Returning to Work After a Career Break

October 17, 2016

Have you had a break in your career and are ready to return to the workforce, or perhaps you are considering taking time away from your work but worried about how you’ll jump back in when you are ready? Many career breaks are voluntary, with workers choosing to stay home to raise children, take a sabbatical or pursue an entrepreneurial idea. Others are involuntary, due to a serious injury or illness, caring for a family member or an extended period of unemployment.

Plan for your return

Ideally, you should plan for your career reentry before your break begins. In 2005, I left my financial planning practice at a global financial services firm to accompany my husband on an overseas assignment and stay home with my baby daughter.  Before I even left, I planned for my return, intending to add to my financial designations and teach financial education workshops while I was away.

My absence from the corporate world lasted longer than I originally planned due to the arrival of my youngest son! In the meantime, I worked on improving my skills, invested in rental properties and taught part-time before returning full force. Return-to-work organization iRelaunch profiles hundreds of success stories on its website of men and women who returned to the workforce after different types of career breaks.

It’s not just about your professional standing. It’s also about your financial security. According to Financial Finesse’s 2016 Gender Gap in Financial Wellness Research, women who take career breaks face shortfalls of up to $1.3 million dollars more in retirement than women who don’t. Women can plan for a career break by saving more during the years when they are fully in the workforce. For example, a retirement savings rate of 25 percent can fully offset the negative financial effects of an early career break.

Evaluate your relaunch path

If everything worked out exactly the way you wanted it to, would you return to the work you did before or change your career path? Do you want to work full time or part time? Is flexibility important? Is it more valuable to you to return to a corporate job with great benefits or to pursue consulting or entrepreneurship?

For me, I first returned to work with more flexible self-employment and teaching. I then chose Financial Finesse, where I could work from home most of the time, a helpful bonus as a working parent of school age children. Before I decided on Financial Finesse, I worked with a coach to clarify my professional goals and weigh the pros and cons of the different paths I was considering.

Update your professional profile

Consider using a professional resume writer to craft your resume and update your LinkedIn profile. Think of this as the equivalent to painting walls and staging your home before you put it on the market. A blockbuster resume is worth the investment.

A professional resume writer can position your skills and your interim experiences in a way that is most appealing to employers. I followed the guidance in Back on the Career Track, by iRelaunch co-founder and CEO Carol Fishman Cohen and Vivian Steir Rabin, in being upfront about my career break and included a brief statement about it in my resume objective. It’s also a good idea to get a professional photo taken for your LinkedIn profile. Depending on your field, it may be important to have a professional presence via a website or other social media too.

Stay current and improve professional skills – especially technology

Understand that missing years in your employment history make a potential employer wonder if you have the current skills needed for the job. In order to reenter the workforce with hope of making a salary similar to when you went on break, it is imperative that you improve your professional skills during your time away. If you have licenses or professional credentials, maintain them in good standing. While you are on career break, work to improve your skills in your field through continuing education. if feasible. During the years when I was home with my kids, I earned the very challenging Chartered Financial Analyst designation, as well as maintained my financial planning designations and kept up with trends in financial planning.

Don’t forget to stay current on technology. I had migrated to a Mac and had to re-acclimate to a Windows environment. Consider updating your technology skills by taking a course at a local community college or though an online learning portal such as Lynda.com.

Build your personal network

Social media, especially LinkedIn, can help build your connections but don’t forget the value of in-person networking in your job hunt. Connect with former professional colleagues, attend conferences and join professional and business organizations. Sending your resume in response to ads won’t be nearly as effective as reaching out to your network for ideas. If you are considering a career break but haven’t started yet, don’t forget to keep in touch with colleagues and to build your networking (and resume) through volunteer activities. You may also consider a “returnship,” a program similar to an internship for experienced professionals.

Have you returned to work after an extended absence? How was your experience? Let me know by emailing me at [email protected] or tweet me @cynthiameyer_FF.

