Dear Cindy – Counting the Years

I'm preparing a new résumé. I have a few years of nursing experience, and I had a year off for a maternity leave a year ago. How do I indicate this on my résumé?

Sincerely,

Stating Facts

I'm glad that you want to indicate it on your résumé! Unfortunately, most people don't. Rather, they do things like write "May 2001 to May 2005, Staff Nurse - CCU, Hospital X." Then, when the applicant is being interviewed, the recruiter finds out that, in reality, the person was off for two of these four years for maternity or other leaves. The person doesn't have four years of experience, the person has two years of experience. It leaves the recruiter feeling tricked and leaves the impression that the applicant is dishonest.

So if you had a leave during a job, indicate the whole date range for that job, e.g., June 2002 to June 2005. But in parentheses next to that date, or in the work description accompanying it, clearly say that you took a leave during a certain date range, e.g., May 2002 to May 2003 "On personal leave" or "On leave of absence," etc.

Employers don't (legally) want to know that you were off specifically on maternity leave, but they do want to know (accurately) how much experience you have.