For returners
Explain your career break before a recruiter guesses
Upload your CV and see exactly how your break, your dates and your tools read to a recruiter and to the screening software.
What a recruiter looks for after a two-year gap
After a two-year break, a recruiter is looking for one thing first: a dated, plain-language line that says where you were and what you did. Give them that and the gap stops being a question mark. Leave it blank and they fill it in themselves, usually with the least generous explanation available.
Your second reader is software. Most applicant tracking systems build your work history out of date ranges, so a missing end date, a text box or a two-column layout can quietly scramble your timeline. A CV that looks clean on your screen can land in the recruiter's inbox as three roles with no dates attached to them.
So the job of a returner CV is simple: close the gap and prove it. A freelance brief you delivered, a contract month, a certification finished this year, a volunteer role where you owned something real. HRLens reads your CV the way both readers do, flags every unexplained date range and every stale tool, then hands you a fix list you can work through in one evening.
Four things we check that generic CV tools skip
Your gap, framed on purpose
We flag every unexplained date range and show you where the one line that closes it belongs.
Parsed the way an ATS parses it
See your CV as the software reads it. If your timeline breaks, you'll know which line broke it.
Proof your skills are current
Courses, freelance work and certifications get checked for dates and relevance, not just listed and hoped for.
Recency where it gets seen
We look at your first third: this year's work, this year's tools, this year's results.
Three steps, one evening
1. Upload the CV you were about to send
PDF or Word, as it is. No template to pick first, no rewrite before you start.
2. Read the gap report
Section by section: what the parser mangled, which dates raise questions, which skills read as out of date.
3. Fix it, run it again, apply
Work down the list, re-upload, and send it once every flag is clear.
What gets flagged, and what to do about it
| What recruiters flag | How it reads to them | What to do instead |
|---|---|---|
| Dates with no explanation | Two silent years look like something you're hiding | Add a dated entry: caregiving, study, health, relocation. One line, plain words, no medical detail. |
| Tools from your last job only | Your stack stopped the year you left | List what you've used since, with the year. Drop anything you wouldn't defend in an interview. |
| A skills-first functional CV | Gap-hiding, and many parsers can't build a timeline from it | Go back to reverse chronological order, with the break listed as its own dated entry. |
| Nothing dated in the last 12 months | Still out, not ready to come back | Add one recent, dated item: a freelance brief, a contract week, a finished certification. |
See your break from the other side of the desk
Upload the CV you were about to send and find out what a recruiter and an ATS make of it.
Returner questions we get every week
How do I explain a two-year career break on my CV?
Treat it like a role. Add a dated entry with a plain label: parental leave, caregiving, health, full-time study, relocation. One sentence is enough, and you owe nobody the medical details. If you did anything with a date attached, freelance work, a course, a volunteer project, list it there. You're aiming for a timeline with no silent stretches.
Will an ATS reject my CV because of the gap?
No. Applicant tracking systems don't score gaps by themselves. What they do is parse date ranges into a work history, and a missing end date, a header box or a table can break that parse. The real risk is a scrambled timeline, not the break. A human notices the gap; the software just needs clean, readable dates.
Should I use a functional CV to hide the break?
No. Recruiters know the move and read it as concealment, and plenty of parsers can't assemble a timeline from a skills-first layout. Keep reverse chronological order and give the break its own dated line. You still control the story either way, and a straight timeline reads as confidence instead of as something being worked around.
What counts as proof my skills are still current?
Anything recent with a date and a result attached. A freelance brief you delivered, a contract month, a certification completed this year, a volunteer role where you owned something measurable. A course you started and abandoned doesn't count. Two or three current, dated items in your top third do more work than a long list of tool names.
How far back should my work history go after a break?
Ten to fifteen years of relevant roles, then stop. Older jobs can sit in a short earlier career line with titles and companies only. Trimming the deep history keeps you to two pages and pulls your most recent, most relevant work higher up the page, which is exactly where a returner needs it to be.