 

How To Network Your Way To A New Job After A Lay-off

October 05, 2016

I’ll never forget the date October 5, 2001. It was the day I was called into HR at my very first job after only one year and one month to be advised I was being let go as part of a firm-wide staffing decrease. I was given a generous separation package, including an assigned mentor, Steve, to help me find a new job.

After I scraped my pride up off the ground, called my mom to cry and accepted that it was time to move on, I called my mentor Steve to get started. His first and most emphatic piece of advice was, “Let your network know. Tell them you’re looking.”

Finding your network

I was clueless to what he meant. I was a lowly staff accountant at a Big 5 accounting firm. We didn’t network. That was for partners and salespeople. My “network” consisted of other second year staffers who went out drinking together on Thursday nights and played flag football on Mondays — in other words, my friends.

As the years went by and my network naturally expanded due to co-workers leaving for other jobs and even led to me being recruited to a new job, I started to understand what Steve was talking about. When I moved to Chicago in 2010 and didn’t know a soul, I took to networking to make friends and find clients for my coaching business. That eventually led to a post as the president of the Professional Women’s Club of Chicago, the premiere networking organization for women in all industries in Chicago.

Networking is just making friends for business

What I’ve realized is that networking is really just making friends in a business setting, and the truth is that the best time to build your network is when you don’t need it. When you’re in a position to help someone else out before you need help, you’re much more likely to receive the help you need when it comes time to ask, even if it’s not from the same people you’ve helped. Basically, it’s karma. So how do you use networking to find a new job? Here’s what’s worked for me and my network:

Reach out to former colleagues. Who knows your work self better than people who have actually worked with you? Connect through LinkedIn or just send them a note to let them know you’re looking and see if they know of any opportunities.

Use those professional associations. Almost any professional career has some type of association that posts jobs and other networking opportunities. CFP® professionals have the CFP® Board, CPAs have state societies as well as the AICPA, lawyers have local, state and even the national bar associations, marketing people have the AMA, and IT specialists have AITP. The list goes on. Even if you’re not a member, check their website to see if they have job postings or upcoming events where you can meet others in your field.

Look to your alma mater. Pretty much every major city has an alumni group for larger universities. Look on your school’s alumni website to see if they have any local events coming up that you could attend to make new connections.

Even if there is no local chapter, you may still find job postings or at least a listing of other alumni in your area. Reach out and ask for coffee or lunch. You never know who your fellow alumni may know.

Just show up. Virtually any situation where you’re meeting new people can offer networking opportunities. The next time you’re invited to an event where you feel like you might not know anyone besides the host, consider going anyway and set a goal to meet three new people. That takes the pressure off from feeling like you have to work the entire room and even if you don’t find your next job, it’s good practice for networking at events designed for job seekers in the future.

Be specific about what you want. My friend Marcy wrote in her brilliant book You Know Everybody!: The Career Girl’s Guide to Building a Network That Works about how to zero in on exactly what you’re looking for before asking for help. Make it easy for people to connect you to others by being very clear about who you want to meet or what you want to do. It’s much easier to flip through your mental Rolodex and offer an introduction when someone says, “I’m seeking introductions to sales managers in the hospitality industry,” than when you hear, “I’m looking for a job in sales.” Unless I’ve just spoken to someone who said, “I need salespeople!” it’s unlikely I’ll be able to help you find what you need in that situation.

Above all, remember to be yourself when networking. It can be nerve-wracking to introduce yourself to strangers, especially if you’re desperately seeking a new job opportunity. Keep in mind that pretty much everyone else in the room is probably equally as uncomfortable and find your common ground there. Then just work on making friends. You never know where it might take you!

 

5 Ways to Find Employment in a Down Economy

August 29, 2012

While the economy may be slowly recovering, the unemployment rate remains high, consumer spending is down, and a double-dip recession is a definite possibility. If you’re looking for employment in this environment, you may feel as if your hands are tied. However, that’s just not true. There are, in fact, a variety of effective strategies you can use to find employment in a down economy. Here are some tips to get you started: Continue reading “5 Ways to Find Employment in a Down Economy”