Returning to work after a career break can be planned – taking time out to look after children, or can creep up on us.
Perhaps following redundancy you took some time out and the weeks have turned into months and you have not really considered working for a while, or you took time out to travel, study or to care for a parent or close elder relative.
Now is the time to think about returning to work after a career break.
You need to get ready, to get clarity on what you want to do and to get your job search approach ready. Three areas to consider are:
- When do you want to make the return – now, 3 months, a year, longer?
- If you have domestic responsibilities do you have a plan to deal with these?
- Have you got support in place – not just for e.g. looking after children but to make sure all the domestic work is still done, and not necessarily by you. Some of the extra income could be spent on a cleaner perhaps?
You then need to
- Decide on what you want to do – type of work, location
- Update your marketing material (CV and LinkedIn) and get up to date with modern job search methods
- Get talking with people so you use the power of the people you know
- Start your campaign
- Keep your focus
It’s also useful to do some thinking
- To what extent to you miss work? You may be returning to work because you have to or feel you ought to, you would rather so something else.
- What activities have you been doing on your career break? Would you be able to continue with these and, if not, would you miss them? Do these add something positive to your CV, make sure to include them
- Are you looking for full time, part time or flexible working?
You can do it alone, but it is easier to do it with support from a trusted and experienced guide. Want to know how I can help? Schedule an initial consultation HERE
