In this career‑coaching video, Natalie Fisher argues that employment gaps are not a flaw but a normal life event, and she teaches viewers how to reframe their mindset and present the gap confidently in interviews. She first condemns the bias that treats gaps as evidence of incompetence, then guides viewers to adopt a positive internal narrative—recognizing the gap as valuable time spent raising children, traveling, caregiving, upskilling, or freelancing. Fisher provides a concrete script: acknowledge the gap briefly, own the decision, express enthusiasm for returning to work, and shift focus to solving the employer’s problems. She illustrates how to tailor this approach for different gap reasons (parenting, travel, unemployment, caregiving, freelance work) and stresses that any period away from a formal job still involves work‑like activities (networking, learning, caregiving). The video also stresses that if an interviewer remains uncomfortable, it signals a poor cultural fit. Finally, Fisher invites viewers to subscribe, comment, and join a free three‑day training that expands on these strategies.
Chapters
How to respond when they ask about a career gap? Is a career gap a problem? Let's talk about it. Stay tuned. All right, I have a take on career gaps, and I really don't have any patience for people who don't have any sympathy for them or they don't like them. Like, if you encounter someone who's going to make that a problem for you, then I say that's just not the person you want to work for. Okay, and I think it's the most ridiculous thing ever that we would make it mean that someone's incapable, incompetent, unable. able to do the job because they took 2 years off to raise their kids, or because they decided they were going on a long travel-the-world vacation, or because they'd been, you know, they've been unemployed for however long. I think it is the stupidest thing in the world for someone to judge somebody for that and say, well, we're not gonna hire you because we don't like that gap on your resume. Okay, so here's how I recommend people tackle it. Talk about it, and it might be a bit different than what you've heard before, but it works because when you come at it from a place of power and confidence and like it's not a big deal to you, then it's not going to be a big deal to them. And if it still is, then they're just not the right person. Okay? So the first thing I recommend you do is adjust your own mindset with it. So what most people will say to me is they'll be like, oh, but I think they're gonna have a problem with it. Like, I had a client who she'd been— she'd taken 2 years off to raise her kids. Okay? And she was worried that when she came back into the job force, people were gonna have things to say about this decision. She's like, oh, I shouldn't have done it. Maybe I should have put my career first because now I feel like I'm rusty and I feel like I won't be able to do things. And I'm like, But that's BS. So really her own mindset around it was creating hesitant energy. So if she's going to talk to someone about it, she's going to show up hesitantly. And watch my video on the mindset tool that helps you get job offers. We'll link that in the video notes because that'll show you how your mindset actually affects the result you're going to get. First of all, your mindset has to be solid about it. So we adjusted her mindset to say, yes, you took 2 years off to raise your kids. That's time you'll never get back. You're so happy you did it. You're grateful you got to do it. And it was really awesome, but now you're actually really stoked to get back to work and, you know, start tackling real problems for a change because you managed your household for 2 years and you did all that work, but you actually really crave that challenge and that's really exciting for you and you can't wait to get into it, right? Instead of what she had before, which was like, oh, I think they're, they're gonna think I'm rusty, maybe I've forgotten things, maybe I'm not as good at my job anymore because I took 2 years off. No, that's not true. It's just something she had been telling herself, and that is going to reflect when she speaks to people. So we had to change it to, I'm glad I did it. No regrets. It was awesome. Ready to hit the ground running. Okay. And really mean that, not just be like saying it, right? You have to get to the point where you really mean it. Okay. So once your mindset is clear on that, then when they ask you about it, the response is going to be very different. So the response might sound like this. It might say, when they, they look at your resume and they're like, oh, I see you haven't been working here for 2 years, or you haven't been working for 2 years. What were you doing? You can say, yeah, I took 2 years off to raise my kids and it was great. So I'm ready to get back to work now. No explanation, no like justifying, no, no nothing. Just, yeah, that's what I did and I own it and I love my decision and now I'm ready to move forward. Let's talk about how we can solve your problems. So that's what we need to do is no explanation, no justifying, no overcomplicating. Just, yeah, that's what I did. Like own it. Because when you own your decisions, people will realize that you are somebody who is worth having. They're worth having around, right? You're not like tentatively being like,
oh, I shouldn't have done that. I guess I did take too much time. Oh, will you still accept me?
