Can you add “parenting” to your resume now? LinkedIn says yes – Quartz

LinkedIn users now have a tool to explain gaps in their resume.In the employment history section of LinkedIn profiles there’s a new option to add a “career break,” and choose from a dropdown menu of reasons to explain the hiatus. Reasons, and there are many of them, include things like full-time parenting; bereavement; caregiving; personal goal pursuit; and layoff/position eliminated.Recruiters say career breaks are becoming more commonOn a practical level, having the ability to keep your resume timeline intact is important since screener bots often scan and disqualify resumes—or profiles pulled from LinkedIn—that show a gap without explanation. Recruiters recommend that people find ways to explain breaks to improve their odds of being hired.But the symbolism here is also meaningful. Could this change reflect enlightened attitudes about taking extended breaks from work?The practice is nothing new, of course. In a recent global survey of more than 22,000 people, LinkedIn found that 62% of people globally have taken a break from their career at some point in their lives.Still, the company believes returnees are being assessed differently now. LinkedIn data show that the number of US job postings on the site that mention career breaks or “returnships”—the ad might reference hiring…
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