How to explain a career gap?

I graduated university last year in June and have been job hunting since. After many unsuccessful interviews (and a pandemic making it extremely difficult for a while), I finally managed to secure a graduate job but I've been asked to confirm my employment history from June 2020 to present. I actually haven't done much in that year apart from trying to set up my own business (which flopped) and doing some on/off tutoring self-employed but I'm not sure what to put as I obviously can't provide a reference for myself. The only reference I've been able to provide is my university personal tutor.

Any advice? Should I just confirm that I was job searching?

Honesty is the best policy, not that I was lol

Well how did you explain your career gap?

Tbf I waffled along the lines of voluntary work, tutoring and I spent 'time looking closely into what field I wanted to go into, learning more about myself'. Im sure they will understand especially with last year so you'll be fine. You can't lie straight up about employment so you have to be honest but you can always use these to show you were productive.

Oh right, I see. Thing is though, with volunteering I have to provide a reference for it because my job is in the public sector. I did do a couple of months of volunteering with a charity but idk if they'd be willing to give me a reference, plus I tried emailing the manager but he's on leave for about a month.

June 2020 to now has a fairly clear explanation - because Covid.

Presumably on your application you didn't put any employment history so they are not expecting references from an old employer. Just confirm that you have been researching and applying for jobs, which has been made more difficult by covid.

So it's perfectly fine to just say that I was unemployed and searching for a job?

Well I passed the interview back in May and got a provisional offer last month. So I'm in the process of completing pre-employment checks now and I was sent a long form to confirm employment, volunteering and academic history for the last 3 years.

And last week I was asked to confirm what I've down from June 2020 to now. So I guess I could just say the researching and applying for jobs thing

It's always best to be accurate with these things. It can take months in normal times to get a graduate job, and covid is an added complication. They will know that researching/applying for jobs is hard work, and the opportunity for part time jobs in retail/hospitality to keep you going has been difficult during covid. As Dee-Emma says, add a bit of context. Some people have grad jobs in place when they graduate, but many, (most?) don't and employers know that.

I see. So how exactly would you phrase it? "I wasn't working for that time period but was looking for work and applying to various jobs. Unfortunately this had been made quite difficult because of the pandemic."

I see. So how exactly would you phrase it? "I wasn't working for that time period but was looking for work and applying to various jobs. Unfortunately this had been made quite difficult because of the pandemic."