You can now ask candidates to explain gaps in their employment history when they apply. Set an Employment History section to validate gaps. As a candidate enters their jobs, Pinpoint spots any gap longer than the limit you set and asks for a reason before they can submit. Recruiters then see each gap, and its reason, on the application.
Who can set this up
Anyone who can already edit structured sections can set this up. That means the "Create and manage company templates" permission for section templates, or "Create and manage jobs" for a section on a single job.
Step 1: set up the section
Go to Settings > Templates > Structured Sections.
Click Create New, choose Employment History and click Create. You can also open an Employment History section you already have.
Find the Employment gaps panel. Under Identify gaps in employment history, choose one of these:
No gap detection or validation: Pinpoint does not look for gaps.
Detect gaps: recruiters see gaps, but the candidate is not asked about them.
Validate gaps: the candidate is asked about each gap as they fill the section in.
Set Maximum gap length allowed, for example 4 weeks. Only gaps longer than this count.
If you chose Validate gaps, set Employment history length required:
Time period: a number of years and months back from today, for example the last 2 years.
From defined date: a date the candidate enters, such as the date they left school. Give the field a Date field label and a Date field description so the candidate knows what to enter.
Under Do you require reasons for gaps?, choose Reasons are required or Reasons are optional.
Save the section.
The same panel is on the job form, on job templates and in Talent Pipeline settings. Click Preview Candidate Form at the foot of the section to see what candidates will see before you save.
What the candidate sees
A Gaps in employment block appears under the section on the application form. It tells the candidate the rules, for example "We require a reason for any gaps in employment greater than 4 weeks." Pinpoint checks for gaps each time the candidate finishes entering a date. For each gap it finds, a Reason for gap in employment box appears.
Pinpoint counts three kinds of gap:
time between two jobs
time before the earliest job, back to the start of the required history
time since the most recent job ended, if they are not still working there
If reasons are required, the candidate cannot submit until every reason box is filled in. If reasons are optional, they can leave them blank.
The block also appears on the Talent Pipeline form and on Request Additional Information forms.
If you send a section the candidate has already answered, using Request Additional Information, the form opens with their saved entries, gap reasons and date filled in. They can change, add or remove entries. Pinpoint works the gaps out again from the new dates, so a gap they close comes off their record.
What recruiters see
Open the application and go to the employment history section.
In card view, each gap appears as a callout between the two jobs it separates, for example "Gap in employment (59 days)", with the candidate's reason or "No reason provided".
In table view, a callout above the table says how many gaps there are, for example "2 gaps in employment". Click View details to see each one.
A card at the end of the list shows the date the history was measured from, for example "Date history is required from: 3rd March 2021". Jobs are listed newest first.
When you export the application as a PDF with Structured sections ticked, the gaps and their reasons are included. A gap with no reason shows "No reason provided".
Section history
Every change to the section is recorded in its history: entries added, changed or removed, gap reasons added, changed or removed, and gaps that move or close when someone edits the dates. For example, Gap reason changed (Mar 2023 - Aug 2023) from "Travelling" to "Between jobs" or Gap removed (Apr 2021 - Sep 2021), reason was "I was in hospital". Changes the candidate made are marked "(candidate)".
To see it, click the section's overflow menu and click View history. You can download the history as a CSV.
Editing a section as an admin
You can edit a candidate's section from its overflow menu. The drawer shows the section's gap rules and a reason box for each gap. You can add a reason where the candidate gave none, but you cannot change one they wrote. Before you save, the drawer shows which gaps your date changes will remove, change or add. Closing a gap deletes it and its reason, and the history keeps a record of both.
Approving a section
You can also ask a reviewer to approve a candidate's section before you rely on it. To switch this on:
Open the section's settings. For a section template, go to Settings > Templates > Structured Sections and open the section. You can also do this on a single job's form, on a job template or in Talent Pipeline settings, wherever the section is listed.
Scroll to the bottom of the section's settings, below the Employment gaps panel.
Turn on Allow approval of responses, then save.
The switch is off by default. You can see it at the bottom of the screenshot in Step 1.
People with the "Approve structured section responses" permission can then approve it from the application, and anyone can click Request approval. This works on any structured section, not only Employment History.
Editing an approved section, or sending it to the candidate again, removes its approval. Pinpoint warns you before either happens, and the section then says the earlier approval no longer stands. If a stage action sends the section again, approvers get an email asking them to approve it again.
Approval notifications are set by each user. Open your profile menu, then Settings > Notifications, and look under Candidate Actions for "Structured section responses awaiting approval" and "Structured section responses approved".
💡 Good to know
A gap must be longer than your maximum to count. With a 4 week maximum, a gap of exactly 4 weeks is not flagged.
Pinpoint counts a week as 7 days, a month as 30 days and a year as 365 days. It counts only the days between two jobs, so someone who left on 2 April and started on 30 April was out of work for 27 days. This is to match how we handle the same behaviour in reference checking
Changing a section template does not change jobs that already use that section. Update the section on those jobs too.
The Preview job posting button does not show the gaps block yet. Use Preview Candidate Form instead. (It’s on the horizon, just haven’t got to it yet)
Recruiters can add a reason where a gap has none, but cannot change a reason the candidate wrote. A candidate who is sent the section again can rewrite their own reason.
Maximum gap length is set in weeks or years. Sections already set in months keep months.
If a section is marked as sensitive, only people who can view sensitive answers see the gaps and reasons, and the section is left out of other people's PDF exports.
Candidates who applied before this was turned on keep the older "Period of unemployment" warning.
Gaps are not checked on onboarding forms.
This is being released for early access. Pinpoint turns it on for your account.