Should i justify my cv

How can you talk about the slowest periods of your professional life in a positive way at a job interview? Have you ever experienced a moment like this yourself that you are afraid to bring up during a recruitment process? Did you choose to stop working for a personal or familial reason? Were you a victim of harassment, or did you experience burnout or a surprise dismissal?

Was it the case that you no longer liked your job and felt the need to take stock before changing? Or did you simply leave a job and need time to refocus? We understand. Sometimes, life throws surprises at us, and we need to know how to review our priorities in order to adapt.

While these periods are often a source of worry, start by making peace with your past. We all have good reasons for going through quieter times professionally. These gaps, whether they are out of your control, for example in the case of burnout or redundancy, or chosen, such as a sabbatical, parental leave or a career change, can occur at one time or another in your life, and thus have repercussions on your career.

So ask yourself: what were the reasons or circumstances that led to this gap? Take the time to go over your previous experiences and the events that led to this break in your career, and practise expressing what happened in a simple way. Explore more in our section: Candidates.

Who says a break automatically means professional inactivity? Think about how you spent your days during this downtime. There are many possibilities depending on the reasons behind the interruption in your career:.

Take the time to list everything you did to show that you stayed active and used your break in a structured way. Learn more about: Job interviews. Have you listed all the professional, extraprofessional and even personal activities you did during your break? This reassures the recruiter that you will get back into the swing of things as quickly as possible after your break!

Every professional transition, regardless of its duration, is also an opportunity to take a step back, to think introspectively and to get clarity on future choices. A burnout or family troubles can certainly be tough, but it gives you the opportunity to reassess your priorities. These are all positive arguments to bring up during the interview.

To do this, you can practise writing out your story before the interview, focusing on any transitional periods. Based on your findings, adopt the most suitable CV format. Good luck! Working on your CV? Recommended resources:. Write a Cover letter Cover letter writing guide Cover letter tips Cover letter salary expectations. By using the site you agree to our privacy settings. Read More Accept.

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This really depends on the CV layout , design and also personal preference, some people like justified text whilst others do not. A good idea is to create two versions of your CV one justified and one not and then compare them both.

Perhaps show them to some friends and ask their opinion. What not to put in your CV. Why CVs are rejected. Writing a career objective statement. Forgot your password? Lost your password?