Adding a Career Break on LinkedIn

The following post explores Adding a Career Break on LinkedIn.

Are you worried about an employment gap on your LinkedIn profile? Adding a ‘Career Break’ to your LinkedIn profile is one of the best ways to approach this common insecurity amongst job seekers.

Read: Adding Job Location Type on LinkedIn

Related: Is LinkedIn Premium Career Worth It?

In case you missed it, LinkedIn rolled out ‘career break’ functionality, giving users the ability to spotlight a ‘career break’ on their profile to compensate for an employment gap.

Here’s what you need to know.

Overview

LinkedIn’s Career Break feature allows users to add a dedicated entry to their profile explaining a gap in employment without making it look like missing work history.

It’s designed to help professionals document time away from the workforce for reasons such as layoffs, caregiving, education, health matters, relocation, or career transitions.

Rather than leaving recruiters to make assumptions about an employment gap, the feature gives users a way to provide context directly within their Experience section.

Types of Career Breaks

LinkedIn allows users to classify a career break under several categories designed to reflect personal and professional circumstances that may explain time away from the workforce.

The available options include bereavement, career transition, caregiving, full-time parenting, gap year, layoff or position elimination, health and well-being, personal goal pursuit, professional development, relocation, retirement, travel, and voluntary work.

The purpose of these categories is to help users provide context for employment gaps rather than leaving recruiters or hiring managers to make assumptions.

Pictured below is a screenshot of the available career break options. 

Adding a Career Break

Adding a Career Break to your LinkedIn profile works much like adding a new position in your Experience section.

You simply select the career break category that best matches your situation, then enter supporting details such as dates, location, and a written description of your experience (up to 2,000 characters).

LinkedIn also allows users to enhance the entry with supporting media, including documents, photos, videos, presentations, websites, and other relevant materials where appropriate.

Here’s how a blank career break form looks on LinkedIn:

Career Break Example

Not every career break is tied to a layoff, caregiving responsibility, or formal professional development.

Sometimes time away from work is intentional and centered around personal experiences, life goals, or opportunities that still help explain an employment gap in a meaningful way.

For example, imagine taking a multi-month career break to travel across Europe. While spending time in Italy, you might need to know the best way to send money to Italy to cover short-term housing, transportation, or everyday expenses. In situations like this, using the career break functionality on your LinkedIn profile is a smart way to show recruiters and hiring managers what you were doing.

Pictured below is a screenshot of a career break entry on a LinkedIn profile.

In Conclusion

In conclusion, I hope you find this article helpful if you’re thinking about adding a career break on LinkedIn. Employment gaps are normal in today’s world. Whether you’re sightseeing across Europe, providing care for an ill family member, or pursuing a personal goal – now you’re able to communicate the context around your employment gap to hiring managers and recruiters.

If you’re ready for professional assistance with building your LinkedIn profile, we’re here to support you. Please use the Contact Us or Submit Your Resume for a risk-free evaluation. JobStars is an A+ BBB-rated service that has earned multiple consecutive Complaint Free Awards.