FAQ: How do I talk about the gap in my resume if I took the RD exam more than once?

After passing the exam, I always offer to give career advice to my students and this is one of the most frequent questions I get.

While we know at the end of the day you don't need to discuss that you didn't pass the RD exam on your first attempt in a job interview, this doesn't eliminate the stress of having “gap” in your resume after your internship.

When it comes to interviewing for a job it is all about reframing or spinning the story! Here are a few different ways you an discuss the gap.

1) If you are currently working in a non-RD role

"After finishing my dietetic internship I wasn't sure what areas of dietetics I was most interested in so I started work (current role) after graduation to allow me to be able to have an income after my internship and give me more time to figure out what I was most interested in. During this time I ___ (attended workshops, interned, took CEU course, etc.) which helped me to realize I was most interested in working with ___ (align with job you are interested in).

2) If you were unemployed

“After being so busy with my dietetic internship, after graduate I took of ___ months to spend time with my family/travel. It was so wonderful to be able to have time between school and my first RD job to d this as I knew once I started working full time it would be difficult to get this amount of time off.”

3) If you want to share about your experience

There is nothing wrong with sharing about your person experience not passing the exam on your first try! We all know what the RD exam has not direct correlation with the quality of RD you will be and given that the pass rate is 68% on the first try…odds are that your interview may also not have passed on their first try. The most important is to keep the theme of self improvement and determination.

If you are getting frustrated with studying, taking a break to work on career/interview prep is a great think to add to your schedule. I work with my students 1:1 once they pass to help them prepare for interviews and clinical jobs, but you can also grab my recorded Career Workshop on my website!

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