by Katie Dunn | Sep 5, 2017 | career break, confidence, job search
Back to school means a return to more structured days and a sense of routine at home. I personally love the freedom of summer, but I can also appreciate the rhythm that returns to our lives once school begins and the kids settle into a new year.
Back to college for the kids, however, may mean something entirely different for you as a Mom. If you help them pack up and then drop them off with a smile on your face – good for you! If you’re like me and feel a little hole in your heart when they leave every August – I see you. I love to talk to parents about the phenomenon of kids leaving home – some of my friends LOVE it when the kiddos ship out and others feel down about it.
Whichever camp you’re in, there is no denying that late August/early September ushers in a new season in our lives and family routines. Let’s use this to our advantage!
If you’re actively looking for a job, this is your season! You have time during the day (uninterrupted time!) to schedule meetings with people, do informational interviews, write amazing cover letters and polish up your LinkedIn profile. What a gift!
Back to school isn’t just a new start for your children: It’s also a fresh start for you. This is an ideal time to recommit yourself to your job search goals and get re-energized to focus on the things you need to get done for you. Here are a few ideas to keep you on track:
Start with a plan: Focus your job search by planning out the time you’ll spend looking for your next career move. Block the time on your calendar and stick to it. Aim to get better every week with your time management.
Be interactive! Be sure your job-search time is heavily weighted toward activities that have you actively engaging with other people as opposed to being at home in front of your computer.
Update your online presence as part of the fresh start. Take a look at your LinkedIn profile and find a few places that you can freshen up. The more you update your profile, the higher your chances of showing up in a recruiter search. Be sure to include keywords that appear in job postings in your profile in multiple places such as your About section, your skills list and your work experience.
Make it fun! Find a group of friends to support you through your transition. Yes, it’s work, but it can still be enjoyable. Meet a friend at a coffee shop or a co-working location and work together to keep each other on task.If you are local to the Raleigh area, The Frontier in RTP is a co-working location that is completely free.
Join us at Back to Business Our website and programming are all geared toward helping you transition back to work after a career break. Be sure you’re on our email list and consider joining us for the Back to Business Women’s Conference. This opportunity only comes around once a year (even less in a pandemic!) and it’s an invaluable opportunity to bask in a programming that was designed to help you restart your career. Honestly, there’s a lot of career advice out there, but there are very few people talking to women like us about solving the challenges that are unique to a Mom returning to the workforce. I look forward to meeting you and helping you get back to business.
by Katie Dunn | Sep 1, 2017 | job search, moms, resume
There’s no shortage of advice on the internet for job-seekers when it comes to resumes. But women returning to work after a career gap have a special situation: You’ve been very busy while out of the paid workforce but don’t necessarily have a job title or professional accomplishments to show for it. Here are a few suggestions to help you as you put together your resume:
Use an objective or summary statement. An objective or summary at the top of the resume is especially important when your career does not follow a linear path. The objective is handy if you are applying for a job for which you may not be an obvious fit or you are a career-switcher, like many women returning to the workforce after a career break.
The objective briefly states what type of job you are looking for and the specific skills you have that relate to that job, but must be framed so that it clearly states what you can do for the employer. Here’s an example of a well-crafted objective statement: “Obtain a position at Back to Business where I can use my marketing and business development skills to help grow the organization.”
A summary statement summarizes your skills, areas of expertise and anything that might distinguish you from other applicants. An effective summary reads like this: “Experienced Project Manager with 10 years of experience in the telecommunications industry and knowledge of Global Networks. Proven ability to manage projects in emerging and established markets.”
Whether you choose to do an objective or a summary, remember that this part of your resume will need to be carefully tailored to each position you apply for and should include keywords that recruiters will search on when filling the job.
Use action words such as developed, designed, established, expanded, grew, launched and achieved to start your bullet points and capture the reader’s interest. Each of your resume bullets should convey an accomplishment, rather than simply listing your responsibilities.
Where possible, provide evidence that you possess these most sought-after skills, according to Quintessential Careers: communication skills, analytical/reasoning skills, computer/technical literacy, flexibility/ability to manage multiple priorities, interpersonal skills and leadership/management skills. Regardless of what functional area you are seeking work in, these skills are highly prized by employers. Visit LiveCareers.com for an excellent article on how to articulate these skills in your resume.
