Career Reinvention &
Personal Brand Strategist

Tips for Women Who Step Out of the Workforce and Want to Get Back In

January 16, 2007
By: Randi Bussin-Career Coach, Personal Branding Specialist

Women who leave the corporate world to either focus on other interests/hobbies or to raise a family may encounter roadblocks when they try to re-enter the workforce. Recent research done at Wharton’s Center for Leadership and Change Management suggests that women executives should prepare for their re-entry when leaving the workforce.

 

Wharton research suggests that women executives engage in some of the following strategies to ensure a smooth transition back into the workforce:

 

1. Stay up-to-date on your skills by keeping a hand in the workforce (project work or part-time work), while absent from full-time employment. Stay current by taking continuing education courses and keeping your professional licenses up-to-date.
2. Keep networking while you are off and keep your business contacts alive. This will ease the transition back to full-time employment.
3. Stay current and competitive with computer technology. Technology changes rapidly and new graduates are well versed in the latest’s IT tools, making competition more intense.
4. Don’t apologize or make excuses for why you have taken time off. Redirect the conversation to “here is what I have been doing to keep my skills up-to-date and here is how I can add value to your company”.
5. If during your time off, you have done volunteer work, or managed the family expenses, frame these experiences in business terms that resonate for hiring managers.
6. Think about re-entering the workforce in a smaller company or by being self-employed, which will allow for greater flexibility over the hours you work.
7. Research employers who are “women-friendly” and who have programs that embrace work life balance.

©2012, Randi Bussin, Aspire!

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