求職時如何合理解釋失業經歷
Dear Annie:After almost 30 years in commercial banking, I took an early-retirement package during all the layoffs that went on in early 2009. It seemed like a good move at the time, but now I find I really miss working, and, since I'm still only in my early 50s, I've got at least another decade ahead in which to use my skills and experience. The problem is that five-year hole in my work history. I've spent the time taking some classes, doing a couple of consulting projects, and volunteering to help two local non-profits straighten out their finances. But my resume still shows no "real job" for those years, and the few employers I've met with recently have seemed to hold that against me. Do you and your readers have any suggestions on how to handle this? -- Minding the Gap
親愛的安妮：我曾經在商業銀行工作過30年。2009年初的裁員潮中，我接受了一筆提前退休金之後就退休了。當時，這似乎是很好的選擇，但現在我發現，自己非常懷念工作的時光。而且，我剛過50歲，至少還能用我的能力和經驗工作十年。問題在於，我的履歷中將會出現五年空白期。雖然這段時間我學習了一些課程，參加了幾個諮詢項目，還作爲志願者幫助當地兩家非盈利機構解決了財務問題。但這些年的經歷在簡歷上仍不算是“真正的工作”，我最近見過的僱主大多也拿這個來反對我。我該怎麼辦？您和您的讀者有什麼建議？——M.G.
Dear M.G.:Cold comfort though it may be, the number of long-term unemployed in the U.S. (defined as those out of work for six months or longer) seems stuck at about 3 million, so you can't be the only one wondering. The first step in overcoming the stigma attached to that gap is one you may already be taking: Bring it up yourself, rather than waiting for interviewers to ask.
親愛的M.G.：美國長期失業人口（指失業達六個月或更長的人）似乎達到了300萬人，所以你肯定不是唯一一個在思考這個問題的人，雖然這個事實可能起不到任何安慰的作用。而要克服履歷空白期這一劣勢，第一步是：自己主動提出，而不是等面試官問起。你可能已經做到了這一點。"Confront it," advises Patty Prosser, CEO of HR and talent-management consultants OI Global Partners. "Bring that hiatus up right at the start of the conversation, and enumerate all the things you've been doing to keep your knowledge and skills current. The more specific real-life examples you can provide, and the more closely they align with the job you're seeking, the better."
人力資源與人才管理諮詢公司OI Global Partners的CEO帕蒂•普羅瑟建議：“面對事實。在對話開始的時候就主動提出這段空白，同時詳細說明爲了讓自己的知識和能力一直保持在最佳狀態，你都做過哪些事情。你能夠提供的現實事例越具體，與你申請的工作的關係越密切，效果就越好。”
Your volunteer experience may be especially relevant to finance jobs you're applying for, but Prosser has seen plenty of job candidates downplay their unpaid achievements, or even neglect to mention them at all. "Making an impact in a volunteer organization often takes a very special set of 'people' skills that for-profit employers really value, so talk about that," she says. "Even if you 'only' led a band-parents' fundraiser at a child's school, for example, our career coaches would encourage you to tell how you got people engaged and what the outcome was."
你的志願者經歷與你正在申請的財務工作尤爲相關，但普羅瑟見過許多求職者，他們對作爲志願者所取得的成就，要麼輕描淡寫，要麼隻字不提。她說：“在志願者組織中產生影響，往往需要非常特殊的‘與人相關的’能力，而這些能力正是經營性公司僱主真正看重的東西。所以，不妨談談這些方面。即便你只是在孩子的學校負責家長團體的一項資金籌集活動，我們的職業教練也會鼓勵你談論一下如何讓人們參與其中，最後取得了怎樣的成就等。”The consulting projects you worked on probably helped keep you sharp, so talking about those is a good idea, too. Briefly describe any new skills you picked up and the results you accomplished -- and don't be surprised if those temporary gigs lead to an offer of another short-term project at a company where you're job-hunting. "A growing number of employers prefer to bring on new hires on a contract basis before deciding whether to hire them full-time," Prosser observes.
