Termination

Your cover letter and resume combined make up your career marketing documents. Be aware these documents are not a legal job application. Therefore, you do not have to put everything in your cover letter and resume. You can cover this later on in a job interview, once the hiring manager is already impressed with you.

Laid Off From a Job

If you have been laid off from your job due to cut-backs or other corporate affairs, you do not need to mention this in your resume. However, you might want to explain the circumstances of your lay-off in your cover letter. Remember, these days, lay-offs are common, so it is not a really bad thing to have been laid off from a job.

Big Stretch of Time Off, Gaps in Employment

If you have large gaps in your resume, here is where you need to be creative in your cover letter. For example, let's say that you took two years off and spent your stock options traveling around the world for two years. The best way to handle this is to include it in your resume as work. For example, you could list the years that you traveled and use, "travel writer" as the occupation.

Stay at Home Mom or Caretaker

If you're returning to the workforce after an extended absence to take care of a baby or an ill relative, make sure that you show that you have kept up with your industry. In your cover letter include the following....

• Specific examples of any types of training or conferences which you may have attended.

• Part-time consulting work which you may have performed.

• A list of magazine, periodicals, books, and software within your career field that you use regularly.

These types of information will convince any employer that you have maintained an interest in your career field.