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  • 1.  How Did You Show A Career Sabbatical on Your Resume?

    Posted 03-02-2020 01:36 PM
    Edited by Tirza Austin 03-02-2020 01:36 PM
    One of the things that can be challenging to show on a resume are career breaks or sabbaticals. There can be many reasons for a break. Maybe you couldn't find a job in a down economy, maybe you served in the forces, maybe you chose to take a "gap" year to travel, or maybe you took a sabbatical for personal reasons.

    A lot of the resume advice out there tells you to use to a "functional" resume for career sabbaticals.....but from what I've experienced, engineers really hate functional resumes (and so do a lot of recruiters). I've heard some say that as soon as they see one, they believe that you are trying to hide something, which isn't going to get you a call back for an interview. 

    So, I am starting this thread to ask those who have taken a career break....how did you show it on your resume? And, how much a factor do you think your resume actually played (as compared to networking, for example), in getting your first position after your break?


    P.S. Did you know you can get your resume reviewed for a limited time for FREE by ASCE Resume Workshop Coaches, go here for more info: https://news.asce.org/crafting-the-perfect-civil-engineering-resume/

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    Stephanie Slocum P.E., M.ASCE
    Founder
    Engineers Rising LLC
    www.engineersrising.com
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  • 2.  RE: How Did You Show A Career Sabbatical on Your Resume?

    Posted 03-03-2020 10:43 AM
    I suggest being honest and list why you were out. For example, one of my employees listed "Stay at Home Mom" on her resume. Another listed " Home Schooling". I had a boss who took a couple of years off when she had her children. There isn't so much of a stigma attached to this anymore.

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    Roxanne Cook P.E., M.ASCE
    Division Manager
    Austin TX
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  • 3.  RE: How Did You Show A Career Sabbatical on Your Resume?

    Posted 05-05-2020 02:53 PM
    Great question!
    Some thoughts:
    1. Be unambiguously honest and direct.
    Eliminate adjectives and superlatives.
    2. Given the most valuable . . .and yet to this date still not a significant part of our engineering university programs . . . feedback you can relate
    to your next engineering position application is what you learned "In The Real World" about people, process, and leadership. 
    As we eventually all learn in our engineering work, that's "The Hard Part," and never "The Soft Skills."
    3. Don't ever just say "At Home Dad, or Mom."

    Stay Healthy!

    Cheers,
    Bill



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    William M. Hayden Jr., Ph.D., P.E., CMQ/OE, F.ASCE
    Buffalo, N.Y.

    "It is never too late to be what you might have been." -- George Eliot 1819 - 1880
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    Original Message


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