Career Gap

Hi, I have a gap in my resume, my recent work experience ended last November 2015.

Therefore I have now a 4 months gap or being jobless.

The reality was I went to dubai for 3 months (for job hunt) LOL .

and here’s what I use in an Interview

I would like to move from Back office into Front office, so I took it also as an opportunity to have my vacation as It was the only time that I could take a break due to the reason that I’ll be taking CFA level 3 and I’ll be studying again for it.

and it seems like that my answer is being seen by the HR as a Red Flag, anyone can give me a better way to reason out my gap?

4 month unemployed isn’t bad, but saying you took those months off in the winter to study for L3 when the exam is in June sounds like bullsht and I doubt HR would buy it

How should I answer them better?

perhaps you can state that you in fact did go to Dubai for job opporunities but then found this position that you applied for as being the best fit

Just say that you took some time off to travel.

Here’s the way I see your situation…

First – what does it mean “study again for it”. Did you fail before? More than once? Why disclose that information voluntarily if not asked.

Second – you are trying to make the switch to front office, a very competitive environment with top performers. Taking time off to study makes you look like a below-average performer considering that most people study for CFA and work full time jobs simultaneously. Red flag.

Just be honest, tell them you’ve been very selective where you apply because you want your career to progress and it takes time to land the right role. And that you’ve also traveled because you realize that your next role might be very demanding and taking vacation time might be difficult.

I wouldn’t worry too much about 4 months, especially with Thanksgiving and Christmas making everything slow.

And going to Dubai to look for positions sounds like a reasonable thing to do.

Simply stating you want to move from back office to front office sounds like a horrible idea, you should argue in terms of the role, job function, your interest and how they allign with the position rather than simply wanting to move to front office. Three months gap you could just say the truth which is you moved to Dubai networking and looking for jobs but decided that this new role is a much better fit in terms of location and responsibilities.

“To get a breath of fresh air from the toxic corporate world”

Yeah well, that’s a given lol

i wouldn’t sweat it too much most people should undertand your situation… but then again the corporate world can be cruel

yeah I think thats about the amount of time a normal frenchie takes for yearly vacation