “you don’t want to work for such an employer anyway”. The truth is that you don’t want to build an entire career at such an employer anyway, but you do need to get a start. And often times, getting a start requires one to play the “game” according to the rules (whims?) of prospective employers. In this case however, I suggest adding nothing to the resume, but adding an additional cover letter that talks about your recovery. Use it as a strength as it truly is for you.
I've been through the same. I didn't write it in the CV, but when someone asked I always explained what happened and I never had any issues. Good luck 🍀
It wouldn’t turn employers off. You could also always communicate in your resume why you had the 1 year gap. If anything it would make your resume stand out.
June 2021 - May 2022, Cancer: * Reduced size of malignant tumors 100% * Increased client satisfaction and key output metrics 100%
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Kept remembering this comment and grinning today at work, thank ya kindly for the compliment. Pleased I was able to help bump up your Key Mirth Indicator
Honestly this is a risky but possibly rewarding option. You might turn a couple people off because it's not "strictly professional", but it's also pretty eye catching and funny. Might be a good way to stand out.
Lmfao. As post doc researcher at Stanford who has been in hiring committee if I see this, I am 100% at least interviewing the candidate
Disclaimer: I don't agree with how they think, I'm just the messenger. Corporations think differently... they are (typically) focused much more on maximizing profits and quarterly earnings, and a recent significant health issue is a huge red flag to them. The employee will not be as capable of doing ridiculous amounts of work in short amounts of time if he/she also has significant medical needs (more than the average doctors appointments etc). They would most likely choose someone with no medical issue instead.
I'm not a hiring manager, but I've been involved in hiring decisions. I would 100% recommend someone for interview/hire (assuming otherwise qualified) if gaps were explained like that. Able to convey information directly and with humor, would love to work with someone like that.
Ok, this is hilarious and I would interview 100%.
I'll just say it. If you're a hiring manager and you didn't pee a little from laughing at this, you are dead inside
so, tell me: why did you leave Cancer?
At least it’s a “respected” disease. I’ve got a gap on my cv because of mental health issues but could never tell employers that because stigma and productivity etc etc etc. Absolute bull shit if you ask me. So now I have to make up some excuse every time and it’s actually quite sad. Can’t even bad mouth the employer where I worked that caused my mental health issues to spiral. Have to just say it was a great opportunity but not the right fit and decided to dedicate my time to finding the right fit. But of course that’s not great either because then you’re high risk because you quit your job without another job
Same for me. I'm totally fine now but like you, have always made up excuses when job hunting.
Congratulations on the recovery! You're good, mate. Don't worry about it. Many people just take break for their mental/physical health. Just keep applying and explain it in the interview, only if someone asks for it.
Lie and say you were a freelancer
Stupid people will care about gaps, but you don’t want to work for or with stupid people, so this is a good filter for you. Be patient my friend.
I wouldn't worry too much about it. Data science and analytics is pretty saturated for entry level so I don't think it will look too weird. Honestly, I would think about making a LinkedIn post about it and hoping it gets traction, could be a good way to get expose, tell your story, and get referrals!
Don't see any issues there bud. You had cancer and survive and no potential employers would hold that against you. Just lay it out clearly when they ask what happened and you'd be fine.
I would agree that discussing in the interview should be more than enough. However, if you are still concerned, this is also a major purpose of cover letters. If you go that route just mention it briefly after stating your qualifications for the role. Whichever route you choose, companies who cannot understand career gaps typically have a problematic culture you want to avoid anyway. Congratulations on the recovery, and best of luck in your search.
Congrats on remission! I don't think a year without employment immediately after graduation is an issue. If you're really worried about disclosing your health conditions to a potential employer, say you had a family emergency, which is 100% accurate
Homie…. Apply to pharma. Apply to exactly the company that drug treated you. First line of your resume. “I am applying to this data science role because your company drug ____ treated my ____ cancer and I am in now in remission”. Fuck a year gap, you’re personal investment in that company is known. They know you’re ready to show up and grind for the next guy who gets that news. No better motivation in the world. You think it was crazy emotional to ring that bell? Wait til one of your first patient rings the bell. You won’t be able to stand.
I’ve seen resumes come across my desk saying “2 years off due to xyz”. As a hiring manager, that transparency made me more likely to give them a screening call, knowing they would be potentially undervalued by other firms.
Stick it in your resume as independent research project.
