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Did you volunteer? Sometimes we end up volunteering without even realizing it, as when you organize your area block party ("organized local social gatherings for my neighbors"), participate more fully in your kids' activities ("participate in youth organizations and mentoring"), or when you volunteer to help with a professional organization, hoping for a job lead ("edited the newsletter for a professional organization of over six hundred local professionals.")

* Did you blog? "I participated in online communities and blogged professionally about an area of my expertise."

If, however, you wake up one day and find that six months have passed you by with nothing to show for it but a level 150 druid in World of Warcraft, get off the couch right then and there and go out and do something. When the question comes up in your interview, you can mention that you were pursuing "personal goals," but make it absolutely clear that you weren't in jail or rehab.

And if you were in rehab? Be truthful: "I started the process of recovering from some physical and mental health challenges." Employers can't discriminate against you for being an addict unless you're off the wagon. And if they don't hire you because they're scared of you, you probably wouldn't have found the right environment there anyway.

Learn more about this author, Stephanie Bryant.
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