Is my recent career break stopping me from getting a job?

I have been in long-term employment all of my working life. A couple of years ago with a combination of burnout, pressing family issues and my own health, I decided to take a career break. I saw short-term contracts as the ideal solution; it gave me a chance to take work as it suited me, meet new people, diversify my skills and have a break from high-pressure roles.

Until last year the work had been consistent and plentiful, and I enjoyed the change. I decided recently it was time to get back into a permanent role and have found the job market has really changed. I’ve applied for multiple roles across various industries where my skill sets could be applied, and I have many rejections. I read an article the other day which talks about ‘the temp trap’ where people who take short-term roles are seen by recruiters and future employers as fickle and uncommitted.

I have tailored my resume, signed up with endless recruiters and have been flexible with my wage, role and hours offered in my applications. Sometimes I feel that leaving work to have children would have been more of a ‘forgivable offence’ than becoming a contractor. How do I get off this wheel and get prospective employers to take notice?

The data may suggest it’s an easy time to get a job, but a patchy resume can look like bad news in the eyes of recruiters.Credit: John Shakespeare

If you look at statistics alone, it’s easy to get the impression that things are pretty good for people looking for a job at the moment. In fact, when I spoke with Dr Gabrielle Golding from Adelaide University, and she mentioned some data very much along those lines.

“The latest ABS ‘Labour Force’ data indicates that, in trend terms, in August 2024 the unemployment rate remained at 4.1 per cent; the participation rate remained at 67 per cent and employment increased to 14,443,600 people [in Australia],” she said.

“A June 2024 KPMG ‘Australian Labour Market in Detail Report’ revealed that even though the reported number of job vacancies has come off peak, they remain high, even in relation to pre-COVID levels, and especially in health and personal services occupations.”

Recruiters are relying more and more on AI to do the heavy lifting for them.

There’s a catch, though. In fact, there are a few, and one of them does, as you’ve asked, relate to how employers might view a resume with multiple short contract stints on it.

“It is reasonable to expect that when applying for a permanent position, a prospective employee who has held many short-term appointments may be seen as less reliable and settled,” Golding told me.

“To my mind, it would be important to craft a suitable and honest narrative around the reason for successive short-term appointments when applying for a future ongoing and permanent role. The explanation may be entirely reasonable and make sense to a prospective future employer.”

That’s very similar to the advice offered by a senior HR professional who spoke to me anonymously. I know you mentioned to me in our correspondence that you doubted whether people even read cover letters any more, but this HR professional said those responsible for hiring do indeed read them.

And they provide an opportunity to address your contracting directly, highlighting why you chose these positions, and focusing on what you learnt in that period and what additional skills or experience you have gained as a result. This approach reduces ambiguity and highlights to the recruiter that your contract role was a strategic choice and not a bump in the road.

It will probably come as no surprise that recruiters are busy and almost always underresourced, so don’t have the capacity to speak with every applicant. Yes, my contact told me, this often means they are not employing the best person for the role.

“Instead, they proceed with the people they think will most likely get through the selection rounds, in full knowledge of the bias and priorities of hiring managers,” they said.

And, finally, keep in mind that recruiters are relying more and more on AI to do the heavy lifting for them. Although often unreliable, the tools will apply a ‘job match rating’ to applicants.

To improve your chance of achieving a high rating, update your CV to include keywords and criteria from the job advert. The bot will be kinder to you as a result of your efforts.

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