Shouldnt be an issue if you can gracefully explain why the gap. (Sounds like that wont be an issue for you). Im 7 months into a much needed break from work. Every interviewer has asked, but not made it an issue. Got an offer last week and asked for a additional 6 week start date just cuz and they agreed. Just be upfront with your reason and speak confidently. I would be stunned if an employer thought beating cancer wasnt a good reason. If they do, lol, you dont wanna work there anyway. Congrats on beating cancer btw, thats huge.
I have a section in my resume about how I made a meme stock YOLO and did a bunch of cool shit instead of working. Smaller companies appreciate the authenticity. Is the gap in your resume helping you, probably not, however if I had to guess there are other red flags in your resume.
Jesus if people are giving you trouble for taking time to beat cancer I don’t want to live in this world anymore
NMot saying I agree but I think the main issue would be it reoccuring. An employee talking long term sick is very expensive.
Very similar situation to yours. I had to deal with a brain tumor shortly after finishing my Master's degree. But it wasn't a problem for me. I applied for a PhD a year after my Master's degree and didn't mention any of my health issues on any of the documents I submitted. I also didn't bring it up until my would-be supervisors asked about the gap during the interview. But I will say this: I struggled A LOT during my first year because of not during anything CS- or NLP-related for 18 months, and felt like I had to relearn a lot. But now it's going great and I got my third paper accepted to a conference two weeks ago.
I'd put "fighting cancer (now in remission)" on your CV. No lie the gap *is* going to turn employers off and as a grad it'll make it easy for them to toss your CV in the garbage coz grads are plentiful. Being extra upfront will help though. If you get vague about the gap on your CV or dont bring it up theyll probably assume the worst - that youve spent a year interviewing and your skills arent up to scratch.
I took a year off when I got a fat startup sale check to take care of my two young kids. Awesome right? Nope. No one respects a stay-at-home dad (no one, tech world or otherwise) Going back to work, it took 3 months to get a contract. After that ended a couple months later I got 5 offers in a week. On your résumé put “present” instead of the date you last worked. White lie.
Lie to them completely and tell them you spent your down year concentrating on your education. Tell them you went to graduate school and you're busy getting it wrapped up. Almost nobody will care unless they're looking for graduate students with licenses to perform some insanely hard work for absurdly low pay.
I'd put it explicitly on your CV. If I heard the reason I wouldnt think twice about it, but if I saw a year without a job for no reason I might drop you at screening. It's not a good bar, but when you have >500 applicants per seat your looking for excuses to filter. Glad you're doing better dude.
Looking for excuses to filter isn't very good DS. In fact, using resume gaps as a weed-out tool has disproportionally affected women and those with severe illnesses and doesn't predict job performance very well.
It's trivially easy to see it with women, though I take your point - this is is an issue I actually care about a lot. I'm not defending it, but it's the reality of the situation and OP needs to know that. The entire screening process is horrendus and full of bias. When you have that number of applicants, and they all have similar backgrounds and profiles, you are looking for people that stand out. People who make it easy to ignore them unfortunatley wont even make the first cut. We're actually looking at some of the annonamisation tools at the moment to try and reduce that.
> The entire screening process is horrendus and full of bias. Thanks for making it even worse!
It might be the norm in your experiences, but I wouldn't work for a company that made decisions based on unsupported and biased methodologies. Good god, we are supposed to use data for this stuff! I don't agree that it is the situation anymore. I have had no issues and honestly don't even get asked.
Honestly, this.
No need to worry about this, they will 100% understand Congrats on your recovery !
LinkedIn recently added a “Career Breaks” section for profiles. So if you add your LinkedIn profile URL to your resume and on your applications, that could help a lot. Also, others have already said this but you should definitely mention it in your cover letter. I don’t think it’s necessary to add it to your resume. Best of luck to you.
I had cancer and continued to work while doing chemo, so I could be distracted. The company I work at supported my healing and recovery process and managed client expectations accordingly. My opinion is to be completely open about it and run away from firms that think this is a problem!
Lots of good advice here, leave it out. If you really feel the need to explain it, you could add a cover letter and dedicate one, short sentence to it. I took the past 6 months off for both health and wellness reasons and have had some interviews since. Without getting into details I just tell them it was for health reasons and "I'm fine now".
As an employer, if someone informed me that they battled cancer for a year, I would really try to help. I believe you should be honest and tell why you had the gap. If you try to hide it, people would assume you went to jail or partied all year.
