Pandemic Resume Gap
Adam Palmer • November 3, 2020
The pandemic rages on. Life has even seemed to get back to normal in a few areas around the country. However, despite the unemployment rate lowering, there are still many people who have been without a job since the beginning of the shutdown and others who have lost their jobs in the recent months because of their companies downsizing due to prolonged shutdowns.
We know everyone has looming questions outside of “How do I find a job?”
- I have been unemployed for several months. How do I address the gap in my resume?
- If I get an interview, what do I tell them I have been doing during my unemployment?
Let’s first discuss the resume gap. While it might feel odd having nothing filling in your resume for the last several months, do not sweat it. You are not alone. Employers and HR professionals alike are having to overlook this for the foreseeable future.
This leads to the next question regarding how to discuss that gap during an interview. If asked what you have been doing, it is perfectly acceptable to answer that you have been sheltering in place and spending time with your family. You are not required to give more information than that. In this challenging time in our history, the silver lining is that many of us are getting more time with our family. However, it will always look good if you have been bettering yourself in some way. Whether you worked on your at-home baking skills, took online yoga classes, or one of any number of free online education courses available, something showing that you have been bettering yourself is always a good look.
If you have been spending time, protecting yourself and your family during the shutdown, that is a perfectly legitimate answer, but if you have the time and ability to pick up a new skill, it can only help you.
Finding the right talent is important for your business to grow, but it can also be one of the most difficult. If you make the wrong hire, it can be a waste of money and productivity. At Summit Careers, we know this is why more employers are trying the temp-to-hire staffing model. Think of a temp-to-hire arrangement as a real-world evaluation period. An employee works temporarily through a staffing partner while the employer and candidate decide whether it’s a good fit. This process can benefit both the business and the employee. Eliminating the Financial Burden of "The Bad Hire" The financial impact of a mismatched placement is due to costs of background checks, onboarding time, and advertising overhead. Research indicates that a bad hire can cost 30% or more of that employee's first-year projected earnings. Under a temp-to-hire structure, the financial liability shifts significantly. Because the candidate remains on the staffing agency’s payroll during the trial period, the direct financial hit is limited. If the candidate fails to meet performance benchmarks, the assignment can be terminated without addressing unemployment claims or severance packages. True Skill Validation An interview process only reveals how well an applicant can navigate interviews. Resumes can tell great stories, but the truth comes in a real professional evaluation. The temp-to-hire framework grants managers a front-row seat to an individual's authentic work ethic, problem-solving capabilities, and technical skills during the agreed-upon trial period. Employers can assess factors such as punctuality, adherence to deadlines, and job accuracy. Cultural Alignment While someone may have all the right skills, they may not be a cultural fit for the organization. This means they don’t communicate well with the team. This can disrupt projects and upset other team members. By integrating someone into your daily work environment on a trial basis, you get a real look at how they interact with supervisors, peers, and clients. It provides the team with a preview of future collaboration. If it’s not a good fit during the trial period, it likely won't be a good fit in a permanent setting. Protecting Morale When an open position goes unfilled for months, your existing team bears the brunt of the burden, absorbing extra shifts and splitting duties. This causes burnout and spikes your attrition risk. If you rush to make a permanent hire and it is a poor fit, it sets the cycle in motion again. Temp-to-hire offers immediate operational relief. The staffing partner handles the heavy lifting of sourcing, screening, and the rapid deployment of qualified talent. Your current workforce gets the immediate support they need. Leadership gets the necessary time to evaluate the candidate's long-term fit. Budget Adjustments If your business has a slow season and a busy season, temp-to-hire roles let you scale your hiring to meet these needs. This way you can save money when you don’t need the extra help. How Temp-to-Hire Can Help Your Business Utilizing a temp-to-hire strategy takes the guesswork out of whether a new hire will be a good fit. By partnering with a dedicated staffing agency, your leadership team gains complete confidence that every permanent addition to your organization has been proven and fully aligned with your long-term vision. To learn how a temp-to-hire situation can help your company, contact Summit Careers today. We help countless companies find the right employees daily.
