Career gaps are way more common than most people think. Here is how to handle them with confidence and without being apologetic.
Gaps are now the norm, not the exception
If you have a break in your work history, you are in good company. Research published by LiveCareer UK in 2025, based on analysis of 19 million UK CVs, found that only 51% of job seekers had a continuous work history, down from 61% in 2020. Nearly one in three CVs now feature a gap of six months or more.
Redundancy, parental leave, caring responsibilities, health, burnout, travel, further study. The reasons are varied and entirely ordinary. The way you present a gap on your CV, and talk about it in interviews, matters far more than the gap itself.
Do you need to explain every gap?
Short gaps of a month or two rarely need any explanation. They read as normal transitions between roles and most recruiters will not flag them.
Longer gaps are worth addressing, but not with a lengthy explanation in the main body of your CV. The CV is not the place for a detailed account of what happened. It is a document designed to build a positive case for your suitability for a role. A brief, factual note is enough at this stage.
How to address a gap on your CV
The simplest approach is to include a short line in your work history that accounts for the period. For example:
Career break, March 2023 to September 2023: Parental leave. Career break, June 2022 to February 2023: Full-time carer for a family member. Career break, January 2024 to August 2024: Period of ill health, now fully recovered.
If you were doing anything productive during the gap, such as freelance work, volunteering, courses or consultancy, include it. If you were not, a simple factual statement is fine. Leaving the gap unaddressed tends to draw more attention to it than a brief note would.
How to talk about it in interviews
This is where candidates often struggle. The key is to address the gap briefly, factually and with confidence, then move on. Recruiters are not looking for a full debrief. They want to know you are now focused, ready and the right person for the role.
A structure that works well: acknowledge it plainly, explain it briefly, explain what you did during the period if relevant, then signal that you are now ready and motivated.
"I took some time out to care for a family member. That situation has now resolved and I am fully focused on my next role. In the meantime I kept up to date with the industry by..."
Do not apologise for it. Do not over-explain. Do not volunteer negative detail you have not been asked for.
The bigger picture
Attitudes to career gaps are shifting. As the LiveCareer UK research notes, career gaps have become a defining feature of the modern British job market. Most hiring managers are familiar with the reasons behind them and, increasingly, they are not the barrier they once were.
What matters is how you frame your experience as a whole, how well your CV presents your achievements, and how confidently you carry yourself in the room.
If you have a gap on your CV and want to make sure the rest of your application is as strong as it can be, get a free CV review from one of our career professionals.