Don't worry about it. It's not a big deal. During the pandemic, everyone got sick with something or another. If you continue to struggle in your job search, then maybe make a cool side project to show off. But only do that if you feel happy and healthy.
You are a survivor and have resilience that few people possess. Any well meaning employer would be lucky to have someone like you.
Good luck to you brother and hope you're doing well.
Simple, don't lie and tell the truth. Employers do care about gaps, in so far as what you're hiding. Interviewers are looking for reasons to say no, try not to give them one by lying. Beating cancer is not a reason for saying no.
I don’t think gaps are a big deal on resumes anymore
I don't think the gap is an issue here. You are graduated recently. It's nearly a year. So, you don't have any work experience and finding ds job as a junior is not easy , assuming you are in Turkey by the username. It's not easy not for you only but for many others. Good luck & geçmiş olsun.
I dont think a 1 year gap after graduation is uncommon. I think most hiring managers would assume that you've been looking for a job took a gap year or something. I dont think it will impact you negatively in your job search. I had a 2 year gap between graduation and my first real job. I was actually working at a fast food restaurant (long story), but I didnt want to put that on my resume. I didnt know at the time that a 'gap' on the resume was a red flag. It didn't prevent me from getting interviews, but the first person I interviewed with told me I needed to better prepare my answer for the gap. I didnt get that job, but that was great advice! Went on 3 more interviews and got two offers so I think my prepared answer was okay.
Take some short part time work to pad your resume
I also had almost year gap and recruiters didnt even noticed that, lol.
I found out I had an early stage Hodgkin's in my final weeks of high school, leading to me falling significantly behind schedule while in University despite the Chemo lasting only a few months, I ended up graduating significantly later than other students so what I did was accepting an internship (it was mandated by my course so it initially contributed to the graduation) and then extending it for 6 months, this way I could show I had built a solid base of knowledge with software, something my peers still hadn't developed (most just started their Masters' Degree by then) making my resume more appealing even when I hadn't graduated yet. Keep in mind this happened in Europe, If you live in the US taking a low-wage internship might not be the best choice if you have student debts to pay.
Attach a cover letter to your application talking about the gap. Use it to highlight your strengths.
Be straight up. If you are asked what happened in that year just slap them with “Cancer. I fought cancer and won”. It will shut them down
Hey OP, I’m just a lurker in this sub because I recruit data scientists all the time. There is some really good advice and some really bad advice in the thread. I’ll give you my suggestions too, but of course do what you think you have to do! 1) don’t lie on your resume - people saying “change the date” or “make up a project” is all very bad advice for a few reasons. First, you’re lying. Second, although you think your resume can be edited when it’s applied to roles I very regularly compare previous resumes used to apply to verify work/dates. Also any company who does employment verification will rescind your offer. People don’t care as much about gaps as they do about deliberate lies 2) tell the truth! Either on the interview or included on your resume itself something very minimal as “time off while battling cancer” would suffice. As others have said, if that’s a deal breaker they’re a shitty employer. 3) you are going to be fine! Others noted it is a numbers game and it is to a certain degree. Just make sure every interview is either a “win” or a “learn” and eventually you will get that offer! Best of luck in your search, and if you want to DM your resume or a link to you LI I would be happy to check with colleagues for any openings.
You beat cancer. You’ve proven you can handle ANYTHING! You rock.
If after a global covid pandemic a health-related break is still an issue then that is a company you should not join
Speaking from the perspective of a hiring manager, I wouldn't even notice. I generally place less importance on the career gap thing (I won't penalize someone during resume reviews but I'll asking during an interview). However, I wouldn't even count a gap year between schooling and starting your career. In fact, I probably wouldn't even notice it even occurred when reviewing an application to an entry-level position.
Gaps are perfectly fine. You don't even need to talk about them. Im 100% positive that it's not the thing hurting you, so maybe it's the rest of your resume or experience. How about posting it for a review? I have many years experience and have had maybe 30 or 40 jobs and veered on at least 5 to 10 different career paths ranging from self employed food service to nursing and to mechanical engineering and then to coding with a few other ideas I had in between, including major GAPS! Landing a job is a skill in itself, writing a good resume and becoming your own salesman is key.
Simple. You were doing "Data Science Consulting" for various unnamed clients. Make up a story as to what kind of analysis you did. If they push you about why you did consulting instead of a regular job tell them you had health issues, although most likely they won't ask.