你參與的諮詢項目也能幫你保持敏銳度，所以談談這些經歷也是不錯的選擇。簡單介紹一下你學到了哪些新技能，實現了什麼樣的成果。如果你求職的公司因爲這些臨時工作給了你一份短期項目的工作邀請，不必大驚小怪。普羅瑟說：“越來越多的僱主在決定是否作爲全職員工聘用求職者之前，更喜歡先提供合同制的崗位。”Ford R. Myers, an executive career coach and author of Get the Job You Want, Even When No One's Hiring, agrees that tackling the issue head-on -- as opposed, he says, to "just hoping they won't notice" -- is your best bet. "Be forthright about it," he says. "Explain your early-retirement decision to interviewers in a professional, unapologetic way."
高管職業導師、《絕處逢生——怎樣在崗位荒中找到理想的工作》（Get the Job You Want, Even When No One's Hiring）一書的作者福特•R•梅爾斯同意，最好的做法是直面這個問題，而不是“寄希望於人們注意不到它”。他說：“直截了當地提出來。以專業、毫不後悔的方式，向面試官解釋當初提前退休的決定。”At the same time, Myers suggests a few ways to make your five years between "real jobs" less conspicuous on paper. First, if you haven't already done so, rewrite your resume using a functional format that groups all your past work together under different headings according to what you actually did ("Accounting," "Management," and so on), rather than when you did it. This "highlights your functional strengths, instead of focusing on dates of employment," he says.
與此同時，梅爾斯提供了五種方式，讓“真正工作”之間的五年空白在簡歷上看起來沒有那麼扎眼。首先，如果你還沒有這麼做，不妨使用按工作職能劃分的模式重寫簡歷，以自己實際做過的工作作爲小標題，而不是從事這些工作的時間。他表示，這樣做“可以突出你的職能優勢，而不是把重點放在就業日期上。”Since hiring managers skim most resumes (with or without chronological gaps) for no more than 10 seconds, Myers also urges that yours be as specific as you can make it. "Quantify everything you can, including retention rates, sales numbers, performance increase, and the number of people or projects you've managed," he advises. "Wherever possible, use percentages, hard numbers, and dollar figures."
有些招聘經理瀏覽大多數簡歷的時間不超過10秒鐘（不論是否有空），所以，梅爾斯還建議簡歷一定要儘量具體。他建議：“儘量把所有內容進行量化，包括人才保留率、銷售數字、績效提高，以及自己管理的人員或項目的數量等。如果可能的話，使用百分比、硬數據和美元數字。”Active verbs help too, he adds: "Words like 'create,' 'launch,' 'initiate,' 'devise,' and 'conduct' have a lot more impact than vague phrases such as 'responsible for.'"
他補充道，一些積極的動詞也會有所幫助。“比如‘創造’‘首創’、‘發起’‘策劃’和‘實施’等動詞，比‘負責’等模糊的短語更有效。”Try not to get discouraged if your job hunt takes a while, Myers adds. "Some employers will be open-minded and won't see your five-year gap as an obstacle to hiring you," he notes. "There will be others, however, who reject you purely on the basis of that gap. You need to expect this, and try not to take it personally." Or, as a health care executive Patty Prosser met with recently put it, keep in mind that "if you were smart five years ago, you're still smart now" -- or maybe even smarter. Good luck.
梅爾斯表示，如果你的求職過程需要花費很長時間，不要灰心。他說：“有的僱主非常開明，他們不會把你五年的空白期視爲聘用你的障礙。但也有人會因爲這段空白期而拒絕聘用你。你要做好這樣的心理準備，不要把它當作針對你個人的行爲。”或者，正如帕蒂•普羅瑟最近遇到的一位醫療行業高管所說，記住“如果你五年前是聰明人，五年後依然是聰明人”——甚至更聰明。祝你好運。
