I have ~4 years of experience working as a Business Analyst/Analyst.
About last year March, I had to leave my job due to health issues. I was dealing with daily fever, extreme fatigue, and couldn’t function normally, so I took a break to recover. It took me around 3-4months just to get a bit better.
After that, I started helping a small CSR-focused company (run by a friend). I worked on their data processes end-to-end — designed questionnaires, defined data collection methods, structured the data pipeline, and built dashboards for their projects.
This wasn’t a paid role since they’re a very small organization, but they’re willing to give me an experience letter and even payslips if needed.
In parallel, for the past 5–6 months, I’ve been doing an online Business Analyst course from upGrad to transition into more mainstream, higher-paying industries (since my earlier experience was mostly in the social sector).
Now I’m stuck on how to position all of this while applying for jobs:
- Should I show this CSR work as formal experience (even though it was unpaid)?
- Is it a bad idea to use the fake payslips (the experience letter will be real) to cover the gap?
- Or should I be honest about the career break and present this as freelance/volunteer work?
Would really appreciate advice from anyone who has navigated something similar or hires for BA roles.