That is the narrative of a victim, of somebody who's like timid and afraid and thinking that like that's gonna impact the rest of their career. No. Okay. We do not have to play that game. We do not have to go that way. What I was saying is like somebody judging you for a career gap is like, is basically like saying, You sat down for a couple of hours to watch a movie and they are wondering if you're gonna be able to walk again. Or you haven't ridden a bike in a couple years and they're saying, oh, I wonder if they're gonna remember how to ride. I don't know if I wanna go bike riding with them. It's like, yeah, they're gonna get up to speed again and then they're gonna be going just like they were before, right? 'Cause our brain, it evolves and it remembers, right? You can't forget how to ride a bike. You can't forget how to walk. You can't forget how to do your job and problem solve, right? You only get better. And remember, It'll take anybody a little bit of time to get up to speed in a new role. So even if they have 15 years experience in a new role, they're still gonna have to take time to get up to speed. They're gonna have to learn the company processes, the people, how things work. They're gonna have to do all that stuff anyway. So that'll be no different from you coming back from however many years you took off. And I honestly don't care how long it was. I don't care if it was a month, I don't care if it was 5 years, whatever, right? It's like saying, if I took 5 years to go travel the world and then I came back and I decided I wanted to coach again and take on clients, Would you think— you watching, would you think, oh, I don't know if she's going to be able to coach, I mean, she's been gone for 5 years? Or would you think, oh wow, she's had a wonderful, rich life experience, she probably has even more to offer now, right? So it's like we get to decide what people think about us before they get a chance to think it, okay? And when you think it first, you increase the chances that then they will think it. So what you want to make sure you do is get really solid around your career gap, okay? You own it, you own that decision. And if it's, say it's for unemployment for some reason, and you wish you didn't have it because you wanted to be employed. You can reframe that too, right? So a lot of people have that stigma around being unemployed and like, oh, I've been unemployed for 2 years. Like, that's gonna look really bad. People are gonna think that I'm not capable. They're gonna wonder why I couldn't find work. And it's like, no, you get to reframe that. You get to say, yep, I've been working on these things for the— for, for this time. And like, you could talk about if you've been upskilling or if you've been doing other things or like just how you've been living your life, right? Because you, you're still living your life, right? And so that's where your responsibility comes in To bring it and to live your life in a way that you feel proud of throughout the time that you're transitioning or throughout the time that you are looking for work. I have some clients who have been taking on freelance work, taking on freelance clients, and they've been working. I think it's a mistake to say I haven't been working because you always are working, even if that means you're looking for a job, even if that means you're networking. I had one client who took the time off to take care of her sick elderly mother, and she had cancer and she had to be taking her to the doctor and doing all these cancer treatments. And she goes, yeah, but it's just, I haven't been working for the last 2 years. I'm like, are you kidding? You've been a full-time caregiver. So what have you been doing in that time that has actually been work? And how are you gonna own that as the person that you are, right? And so for that particular client, I told her, you know, that's the person you wanna be. You wanna be the person who's there taking care of your parents. You, like, the alternative is to be like, I'm just gonna go work anyway and my parents are gonna have to fend for themselves, right? It's like, that's not who you wanna be. So own who you wanna be and be proud of it. Be like, yeah, I was there. I was there taking care of my, my elderly mother, and I'm really glad that I did that. I'm proud of that. I would do that again. And now I'm ready to help you with this problem. No more shame about career gaps. That is stupid. You want to reframe them in a way where you own it, you feel good about it, and then you can talk about it like it's not a big deal. Okay? Because it really isn't. We need them in our life. It's kind of also ridiculous to say that we would be working for however many years until we retire, back to back to back to back, never taking a break. That is the most ridiculous thing ever. Of course we need to take breaks, and it could be for a good reason or for a reason that you wish didn't happen. Either way, you chose what you chose, right? So if you chose to take care of your sick elderly parent, then that was the choice you made, and you want to find the reasons within you why you did that and why you would do it again and why that was who you were or who you are as a person, right? If it was for a good reason, like you're like, I had this opportunity to go travel the world with my friend and I decided to take that, Same thing, right? It doesn't matter. The result is the same. You took time off work, right? You enriched your life in a different sense, doing different activities, working on different things. And now you wanna focus on this thing, and now you're here now, and now you wanna talk about the problems you're helping to solve in this particular organization, in this particular interview with this particular person, right? And it's all about the energy you bring to it. So don't let anyone tell you that career gaps are a bad thing, okay? They are normal. They're completely part of life, and anyone who doesn't have them is lying. All right, that's what I got for you. Little sassy today. Give me a thumbs up if you like the video. Give me a thumbs down if you hated it. Leave me a comment. Subscribe to the channel and sign up for my 3-day training because in there it's completely free. It's like the first module of my paid program for free, and I kind of give you the A to Z on what you need to do to get to that next level in your career, whether that's getting to your next— your first 6-figure job, or whether that's doubling your salary, whatever big jump you want to make next. I want to help you do it. I have the tools for you. So sign up, get on the list, and let's get going. Let's make some magic happen. Don't stop moving. Can you hear the music? You just got me coming around, around. There's no place if you cannot see it. You have got to go around, around, around.
