Navigating Career Gaps and Marital Status: How Should She Address Employers' Concerns?

Career Gap and Marital Status Dilemma

If a young woman is divorced and has a total of 3 years gap (not continuously) in her career, it is because she first moved to her husband's city after marriage. She took one year to adjust to her husband's family and then joined another job after marriage. However, she had to leave that job too after a year, as she was going through a bad marriage phase followed by a divorce for 2 years.

Now, she wants to find a job again. However, the difficulty is that in most jobs, marital status is asked. She can say she is unmarried, but employers often don't prefer unmarried women in their late 20s or early 30s, assuming that if she gets married, she may leave the job, as is often the case in India. If she says she is unmarried, won't employers ask for justification for the 3-year gap in her career?

Can she say that she is married and that until now her husband had postings in different cities, so she couldn't work? But if the employer happens to learn that she is divorced, could it become an integrity issue? I mean, is hiding the real marital status and stating something false to the employer an integrity issue?

Please advise on what she should do.

I presume this situation refers to you—rather than someone else. You have two options at the resume stage itself.

1. Just delete the 'Marital status' field in the resume you send to prospective employers. Be silent on this aspect.

2. Include the field but mention 'single' rather than 'married' or 'unmarried'.

Once you reach the stage of an interview (F2F or Telecon) with any company, you can give the real input only if asked about this aspect. Regarding the possibility of the employer insisting later (while finalizing the offer or after joining) about your marital status, you can mention the actual reason.

Recently, we had one candidate who is currently in the USA and looking to relocate to India—she handled this part admirably well by saying that her marital status will not come in the way of her relocating to India (when we asked her about her husband and if he will also relocate). Even now, we aren't clear if she is divorced—and we or our client aren't bothered, since he wouldn't be a part of her decision or the actual relocation. Hope you get the point.

All the best.

Regards,
TS

Handling Marital Status in Job Applications

The advice given by TS would not work. Lots of companies also include marital status in an online form where you only have to tick the choice. "Divorcee" could be one of the options provided by the employer. In India, being a divorcee is still viewed negatively by many people. Therefore, you must handle this situation very carefully.

Regards

I think Ravi has a point when it comes to online forms. You may not have a problem if the wording used is 'single' instead of 'unmarried'. In situations where the options of 'Divorcee' or 'Single' aren't available in the online forms, one way to handle this could be to call HR and explain the problem to them. If you are told that divorcees aren't welcome, just let that opening go—better now than later in the whole selection process. All the best.

Regards,
TS

I think you should be honest and put "divorcee" as your marital status. Organizations that discriminate based on marital status are not worth working for anyway. I do not think being divorced is a taboo any longer in our country, and people who think it is belong to the Jurassic age, best avoided.

Thank you, everyone, for your replies.

@Tejasteesh - You presumed right, it's me. I can avoid mentioning my marital status as you suggested in your options, but what justification can I give for the gap in my career then?

Career Gap Explanation

I am not able to think of any good reason which I can state for a 3-year gap. I don't understand what excuse I can make for that. I recently attended a couple of interviews, and the interviewer asked me why I wasn't working for the last 2 years and what I was doing between the last two previous jobs. I have to tell them that I got married and moved to my husband's city. Then, after one year, I found a new job, but it was very hectic doing up-down to this city, so I left that job and started giving tuitions. But now I moved to this city, so I want to start working again. Now, when I give the reason for marriage, this says it all. Then they want to know what my husband is doing. Here is where the problem arises. I can well avoid telling my marital status, but it automatically gets revealed when I have to explain the career gap. Then I have only two options: either tell them that I am married or tell them I am divorced.

Concerns About Career Gap and Marital Status

The real problem is not being a divorcee, but the gap in the career. I have a doubt that the employer might judge me that even though I was going through a divorce, still why I did not work for 2 years. I don't know how they might view this, but I know I had genuine reasons for not working, not because I wasn't serious about my career. But how do I present it to the employer? I am sharing some personal information here to get advice, but I don't find it appropriate to tell everything to the employer.

Regards

The answer to your query on how to handle the career gap is quite simple, especially since the gap is not continuous. You can explain that you had personal issues to address at home or with family where your focus and presence were crucial, and you didn't want to compromise any job by being distracted. Now that matters are resolved on the home/family front, you are eager to re-enter the workforce. This approach allows you to be truthful without divulging specific personal reasons to anyone who inquires. Once you feel comfortable with the individual(s) involved, you can share more details.

Most companies are understanding of this rationale as it pertains to personal matters, and by extension, you are subtly indicating your commitment to maintaining focus and integrity in your work. Best of luck.

Regards,
TS