During the last year of my PhD and for one year after, I've been working in the private sector. I had family reasons to do this instead of seeking out temporary positions and postdocs, but I've stayed active -- published a couple of papers and have a lot of work in progress.
I'm planning to apply to TT and postdoc jobs this year. I'm not sure how to incorporate my private sector work into my application. It's fairly relevant to my field: think an ethnographer specializing in South Asia spending two years doing research for a development org. based in South Asia, including significant time in the region doing fieldwork.
I know search committees don't care that much. But I'd like them to see that the last 2 years haven't been wasted -- I've been productive in terms of publishing and doing work that has given me new insights, is already producing some new academic-oriented research, and might make me more valuable to students looking for jobs as well.
Any suggestions? Where on my CV should this go? Should I mention it in the research statement?