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UK Recruitment Glossary

Career Break

Alex By Alex · 12-year UK recruiter · Updated April 2026

In recruiter context

Different from a sabbatical (usually shorter and offered as a benefit) and different from redundancy (involuntary). I've placed candidates returning from breaks for caring duties, travel, mental health, retraining, and starting a business that didn't pan out. None of those reasons end a career. The framing on your CV matters more than the reason: one line — "Career break: caring for elderly parent, 2023-2024" — beats burying it. Some UK employers run formal returnship programmes for breaks of 2+ years; worth looking at if you're re-entering.

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