gaps in employment, offset by international experience?

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There are several gaps in my employment history, which are a concern for my applications to a few highly competitive programs (namely, those 2 in the Bay area).

I'm fully aware I will need to address my employment gaps in my essays, but I am hoping they will be offset by my explanations for them.

Background: US born, excellent student; I received a full undergraduate scholarship based on academic merit in high school. By the end of my undergraduate career, I graduated with two majors, with two minors, and as a member of several Honours societies.

After graduation, I felt my "real world" experience was lacking so I left the US and worked and travelled overseas for three years. I worked/lived in 3 countries (South Korea: teaching English, India: volunteered with women in slums, Australia: hospitality/customer service), while spending periods of a few months at a time in between said countries (and approximately ten more countries over the whole of the three years) either traveling and/or looking for more work. Visa restrictions in the countries I was living/travelling in was also a major factor in my ability to find employment.

Although I know my international experience may bring a competitive edge, I'm worried all the gaps add to too much unemployment time.

Help?

Any words would be appreciated.

Cheers
-V
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by Jon@Admissionado » Sun Jun 30, 2013 10:43 pm
Well, it depends what you did, and how you can present it. I've had two clients at least with very similar stories, and I think the best approach is to NOT consider this a work gap, but rather to present this period as a period of discovery, as you have mentioned yourself. If you start trying to explain things away, that this puts in a defensive position, which is not really what you want, I think.

Your ability to make a convincing argument here will depend on the rest of your profile too, and what other experiences you do have, so it's not as if international experience "covers up" work gap or can "explain away" lack of professional experience, but it does have its own value, and you need to see how you can tap into that in terms of stories and your goals as well.
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by MBAPrepAdvantage » Mon Jul 01, 2013 4:44 am
I agree with Jon in that you shouldn't be defensive but just naturally and positively explain your diverse international experience as adding to your background and profile.

If, though, the gaps are obvious you might have a short global explanation how travel and visa restrictions caused some gaps. The key is judgment. You do not want to draw attention to something that otherwise the admissions committee would not pay attention to. Also, some schools specifically ask for explanations of gaps for 6 months or more so that might be your guideline.

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