by Swati Nitin Gupta

Created on: January 08, 2009   Last Updated: October 12, 2011

Global recession has affected millions of employees all over the world. Millions lost their jobs owing to the cost cutting in some of the big companies. And although nobody wants to be unemployed they were forced to leave their jobs with most of them worried about the unemployed stamp on their resumes, since it is a common belief in the working culture that an unemployed status can reflect badly on our resume.

However, there is a condition attached to it and that is unless you have a history of changing your jobs as quickly as you change your clothes then your unemployed status will not affect your resume that much.

That said there can be various reasons which can result in gaps in your resume and one of them is prolonged unemployment. As I said unemployment may not affect your resume as badly as seniors predicted. In fact it can be taken as a gap to increase one's expertise.

But whatever said and done you should always remember to be honest in your resume. It is better to give the specific dates while creating a resume rather than fabricating them or stretching them to cover unemployment as you would be caught sooner or later. If you are caught sooner than you will not get hired and if you are caught at the later stage, which means that you have already secured the coveted position you will be sacked immediately.

And make sure to send a covering letter explaining your prolonged unemployed status. Sending a covering letter will help you to describe the real reason for your unemployment which can be due to any reason.

So let's have a look at how one can use the period of unemployment to their benefit and thus stopping themselves for either fabricating the truth or blatantly lying on their resumes.

While you are waiting to get a job there are few things that you can do make your unemployed status productive and they are as follows:

Professional course: Try to do a professional course that you wanted to do but could not because of busy work schedule. Not only will it help you in the long run but it will open the gates for other job opportunities also in your industry.

Networking: Networking is the best way to stay abreast with the things in your industry. And we all know making contacts have always helped human beings rather than hindering their growth.

Read a lot: The sole purpose of reading is to gain maximum knowledge about your respective field and the latest happenings in your industry. Go to Internet and read what the experts are saying about the hiring trends among various other things.

Hopefully these steps will clear your mind about the myth that unemployment can affect your resume badly. In fact it is in our hands to turn something negative into something positive.

Learn more about this author, Swati Nitin Gupta.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.