Resume gaps aren't career death—here's how to frame them

For your cohort—senior professionals with 10-20 years of track record—a career gap is rarely fatal. Your leverage is different from a junior re-entrant. The risk is not that employers will reject you outright, but that you'll undersell yourself by being defensive or vague. If you've stepped back (to care for family, manage health, or reset), the frame is critical: was it a strategic pause or an enforced absence? Either way, own it with the same clarity you'd use in a board presentation.

The article's core insight applies sharply to Pivots: if you're moving into fintech, product, or AI, a gap or lateral move looks less like lost time and more like deliberate field preparation. A Climber with a gap needs to acknowledge it but quickly move on to demonstrating how the pause strengthened judgment, networks, or resilience—qualities directors are hired for. Practice the 30-second version before interviews; it should sound like strategy, not apology.

Don't over-elaborate on your resume itself. A simple, honest label ('career break', 'advisory role', 'sabbatical') is enough. Save the narrative for the conversation, where tone and confidence will do the heavy lifting. And if you're returning after caregiving, don't strip that from your story—reframe it as evidence of prioritisation and long-term thinking, which is precisely what leaders need to demonstrate.