Linked: LinkedIn Wants to Normalize Career Breaks With New Feature
I like the idea, and I think their motives are in the right place with this:
“Business-oriented social network LinkedIn says it’s trying to end the stigma surrounding career breaks by encouraging users to highlight what they learned from these experiences. The Microsoft-owned company is releasing a feature on Tuesday that will allow people to add a career break to their LinkedIn profiles through the desktop site or mobile app, giving them a way to explain the gaps in their resume. Career break types include parenting, layoffs, bereavement, career transition and travel. Career breaks will be listed under a user’s experience.
“The goal here is to be able to provide space for people to share more context and color about how these experiences have helped them grow and develop skills that are valuable in life and at work,” said Camilla Han-He, a senior product manager at LinkedIn.”
Of course, the real question is will hiring managers also shift their perspectives and hiring practices? All the LinkedIn details for a gap in the world won’t change the culture if hiring managers immediately toss any resumes with one before even trying to understand why it’s there.
Hopefully, that is coming. There are a whole lot of really talented folks who’ve been forced to take a gap in their employment in the last couple of years. Good organizations have the opportunity to scoop them up while all those bad managers are turning up their noses at “employment gaps”.
What a good idea if actually practiced by hiring managers.