5 Tips for Highlighting a Gap Year on Your CV

In this article, we will talk about the gap year in the sense of a year that cuts your studies and is not imposed by your school. It could just as easily be a year of travel, a year of study in another field, or a year of internship. Usually, we don’t really have a “gap year” culture. But don’t panic, mentalities are changing. Taking a gap year and having a great CV is far from being two incompatible things. It all depends on how you talk about it. You can think about it before you leave, but it’s not too late when you return. Here’re the top 5 tips for highlighting a gap year in the CV.

Play with transparency 

This gap year is a differentiating factor in the eyes of employers. There is no point in trying to hide it on your CV as if it were an error in the trajectory. On the contrary, you must rather assume it and transform it into an asset that can distinguish you from other candidates.

Even a gap year that didn’t go as well as you hoped has bound to teach you something. Take stock as soon as you return by writing a sort of report on your experience. Then complete it a few weeks later once you’ve taken a step back.

Also, get information on the trending myths in your workspace.

Valuing the project itself 

A gap year is above all the realization of a project . Whatever it is, it is this project that you must try to sell to the employer by showing him how it can help you to work in his company. Objective: to show your capacity for initiative but also your ability to organize yourself and carry out a major project. Finding an internship, accommodation, planning a trip or finding an association abroad is not easy. This first step alone shows that you have a number of skills.

Concerning the project itself and the way you experienced it, detail it clearly by mentioning each of your activities. For example, if you worked within an association you can explain the interest of your position and detail each of your missions.

Highlight the results obtained and skills acquired 

How did this experience help you complete your training? What have you accomplished or discovered? Think about all the things you couldn’t have done, discovered or learned without this experience. Be ready to bounce back during the interview by explaining this to your future employer. The objective is to articulate the whole thing as a demonstration, in the most rational way possible. This is why the results and skills acquired during your gap year will speak all the more to a potential employer. 

Do not hesitate to argue in a “storytelling” way. Imagine that you are telling a story so as not to lose sight of the coherence of your project, from its genesis to its completion, emphasizing the assessment you make of it. It can also be useful to link this project to your training.

Where to put it in the CV? 

Where you choose to place this gap year experience on your CV is significant. In most cases, a trip will fit better in a part of your CV devoted to your interests. If you worked on-site (volunteer or not), you can mention this gap year in a part of your CV devoted to your experiences.

It’s up to you to give more details about the experience you had during this gap year in your cover letter. You can talk about the organization of this project, the reasons that pushed you to do it as well as what it brought you on a personal level and the qualities & skills that you have developed…

During an internship abroad, it may be interesting to talk about what you have discovered about the work culture abroad during this experience and how this strengthens your employability. Or how this year has allowed you to come back with a new perspective on certain issues.

Also read : Tips for making a video CV

Don’t bet everything on this experience

Most recruiters will be very receptive to this experience, but not all will. Be prepared that the person opposite does not value it as much as you do. Be ready to bounce on another asset in your journey. This advice also applies to the CV, this experience must not occupy a disproportionate part. It is certainly important but should not overshadow everything you have done before, it should rather be anchored in the continuity of your career. The fact that it occupies a place roughly proportional to your other experiences on your CV will reinforce its coherence.

Finally, prefer the term “gap year” or “development year” to that “sabbatical year”. The expression sabbatical year is a little too connoted vacation or holidays while the gap year and even more so that of development will be taken all the more seriously insofar as your project holds up.