{"id":488,"date":"2025-03-12T07:20:13","date_gmt":"2025-03-12T08:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/portraitsbylorie.com\/?p=488"},"modified":"2025-03-13T14:59:22","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T14:59:22","slug":"recruiters-your-career-break-bias-is-showing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/portraitsbylorie.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/12\/recruiters-your-career-break-bias-is-showing\/","title":{"rendered":"Recruiters, your career break bias is showing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Extended career breaks – whether for sick leave<\/a> or a planned adventure – and changing roles quickly are on the rise among young workers.<\/p>\n

New research from Barnett Waddingham has revealed that there is a huge shift between long-held career norms and how younger workers approach their careers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What used to be red flags for recruiters are now becoming accepted career choices. This begs the question as to whether recruitment professionals – and even HR teams – must also change their views.<\/p>\n

Changing priorities<\/h2>\n

The research revealed that a quarter (28%) of 18-24 year-olds have already taken an extended career break (also called a quarter life gap year<\/a>). The figure was slightly lower for 25-34 year-olds  at 22%.<\/p>\n

The team also found that two-thirds (66%) of 18-24 year-olds have taken extended leave due to illness in the past five years. Reasons listed included anxiety; stress; depression; and burnout. The percentages got lower with age, though. In the 55+ age group, 50% said that they had taken time off for anxiety, as compared to 79% of 18-24 year olds.<\/p>\n

This is measure of the importance of younger employees place on wellbeing, flexibility, and personal fulfilment, say the researchers.<\/p>\n

The survey revealed not only how work norms are changing now but also gave a glimpse into the future. A growing number of younger workers are planning career breaks or considering stepping away from their careers entirely.<\/p>\n

Job swaps<\/h2>\n

The survey touched upon how long people will stay in a role. It revealed that younger employees will move on if a job does not meet their expectation for a work-life balance. This could even be a decision that impacts them financially; but the priority is their health.<\/p>\n

More than a quarter (26%) of 25-34 year-olds having already sought a lower-paying job for this reason. A quarter of 18-24 year olds (24%) has also made this decision, with 30% planning to in the near future.<\/p>\n

Julia Turney, Partner and Head of Platform and Benefits at Barnett Waddingham, says: “We are witnessing a fundamental redefining of people’s attitudes towards work. Younger workers are rejecting the traditional corporate ladder, while prioritising their wellbeing<\/a> and work-life balance above all else.<\/p>\n

“The figures are clear: if businesses don’t offer the flexibility that these people expect, they could struggle to retain crucial talent while risking a disengaged workforce and stretched bottom line.”<\/p>\n

CV gaps “no longer a red flag”<\/h2>\n

Turney adds that companies must move on from the “one-size-fits-all approach” to recruitment and employee retention. Instead, they must recognise that expectations have shifted; and norms have changed.<\/p>\n

For example, they must move away from long-held beliefs on what a CV red flag is, says former corporate recruiter and career coach, Hannah Salton<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Salton shares: “Having gaps on your CV was once seen as a red flag, but employers now recognise that people take career breaks for many reasons – including caregiving, professional development, or adapting to a tough job market.”<\/p>\n

Her advice to candidates is to highlight how they spent this time. Red flags in this context are often just points for extra exploration during the interview process.<\/p>\n

Job hopping has traditionally been interpreted as a sign of poor commitment from candidates. However, Salton says that recruiters today are more open-minded and understand that it’s common for people to explore and try different jobs, especially in the early stages of a career.<\/p>\n

She warns though: “There is a limit, and if you have never stayed in a role longer than a month, this could ring alarm bells to recruiters.”<\/p>\n

The post Recruiters, your career break bias is showing<\/a> appeared first on Startups.co.uk<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Extended career breaks – whether for sick leave or a planned adventure – and changing roles quickly are on the rise among young workers. New research from Barnett Waddingham has revealed that there is a huge shift between long-held career norms and how younger workers approach their careers. What used to be red flags for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/portraitsbylorie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/portraitsbylorie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/portraitsbylorie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/portraitsbylorie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/portraitsbylorie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=488"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/portraitsbylorie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":489,"href":"http:\/\/portraitsbylorie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488\/revisions\/489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/portraitsbylorie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/portraitsbylorie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/portraitsbylorie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}