Shakespeare's Hamlet had it easy: all he had to do was ponder his existence. Job seekers have to ponder how to account for gaps on their resumes, including determining whether or not their current severance period legitimately qualifies as ‘Present’ employment.

What do you think? Take this two-question quiz.

Q1. Even though your last actual day at work was three months ago, since you're still receiving severance, it's OK to use the term ‘Present’ in the dates describing your position until your severance period is over. True or False?
Q2. Even though you are unemployed, it’s OK to continue to show your most recent employment as ‘Current’ in your social media profiles until you land your next position. True or False?

Although there seem to be no hard and fast rules about this, let’s consider the ramifications of not stating the actual dates on materials intended for public consumption. The very real concern is how potential employers and recruiters interpret your employment situation when you use the word 'Present' (or ‘Current’) on your resume, your networking materials and your on-line profiles.

If your materials state ‘Present’ or ‘Current’ as your status, recruiters and employers may reasonably ask why you want to leave your current role or company, and you will then have to reveal that in fact you are no longer there, begging the question in their minds as to why your resume or social profile still shows you as employed. In addition to how awkward that conversation might be, the larger issue is the seed of doubt that inaccurate information plants in the minds of readers, which can quickly grow to make them wonder what else on your resume or on-line profile is less than accurate.

So, what should you do?

It’s doubtful that anyone expects you to make the change in dates on all your self-marketing materials overnight, but anything beyond a couple of weeks lag time probably is not a great idea.

When it comes to resumes, you don’t have to rush to email a corrected version to everyone on your resume distribution list, but if you are having active networking conversations or are interviewing with a recruiter or potential employer, it’s prudent to update them with the news that you and your employer have agreed to a departure date. The positive aspect of this is that you are now available to begin a new role even sooner. The current word for this behavior is transparency, but it’s just good common sense to be up-front and help prevent those niggling seeds of doubt from sprouting.

Since on-line profiles are so ubiquitous and powerful, the challenge and the risk are compounded by the size of the audience and the real-time nature of the information transfer, so being accurate just makes sense. For forced-choice profiles like LinkedIn, once you update the dates for your most recent company and position, you’ll be faced with another dilemma… what to input into that now-blank field for ‘Current’. Some job seekers choose ‘seeking a new opportunity’, some choose ‘independent consultant’, while others choose a variety of approaches, including a statement of their functional expertise, such as ‘senior finance leader’. No surprise that each approach carries pros and cons, and requires more thought than a mere blog posting.

You have undoubtedly surmised that my responses to the two-question quiz are both  ‘False’. Whatever you decide, be certain your approach is defensible in the face of questions and is an accurate representation of the facts. Job search is complex enough without adding an element of doubt to the process.  I hope Shakespeare would agree.