Has Your Client Been Unemployed for Quite a While?

Here's another "high-risk" type of client:

(2.) The applicant who's been unemployed for six months or more.

It's a fact that human resource personnel are unanimous in saying that they want their potential hires to have a proven track record with previous companies. In some instances, the job seeker who has been unemployed for a significant period of time may come across as worse than the one who's done a lot of career jumping. An interviewer will immediately see the gap in the applicant's resume.

If this is the case, there's only one thing that you can do:

You have to help your client present himself as "marketable," in spite of his apparent and glaring "deficiency."

But how do you this, as a resume writer?

The key here is to understand the reason your client has not had a job. Has he been actively looking for one and yet, his applications kept getting turned down?

Another valid reason is he may have deliberately decided not to look for a job in order to spend time honing his skills to increase his credentials. Maybe he took classes on business writing, or an introductory course in graphic design.

It is also not uncommon for a former employee to leave their jobs because of problems with certain situations at home, like having an elderly parent or relative who suddenly got ill and needed extra care and attention.

Or he may have invested time and money in a business or enterprise that is fairly new, so it went bankrupt and he wants to go back to the workplace again.

All such cases need particular attention, so in my next article installments, I'll cite possible ways to help you come up with a resume that can land your client a job.