Explaining redundancy, gaps and short tenures

Land teams get cut, build programmes pause, associations restructure around damp and mould or building safety. Every experienced hiring manager in this sector has either made redundancies or been through them. Nobody is shocked.

Put it on the page

• Write the reason in brackets after the dates: '(role made redundant — regional land team closed)'.
• Account for gaps in months, not years, and say what you did with the time.
• For a short tenure, give the honest one-liner: the role was not what was described, or the business changed direction.
• Never stretch dates to hide a gap. It comes out at referencing and it costs the offer.

Say it once, then move on

Deliver the explanation in a flat, unbothered tone and immediately return to what you delivered. Candidates who over-explain make interviewers wonder what else there is; candidates who state it plainly are believed.