Progressing Career with a Big Gap

I have about 5 YoE, but with a 2.5-year career gap. The gap happened during a very difficult time when both of my parents were hospitalized shortly after Covid. With no family support, I had to make the hard decision to pause my career to take care of them. What I thought would be a short break extended much longer than expected.

After sorting out the situation, I tried about 6 months of job searching, but struggled to re-enter the industry. To avoid sitting idle and getting depressed, I worked on small housing construction projects, continuing my father’s line of work (with no paper trail unfortunately), while still trying to find my way back into my career and interest, AI (I started professionally working in AI, pre ChatGPT btw).

Eventually, after nearly 2.5 years, I got an opportunity at a startup. While I am grateful for the chance and really want to work with them for a very long time, things aren’t working out as I hoped, and I am now seeking my next role. Unfortunately, I’ve learned from recruiters and HRs that my career gap is a major reason my resume often doesn’t even get shortlisted, despite being a strong match (80%+ of the skills required) and even with referrals.

I’d really appreciate advice from anyone who has navigated a similar career gap, or from recruiters/hiring managers who can share how best to position myself to navigate this.

Thanks in advance