The last five years and career breaks
Employers look at the last five years first. How certo counts them, what a gap is, and how a career break fills time without anyone being asked.
2 minute read
At the top of Work & education, The last five years draws a strip from five years ago to today. Employers look here first, so it helps to account for all of it.
How the five years are counted
- A month is accounted for when a job, a course, volunteering or a career break covers it.
- A gap is three months or more with nothing on them. A shorter move between jobs is neither flagged nor counted.
- Anything that ended before the five years is welcome on your passport, and never counted.
Each gap is named in your list, with buttons to Add a job, Add education, or say It was a career break. When every month is covered, the strip says so.
Two numbers
Your passport shows two numbers for the five years:
| Number | What it counts | Who sees it |
|---|---|---|
| Accounted for | The months covered by any line | Anyone, because it is worked out from dates, which are public |
| Verified | The months covered by lines somebody confirmed | You, and an employer whose access reaches every line in the five years. Anyone else sees a lock |
Months covered only by a career break are left out of the verified share. A career break is never confirmed, so it cannot lower it.
Career breaks
Time out of work is part of a working life: caring for someone, parental leave, health, studying, travel, looking for work, military or civil service, or something else. Add it as a Career break and it fills the time on your history.
- A career break is always Claimed. Nobody is ever asked to confirm it, and your passport says so, so it never reads as "nobody got round to it".
- Its dates are public, like a job's.
- The Reason is optional and never public.
- Turn on Show the reason to employers I approve if you want them to see why. Off, they see the dates only, like everyone else. You can change it later.
Leave To empty while you are on a break now.
When a company asks for your history
A company's request can ask for a number of years of work history. Its checklist on Requests shows the gaps you still have, and it counts as ready once those years are accounted for and every job in them came back from the employer. Read when an employer asks to read your passport.
A gap you explain is not a gap. A short line saying you were caring for someone reads better than an empty year.