Kamino_Runnel's journey

I recently got laid off from my office job after nearly eight years in operations. I started as an assistant and worked my way up to handling vendor coordination and reporting, but then my department was eliminated. For the first four months after the layoff, I was actively searching for another office position, going through interviews and even getting to the second round a couple of times, but nothing materialized. As my savings dwindled, I took a night stocking job at a grocery store to keep up with my bills. I work four nights a week, unloading boxes and filling shelves, and during the day, I send out job applications. Now, I’m grappling with whether to include this grocery store job on my resume. My previous resume ends with my operations role, and I’m worried that leaving a gap will raise questions. However, if I add the grocery job, it might look like I shifted from a corporate role to retail, which isn’t the case—I just needed to pay my rent. A friend in recruiting advised me to leave it off, fearing it might signal that I'm not serious about returning to an office job. But I feel like including it shows my willingness to work despite my circumstances. I’m curious about what others think: Should I include this job on my resume, perhaps in a separate section, or leave it off entirely? It seems absurd that trying to stay employed could make me appear less employable.