AWIS INDEX
This column is the first in a two-part discussion about
resumé "holes." Part II will appear in the Winter 2001 issue
ofAWIS Magazineand will also be reposted onScience's
Next Wave.
Usually, a resumé will show a chronology of a
professional career that is almost continuous. But what if the
unexpected happens, and you are left with a "resumé hole"? A resumé
hole is a large period of unaccounted time in your resumé. Resumé
holes can come in many shapes and sizes. Suppose you decided to
travel following your second postdoc. That hole might be only six
months deep. Maybe you had to quit your job to take care of a
family member going through radical cancer therapy. That hole might
be a year deep. Resumé holes due to childcare, eldercare, or
disability may dig a hole three, five, or even ten or more years
deep. Regardless of the size of the hole, never accept the outdated
dogma that science moves too quickly for a scientific professional
to find a career when (s)he wants to return to work after an
extended leave of absence. If the hole in your resumé swallowed
less than a year, there are techniques you can use to lessen the
impact of the hole, or it may be possible to skirt the issue
altogether. If the hole in your resumé is larger, however, don't
despair-there are tools and techniques you can use to improve your
chances of employment in your field following a prolonged period of
inactivity.
If you are contemplating taking that trip to Tanzania to climb
Kilimanjaro after finishing your first postdoc, you can skirt a
possible resumé hole by applying and interviewing for positions
before you leave. Many employers are willing to wait for a new hire
whose knowledge and skills match their needs and would be happy to
secure you as an employee even if the employment contract has a
start date that is six months down the line. Or perhaps you
submitted the final revision of the last paper for your
dissertation and then succumbed to the urge for a cup of coffee-on
a Peruvian hillside. You can still reduce the impact of that
five-month resumé hole by the tactical use of your Peruvian
experience during your interview. When discussing with a
prospective employer the period you spent abroad, emphasize how
your travel experiences would be of benefit to them. Demonstrate
how your time in South America fostered independent thinking and
built your self-confidence. Perhaps you are now bilingual and can
provide a much-needed linguistic component to a prospective
employer's workplace. If you are able to make your potential
employer understand the benefits of hiring a traveler, that little
hole in your resumé could be paved over in a matter of minutes.
You may be contemplating extended leave for more serious
reasons. If you need to leave work to care for a family member or
to recover from an illness, it may be possible for you to return to
your position under the conditions of the Family and Medical Leave
Act (FMLA), thereby avoiding a resumé hole altogether. If you are
eligible for FMLA, you can receive 12 weeks of unpaid FMLA leave in
a 12-month period, protection from discrimination as a result of
taking the FMLA leave, and you will be restored to the same or
equivalent job when you return to work. Therefore, when you update
your resumé, the three months you spent nursing and bonding with
your first child will be absorbed within the context of the
position you had while you took the FMLA leave. To find out more
about the benefits and your eligibility for FMLA, contact the Department of
Labor, Employment Standards Administration. If you or a family
member have a major medical crisis and 12 weeks is not enough time
to recover, you may be able to extend your leave by accepting
donated leave from individuals from within your organization once
you have used your FMLA and sick leave. Each employer has different
policies with regard to donated leave, so check with your human
resources department before you plan to take advantage of it.
What if you are in the middle of extended leave that will last
over a year, and the nature of your leave will not allow you to
skirt the hole? There are many ways you can fill a resumé hole
while unemployed, but the essential point is simply that you fill
it! Helen Hayes once said, "If you rest, you rust." This is
particularly true if you are a scientific professional; your
theoretical knowledge requires exercise if you are to retain it.
Before you actually fill the hole, however, it is important to
decide what you will use for filler. Have your interests changed
since leaving the workforce? If so, and you have no idea of your
career direction, try a career counseling service. An outstanding
example of such a service is the Career Action Center (CAC) in
Cupertino, California. If you cannot afford a career counseling
service or if you do not have one in your area, you may wish to try
the self-help route. Richard Nelson Bolles' What Color Is Your
Parachute? is a wonderful book and is essential for anyone who is
reentering the job market or unsure of their direction. For the
past 30 years, Bolles has updated the book annually to keep pace
with the changing job market.
This concludes Part One of a two-part article on
resumé holes. In the second installment, we will discuss how to
fill resumé holes and how to step over them during an
interview.
Adrienne Horowitz Kitts, the new Careers Editor for
AWIS Magazine, started her scientific career at the University of
California, Davis, where she earned her bachelor's and master's
degrees in Animal Science. She then went on to Cornell University
where she spent three years working toward her PhD in Animal
Science, specializing in reproductive physiology. The PhD never
materialized, but the experience helped Adrienne realize that her
love of science and teaching need not be restricted to the academic
arena, so she took her talents to industry where she spent three
years as a technical support specialist at a gene discovery
company. Adrienne met her husband at work and later followed him to
Maryland when he received an appointment at the National Institutes
of Health (NIH). At this juncture, Adrienne decided to reassess her
career; she used most of the techniques in the following article to
make decisions about her future career path and fill in a resumé
"hole" of many months. Adrienne is now a science writer for the
National Center for Biotechnology Information at NIH.