Know the right keywords for your target industry and use them effectively. You can determine what keywords are most commonly used in job postings by reading through multiple job postings on Glassdoor.com, Indeed.com or another job search website. Pay close attention to the words used in any job listing you are responding to and be sure those exact words appear in your resume and cover letter whenever possible.
Quantify the statements in your resume bullets. Be specific when stating your accomplishments. You are aiming for bullets such as “Increased sales by x%”, “Reduced costs by $50,000”, “Brought in 10 new clients” or “Hired and trained over 500 people”. If enough time has passed that it’s difficult to recall specifics about your previous professional accomplishments, check out former co-workers profiles on LinkedIn and see if you can get clues from how they talk about their experience. While you’re there, invite them to connect, congratulate them on a recent career move or just drop them a line to keep the relationship fresh.
Here’s some expert advice from Catherine Tuttle, Owner of Forward Thinking Resumes:
“Returning to work after a career break doesn’t mean you have to have lots of white space on your resume. Keep in mind, just because you weren’t getting paid for what you were doing outside the home doesn’t mean it’s not relevant experience. Think about everything you’ve done since you left your most recent full time position and evaluate how it relates to your next career move. For example, were you volunteering for a political campaign – canvassing neighborhoods and speaking out about the issues? Were you part of an alumni network planning opportunities for others to engage on and off campus? Were you working with the PTA to raise awareness and funding for your child’s school? These experiences aren’t trivial and if communicated appropriately, represent a number of key skills that employers value including communication, initiative, relationship building, fundraising, and event planning just to name a few. As women we tend to downplay our success, so talk with friends and family or work with a professional to evaluate your experience, embrace your accomplishments, and articulate them clearly on paper.”
Getting started is the hardest part, so set aside some time to produce your first draft, then ask a trusted friend or adviser to review it for you. Having a resume you are proud of is a key step in being ready to face the job market as a prepared, confident job seeker.
by Katie Dunn | Sep 1, 2017 | career break, confidence, job search, moms, resume, women in business
Preparing to re-enter the workforce can be overwhelming! Download this step-by-step plan to get you going in the right direction.
by Katie Dunn | Aug 21, 2017 | confidence, job search
At our first Back to Business MeetUp, we heard from 4 women who have successfully transitioned back to work after a career break. We talked about finding work you enjoy (and finding work that you don’t enjoy so much). Our panelists included Back to Business Conference Attendees Jeannine Herrick, Larissa Muchnick, Petra Sargent and Marla Wolf.
Here are 3 key points from this informative conversation:
“My first job back was not the right job”
Three of our 4 panelists returned to work after taking time off to be home with children, then switched jobs. Petra started back as a teacher, then realized that wasn’t exactly what she wanted to be doing. Jeanine and Larissa were both lured away to bigger jobs than where they originally started.
The good news for women returning to work is that you just need to get started somewhere. Yes, be choosy when you select your job but realize that it may not be your forever job. Let that take some of the pressure off of thinking you have to have the perfect job. We make trade-offs all the time in life, and returning to work is going to be another trade-off. Maybe you’ll take a lower-level job to get the experience or opt for a longer-than-ideal commute because you know you’ll love the work.
What works for you now may not work so well for you in the future and that’s OK. Flexibility is a survival skill, and if you’ve raised children, you’ve got it!
Jeanine suggested that taking interviews for jobs at all levels might lead to the right job down the road. If you make a positive impression in an interview but don’t get the job, you may be the right candidate for a future job opening at the company. You just never know. Hopefully soon you find yourself in Jeanine’s shoes: “Now I’m singing on the way to work!”
“You have to put yourself out there to find it”
Marla told us to stop blindly sending out resumes – “it just doesn’t work!” Petra volunteered at conferences in her field to build her network and stay current on the latest thinking. Jeanine got on the phone with a former colleague and found herself fast-tracked to an interview. While each of these women did it differently, the common thread was that they got busy growing their networks and connecting to people on a personal level rather than sitting at home behind their computer looking for a job.
One of our panelists compared job searching to dating – you have to meet people, talk about different possibilities and discover what you like and what you don’t.