These days, everything is getting automated, and the hiring process is no different. With just one click, employers can post an opening to dozens of national job boards, and automated Applicant Tracking Systems can screen hundreds of resumes in seconds. While all of that sounds good on paper, many businesses are quickly realizing that something is missing. This digital hiring marketing is resulting in mismatched applications, ghosted interviews, and unqualified candidates. That is why more people are turning to local staffing agencies like Summit Careers. It is necessary to put the human element back into the hiring process. Navigating Local Markets The digital hiring market cannot account for the hyperlocal factors that influence a candidate’s actual employment choices. A regional staffing partner understands the realities of your specific market. This can include commuting barriers. A candidate might look perfect on a digital dashboard, but a local expert knows that specific transportation limitations may be difficult. Hiring this person may result in high turnover. Local staffing agencies understand exactly what neighboring facilities are offering in real time, helping you put together a compensation package to secure top talent. Sifting Through Unqualified Candidates Digital hiring platforms have made applying for a job so easy that it has created an unprecedented volume of noise. HR departments are routinely flooded with hundreds of generic resumes generated or enhanced by AI tools. This can make it hard for employers to find the real deal. Local staffing agencies can find the real treasures. Instead of relying solely on keyword scanning, recruiters conduct in-person or localized video interviews. They can check local references and verify hands-on skills before a candidate even comes into your office. Unlocking the Passive Talent Network Did you know that the highest-quality personnel are rarely sitting on job boards all day? Instead, they are typically working steadily. But they keep lines of communication open with trusted local recruiters whom they have known for years in case the perfect job opens up. By doing this, you don’t miss out. A local agency relies heavily on word-of-mouth referrals and professional trust. When an urgent or highly specialized need arises, a local recruiter doesn't just post an ad and wait; they pick up the phone and call professionals they know who are ready to make a move for the right opportunity. Quick Hiring When a production line faces a sudden spike, a key employee unexpectedly leaves, or a major seasonal project gets the go-ahead, you need qualified employees ready to work now. In a digital hiring market, the process has to play out. This takes time you don’t have. When you lean on local staffing groups, they have pre-screened talent that is ready to move. Because background checks, basic onboarding orientations, and skill verifications are already completed, a local partner can often deploy reliable personnel right away. Building Accountability When you totally rely on a digital job platform, there is no accountability. If a candidate leaves after three days, the digital job board is not there for you. Local agencies operate on building relationships and accountability. If a placement doesn't work out, a local representative can come directly to your facility to assess what went wrong and do their best to make it right. They aren't just an app; they actively contribute to your operational success. If you succeed, it also helps build their credibility. Contact Summit Careers Today Digital tools are highly effective for tracking metrics, but they cannot replace regional relationships, human intuition, and local community presence. By partnering with a dedicated local staffing agency, such as Summit Careers, your organization gets the best of both worlds. We employ modern recruitment efficiency with the deep regional knowledge you need to build a stable, long-term workforce. Contact Summit Careers today and experience the difference.
If you’ve ever applied for a university job, you know that the process can be painstakingly slow. With search committees, multi-stage interviews, dean approvals, and more, a lot goes into the process. But taking too much time can kill the recruitment strategy. You may be missing out on high-quality candidates because the process is taking too long. While your committee is scheduling its third follow-up meeting, your top candidate has just accepted an offer from another institution that moved more quickly. This is just one of the reasons why speed matters in the hiring process. What Happens When the Hiring Process is Too Slow Here are some other factors to consider and why you want to speed up the process: The "Top-Tier" Candidate Pool Shrinks Instantly The most exceptional candidates are rarely available for long. When an institution takes weeks or months to decide whether to move forward with a candidate, it will lose them. Top-tier candidates often have their eggs in more than one basket. By the time a slow-moving department is ready to extend an offer, their top two or three choices are frequently already off the market. You aren't choosing from your best candidates anymore; you are choosing from who is left. Slowness Signals Bureaucracy The hiring process says a lot about an institution. If the process is dragged out and disorganized, a candidate may think twice about working there. If a candidate experiences radio silence, delayed scheduling, and endless administrative hurdles before they are even hired, they will assume that the university works at this slow pace as a whole. If the process is fast and clear, it can set a good precedent of what’s to come. The University Suffers When a search fails because the department was too slow to land its top candidates, there are severe consequences. A failed search can result in existing faculty bearing the extra workload, strategic initiatives being put on hold, and stalling departmental growth. How to Accelerate The Timeline Accelerating your hiring timeline does not mean lowering your standards. It means optimizing the logistics. Establish Hard Deadlines Before the Search Begins Committees often stall because they try to build the schedule as the search progresses. Instead, map out the entire search process before the job description even goes live. Secure dates for committee reviews, first-round interviews, and campus visits on faculty calendars months in advance. This will help to keep you on track. Define What Consensus Means Does consensus mean absolute, 100% agreement on every detail? Or does it mean that everyone has been heard, and a clear majority agrees on a candidate's viability? Endless debate often happens because committees confuse unanimity with consensus. Establish the voting and decision-making rules early. Empower the Search Chair If there are too many cooks in the kitchen, your hiring process will never move forward. Give the search chair the authority to keep the committee moving forward. If a committee member misses a feedback deadline, the process must move on without them. By keeping these factors in consideration, you can help to move the hiring process along so you don’t miss out on excellent candidates. If you need help with the hiring process, Summit Careers is here to help. We have a database of resumes from people seeking their next job in academia. Reach out to us today to learn more!
