<p>I can think of numerous good responses to that question. #1 reason is that you can say that you were a housewife/househusband. A lot of PhD students have children, especially newborn children, and hence, you can just say that you weren’t working during those years because you were taking care of your children (which also has the great advantage of being a completely true statement - as you undoubtedly were spending a lot of time taking care of your children during that time). </p>
<p>Another way to get around that question is to say that you were running your own small business. And by that, I don’t mean to lie, but to actually go out and establish a small business - i.e. a small consulting/contracting business. Many (probably most) PhD students probably can establish a consulting business on the side, even if only makes a few hundred dollars a year, or even if it loses a bit of money every year. For example, I know an English PhD student who was recently brought in to review a screenplay that somebody wrote. She didn’t get paid much (I think only maybe $150 for a single night’s work), but that doesn’t matter. Now she can legitimately say that she had a small business that provided “creative consulting” services. Nobody has to know that the scope of your business is very small, and you don’t have to volunteer that information. Keep in mind that the vast majority of “small businesses” in this country are indeed very small - that they are just part-time gigs that people do on the side, for very little profit, and often times just for the tax benefits. {For example, my old college roommate plays in a part-time band, and occassionally plays live shows at various clubs, and so he has registered that band as a small business for tax purposes; now he can buy gear - which he would be doing anyway because he loves music - and legally deduct it from his taxes as a ‘business expense’.} But the point is, by establishing and running your own small business, even if it doesn’t make any money, you can get around any uncomfortable questions about gaps in your resume. You can always just say that you were running your small business (which is a true statement).</p>
<p>Now, again, for those of you who are morally queasy about these suggestions, I am not advocating that you do anything with which you don’t feel comfortable. I am simply pointing out that business is business. The act of hiring is a business transaction, nothing more. When 2 companies make a business transaction, they don’t tell each other the whole truth, nor are they obligated to do so. When Bill Gates made the ‘Deal of the Century’ with IBM to provide the MS-DOS operating system for the IBM PC, he didn’t tell IBM that he didn’t even have an operating system but was just going to procure it from some other small local software company and just resell it to IBM. </p>
<p>And again, I would reiterate, the resume is a marketing document, nothing more, nothing less. Companies don’t tell the ‘whole truth’ about their products in their advertising. No, they are going to advertise their products in the best possible light, and conveniently ignore any product weaknesses, in order to sell their product. Rush Hour 3 was a terrible movie with terrible reviews, but you will obviously find no mention of that in Time Warner’s marketing. Time Warner is out to sell movie tickets, so they will say whatever is necessary to promote the movie. Similarly, the purpose of a resume is just to market and promote yourself. That’s how business works.</p>