What have you done today to connect 1-to-1 with someone who might be able to assist in your return to work? If you need guidance on conducting an informational interview, check out our blog on that topic – we’ll walk you through the whole process from start to finish.
“You are all amazing women with a skill set that could land you a job today”
The ever-upbeat Larissa reminded us of this very true (and confidence-boosting) fact. If you’ve been looking for a job for a while, you know that it’s hard work returning to work. Staying positive is so important when what you’re really selling is YOU – your skills and your presence as a team member. Don’t overlook all the amazing skills you developed while you were out of the paid workforce. Packaging these in a marketable way, owning them and being proud of what you bring to the table will make you a stronger job candidate. I believe in you!
Need more information? Take a look at the useful info on our site and visit our blog on positioning yourself for your return to work.
by Katie Dunn | Jul 18, 2017 | career break, job search, moms, resume
Your resume is your single most important job search tool, but it can be very frustrating to complete. Download this Resume Checklist to get started and to help you through some of the rough spots.
by Katie Dunn | May 9, 2017 | career break, confidence, interview, job search, leadership, moms, resume, women in business
I want to address an age-old question asked by women contemplating a professional comeback:
Should I take just any old job or should I hold out for the right one?
This is a question I hear a lot and it’s a question that I asked myself often as I looked for a job after being out of the full-time workforce for many years. Here’s the easy answer: It depends.
The answer to this question depends entirely on what is motivating you to go back to work. Here’s my point: If you need to start earning income for you or your families’ survival now, then you should take the best job you can find quickly. By “best” I mean highest paying. Life is expensive, kids are expensive and it takes money to survive. Pure and simple. Divorce often forces women back into the workforce, or your spouse might have been laid off. Whatever the situation, if quickly earning income has become your primary motivation, then find a job and bloom where you’ve been planted. You don’t have to stay there forever but my personal rule of thumb is that you do have to do your best while you’re there. If you sense that you’re just passing through, work diligently so that when you leave you’ll have a great recommendation and can feel good about the work you did.
While the need for money motivates many women to return to work quickly, others find that their timing isn’t quite so urgent. To you, I say – lucky you! You have the luxury of doing the 3 steps of Reflect, Research and Activate that I think are so important to a successful job search. The Reflection step is of critical importance in a job search because this is the step where you think deeply about your skills, your past experiences and your current interests and add them all up to set a course for your future.
I want a career break to become a very normal part of a person’s career (both women and men) and for employers to view these not as breaks from real work, but as opportunities to develop more deeply as people, as parents, as travelers or as caregivers of aging parents. Your ability to reflect on what you’ve learned and how you’ve grown during your career break is a key part of finding direction for your job search. And setting off on a journey with a destination in mind is going to get you there faster than if you are just wandering through the job search process, applying to something different every day.
If you are motivated to return to work by a desire to re-engage your professional self, to grow as a person in a professional capacity, to put your valuable skills to work and to earn a good income while doing so, then you have the luxury to look until you (a) find the right job or (b) find a job that offers a trade-off that you are comfortable taking. Every decision we make is a trade-off between things that are important to us. If your job search is starting to feel like it’s taking a long time, and you’re considering taking the next job that comes along, here are a few things you can consider:
- Will this job keep me moving forward? Will I learn here? Will I meet people that will grow my professional network? Will I feel good about the work I’m doing?
- Can I think of this job as a stepping stone? Will it get me closer to where I’d like to be professionally?
If you can answer “yes” to any of those questions, then maybe it’s time to take the job.
The second part of this question is –
Do I have to take a job making less money or with a lower title than I held before I took a career break?
My guidance is that I want you aim high, but you must understand that the burden of proving your value to an employer rests with you and only you. How can you prove that you’re worthy of your previous salary and title?
- By demonstrating that you’ve spent your career break learning and keeping your skills fresh
- By taking courses to refresh your job skills
- By becoming active (and being known) in a professional association relevant to your field
- By maintaining a network of influential people in your field
Then develop your personal brand image to illustrate your value.
One final thought: When I was job searching, I realized early on that my next job was going to come from someone who knew me personally and not from a resume that I blindly sent out over the Internet. And this belief changed my job search activities from sitting behind my computer sending out resumes to instead viewing every opportunity to talk to someone as a chance to get one step closer to finding the right job. And, guess what? It worked.
