gap explaination

Hoping someone here can help me...I left a job at the end of 2010 which I had for 13 years. We were moving and I planned to find a new job in our new town. However, in the meantime my mom took sick and passed away, my son got married and my grandchild was born 10 weeks premature. With the sale and purchase of a new home, I could afford to stay home for a year and help everyone :) Spent a lot of time w/mom and was there when she passed. Then spent a good portion of the year helping w/my grandson. I am now ready and eager to get back to work. My question? How to a relay this info on my resume? Should I write something at the beginning or end of resume? Or should I put it in my cover letter? Thanks so much for any help you can give me!

This happened to me. First, stick with the caregiver story. Second, do not bother with Fortune 500 companies. I did and its a waste of time. To them a gap is a gap. Doesn't matter if you were taking care of mom or climbing Mt. Everest.

Target small companies as they are less critical of "gaps". You may have to go "offline" to find them as they often don't have the budgets to run ads on the Internet.

Small companies are less likely to use sophisticated online apps and will still accept your cover letter and resume. The caregiver bit goes in the cover letter.

I have a wider gap than you do and no way to explain it. With the new year, it makes it appear that I've been unemployed for one year more than I actually have been. There's really no way around it. I hope for a break, but if I get in for an interview people usually are just stunned at the length of unemployment. It's almost a death sentence at this point.

I'm even worse. I had a good 10 years of continuous work experience, until my mom passed in 2006. I quit my job (it was retail anyway) to clear my head, and didn't work for a year. Then I got a job, and was at it for 3 years. Then I got let go from that job, and other than a 3 month stint at a retail job these past holidays, I've been out of work for 2 years. So 3 of the last 6 years for me have been unemployed.

I feel like society is telling me to go crawl in a hole and die, or like I've been blacklisted by every company out there. I've put out hundreds of resumes, including at least 50 after Jan 1, and the only response I've gotten is to reject me.

Pretty much the only thing I haven't applied to yet, is McDonalds. I think I'd jump from a high place, before I did that. No offense to the people who work there, but I'd just get wicked depressed that I have a Master's Degree and I'm a bright young guy, and I'm cleaning fry machines. The depression would kill me.

nick in Somerville, Massachusetts said: I'm even worse. I had a good 10 years of continuous work experience, until my mom passed in 2006. I quit my job (it was retail anyway) to clear my head, and didn't work for a year. Then I got a job, and was at it for 3 years. Then I got let go from that job, and other than a 3 month stint at a retail job these past holidays, I've been out of work for 2 years. So 3 of the last 6 years for me have been unemployed.

I feel like society is telling me to go crawl in a hole and die, or like I've been blacklisted by every company out there. I've put out hundreds of resumes, including at least 50 after Jan 1, and the only response I've gotten is to reject me.

Pretty much the only thing I haven't applied to yet, is McDonalds. I think I'd jump from a high place, before I did that. No offense to the people who work there, but I'd just get wicked depressed that I have a Master's Degree and I'm a bright young guy, and I'm cleaning fry machines. The depression would kill me.

I actually work a 2nd job at a nearby sports arena. Its only a few hours a week and no benefits. Its there in case job #1 goes away.

We have some "old guys" who in their heyday, were big shots and they have been put out to pasture now. You should hear them yammer on about "what's wrong with this country".

I tell them, "You guys did this! You shot yourself with your own gun. Now there is a spill in aisle 19, go clean it up".

My worked for the same company for 30 years, and then took a package rather than let them lay him off. He's been out of work since...no one will touch a 62 year old with a pole, veteran or not.

You would think that I'm applying to corporations and things that are tough to get into. Oh, no. Whole Foods, Lowes, Home Depot, retail supervisor at the local arena gift shop (probably pays $10/hr), Target, and a bunch of admin jobs at universities that barely pay anything. I'm not even getting to the interview round with any of them, let alone the job. It's like crumpling up my resume and throwing it against the wall.

And I have to keep doing it, because the next step is cashing out the 401K from my last real job (about 10K). Once that's gone, I'll be out on the street.

Jack Shephard: How can you read?
Ben Linus: My mother taught me. I can read, Jack, because it beats what you're doing.
Jack Shephard: What's that?
Ben Linus: Waiting for something to happen.