Work gaps? Employers say they understand

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CHICAGO, March 21 (UPI) -- A majority of U.S. employers in a national poll indicated they understand the recent recession disrupted normal career paths.

It is fairly standard for job seekers to worry a gap in their employment record makes them appear unemployable or lazy -- or both. In addition, many worry taking a job with lesser pay than a previous job is a traditional red flag -- a sign that something has gone wrong.

In a recent nationwide CareerBuilder survey conducted by Harris Interactive, however, a large majority of employers polled -- 85 percent -- indicated they are more empathic to a job candidate's work gaps.

An even larger share -- 94 percent -- indicated they would not think poorly of a job candidate who took a lower-level position to get through the recession.

The Nov. 9 to Dec. 5 survey included 3,023 responses with an error margin of 2 percentage points.