Are you interested in returning to work sometime in the next year or so? Or maybe you are thinking that this will be your last year at home with the family before you return to work next year? Whether you’ve taken a career pause because of the coronavirus pandemic or other family reasons – believe it or not, now is the perfect time to start preparing to return to work, even if it’s not in the next few months. It takes 8 months in normal, non-pandemic times for a continuously working person to find a job. That process takes even longer for people with a career pause on their resume. The good news is that there are things you can do now to make the process stress-free and successful!
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5 Things You Need To Do To Prepare To Return To Work
Preparing to return to work after a career pause or after the coronavirus pandemic doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Focus on these five tips and you’ll be making great progress towards landing a position you’ll love.
Maintain your network. Whether you like it or not, sometimes landing your dream job comes down to who you know. Getting your foot in the door through a connection often has a higher success rate than applying for a position without knowing anyone in the company.
Reflect. Take time to think about what you have enjoyed doing in past work, explore your values, and come up with your ideal vision for your next step. What do you really want to do in your next job? Having a clear focus on where you’ve been and where you want to go is a key to a successful career.
Pursue professional skills. You don’t have to be doing paid work to sharpen your skills! Volunteer with a local organization or take some courses online. Doing this now will add skills and experience to your resume that helps to fill the gap you have from taking a career pause. Coursera and General Assembly are great resources to enhance your skills from home.
Update your resume and LinkedIn. Yes, it’s not fun, but you have to do it. Working on your resume and LinkedIn in small chunks as you have time will be less daunting than trying to do it when you see a job opening that you want to apply for. If you have recently left a job during the COVID pandemic, now is the perfect time to update your resume for your most recent position. Contacting past employers for measurable results of your work while the work is still relatively fresh is also a good idea if your pause hasn’t been too long.
Be patient. This process can take awhile, even when you are doing everything right. Find your tribe to support you through the long haul! Understanding your “why” of returning to work can also help you get through the process. Learn how to find your “why”.
THRIVE is the perfect way to implement these five ways to prepare to return to work into your transition.
A Solution For Returning to Work After Career Pause: THRIVE
THRIVE is a supportive community of like minded returners going through the same thing that you are, returning to work after a career pause. THRIVE enables you to maintain a solid network, helps you to organize your thoughts about your career path, and helps you to update your job search resources - all while leaning on other women taking the same path.
Join us for this 3 month return to work program! Let THRIVE be the catalyst for you to move towards what’s next.
