Resume gaps don’t define candidates, skills do

Adriana Rivera hadn’t planned to take a 14-year career break, but “… the best laid plans …,” as the saying goes. When she decided to re-enter the workforce, her biggest worry wasn’t that she lacked the technical chops to succeed, but how her lengthy career break would be perceived by potential employers.

“When I was looking to come back, I felt really good about my skills. But I knew that the bias against working moms, or women who take a break to raise kids, was going to be an obstacle,” Rivera says. “I was confident I could do the work; about eight or nine years into my break I’d done a technical internship. But when I applied to jobs, I either wasn’t hearing anything back at all, or they’d tell me I needed ‘up-to-date’ skills. That really tanked my confidence,” she says.

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