While the pandemic might exacerbate the conversation, resume gaps and the taboo of having a career break are nothing new. For quite some time, there has been a stigma surrounding a career break. Despite the myriad of reasons to pursue one - including, but not limited to things like focusing on a newborn baby, on health, and chasing passions. 

There are several benefits to a career break. It is time to break the stigma and embrace career break as long as we use it efficiently and healthy. Important parts of your career journey and what makes you unique as a profession can be found through a career break. 

Still, it can be intimidating when an employer asks about the reason why you took the career break. While you are trying to navigate your way back to the workforce, here are three ways to leverage your career break as an advantage in your job search and regard it as an opportunity.

Show your career break on LinkedIn profile

Keep in mind that a career break is not shameful, nor should it be hidden from your professional story. Tackle the job search with transparency, authenticity, and honesty. 

In Linkedin, you can now add a career break into the experience. With various options to reflect the type of breaks, such as caregiving, health, career transition, and many more, you can share new experiences during your time away from a career. Specifically, highlight the skills and what you learned during that time.

Share your experience and learnings in job interviews

Some may feel difficult to exude confidence upon coming back from a career break. However, a fun fact is according to hiring managers, they believe in the proactiveness of their candidates to bring up about their career break-even before asked. 

When tackling interviews, you should focus less on your time away from the job. Instead, focus on the valuable skills that have helped you to grow during the time away. 

Network and connect with others who can help

If you have ever taken a career break, know that you are not alone. Many people have taken a career break at one point in their life. Therefore, do not be afraid to reach out to the professional community for help and advice. A post of polling question on Linkedin is another alternative to seek help and attract attention with the community. 

In your Linkedin profile, take notes that you need to be explicit about your goals and try to open the "open-to-work" feature. This lets the Linkedin community know that you are open to opportunities through a profile photo frame. Turning the feature will likely get a recruiter to message you by 2x, per report.