BACK TO BUSINESS

Techniques to help you meet the challenges of the ever-changing job market with confidence

Have I fallen behind? Are my skills still valuable? What should I write in an application? Whether you were made redundant or took a step back from your career, re-entering the workforce can throw up all kinds of questions. Add in a pandemic, and you’re probably facing a mountain of self-doubt. The reality is that Covid-19 continues to impact the job market, and it’s women who are suffering the most. A report published by PWC found 78% of those who had already lost their jobs in May 2020 as a result of Covid-19 were women. This so-called ‘she-cession’ is down to the higher proportion of female staff in the service sector, which has been the most adversely affected in the last year.

Despite the fairly bleak economic landscape at the moment, it does come with some glimmers of hope for anyone looking to re-enter the workforce. ‘More employers are offering home-working or hybrid working, which includes a mix of home and office working,’ says career coach Arit Eminue. ‘So, you’re much less restricted to job roles based in your region – the whole country is now open to you.’ We’ve also found new ways of using technology to provide virtual services and have become more versatile in the process. A gap in your CV is no longer something to be questioned or looked down upon, especially when so many of us have been furloughed or lost our jobs entirely. ‘In 2021, organisations need people who are adaptable, resilient and creative problem-solvers,’ says Sarah Ellis, co-author of The Squiggly Career, ‘and there’s no doubt these attributes are what time away from the workplace gives all of us.’ Here are 10 tips to help give your post-career break a boost…

1 REFRAME HOW YOU THINK ABOUT YOUR TIME OUT OF WORK

We wrongly avoid attributing any value to time out of the workforce, but there are plenty of advantages. ‘Try asking yourself: what did I learn over the last period I was out of work?’ Ellis recommends. ‘Your “learning list” is often longer than you might think. Also, don’t forget that if you’re new to an organisation you can offer “fresh-eyes feedback”, which is very valuable, so use that to your advantage.’

2 LEARN HOW TO TALK ABOUT IT

One of the biggest obstacles to get in the way of returning to work is not knowing how to talk about the gap in your CV

in a clear and professional way. But as the authors of Back To Business: Finding Your Confidence, Embracing Your Skills And Landing Your Dream Job After A Career Pause explain, it’s quite simple: the trick is not to over-think it. ‘All a prospective employer wants to know is what you can do for them,’ says co-author Nancy Mcsharry Jensen. ‘You briefly address what you’ve been doing, and then you pivot to what you want to do next, in the context of the skills that you’re going to bring. For example: “I was working full time for the Huffington Post when the company was acquired. I’m working as a freelancer now, and I’m looking for the next great job where I can apply my digital content strategy skills.”’

3 BUILD BACK CONFIDENCE

A lack of confidence is one of the main issues women who have been out of work – for whatever reason – face. A useful exercise to help you build up self-esteem is sending out an email to past colleagues asking: when we worked together, what was I good at? What did you value? says Jensen. ‘It’s such a reaffirming exercise because these people remind you who you are and what you can do. It can feel a little self-indulgent, but it’s not. It’s a building block,’ she adds.

4 CONDUCT A SELF-ASSESSMENT

Be clear in your intentions and make a plan. ‘A self-assessment is a good place to start,’ says Sarah Duenwald, Jensen’s co-author. ‘For each job you’ve had, write down the key aspects you liked, and those you disliked. This helps you understand whether you really want to go back to what you were doing before or if you want to try something different.’

5 CONSIDER YOUR DIFFERENT PATHS

Jensen and Duenwald outline four main paths back to business:

● Boomerang, where you go back to what you did before, either at your previous company or with your previous manager.

● Lily pad, where you take a short-term job with an eye towards getting the next role; the one you really want.

● Try and buy, a good path for anyone thinking about switching careers: you take a contract job for a finite amount of time to see if it fits and how it feels.

● Pro bono to paid; volunteering for a short period to build your network or your skills before moving to a paid position.

6 UTILISE RESOURCES

Find and make the most of schemes, tools and platforms available to you. Career coach Eminue recommends:

● Organisations such as Successful Mums that provide training and wraparound support designed to boost the confidence of women looking to return to work.

● People Per Hour, a great platform for anyone who wants to start working part time or in a freelance capacity initially.

● Structured return to work programmes at certain employers such as JP Morgan and Deloitte.

● Enterprise Nation, which provides support to those taking their first steps into entrepreneurship. It has a pool of advisers on hand to share their knowledge at low or no cost.

7 BE SPECIFIC WHEN YOU NETWORK

How do you ask for help without taking too much of your contacts’ time? ‘Don’t ever send an email that says, “can I pick your brain?” or “I just want to touch base,”’ advises Duenwald. ‘Be specific and ask something like: “I want help with these three things, do you have 20 minutes?”’ Also, don’t feel guilty. ‘We don’t need to apologise for or feel embarrassed about asking for help,’ says Ellis. ‘Remember, no one has a monopoly on wisdom, so ask as many people as you can – there’s no such thing as too much help,’ she adds.

8 THINK ABOUT YOUR PERSONAL BRAND

Eminue recommends Googling yourself to see what a prospective employer would see, while all experts recommend having a Linkedin presence. ‘Writing a short summary on your profile will help give other people a sense of who you are and what’s most important to you,’ says Ellis.

And use it: ‘Like and comment on posts, share your thoughts on issues relating to the industry. Being on platforms like Linkedin and not being active is akin to attending a networking event and not speaking with anyone,’ says Eminue. ‘It’s an employer-driven market now,’ says Eminue. ‘Rather than applying for every role, focus on jobs that stand out.’ Having said that, do reach out to organisations you’re interested in joining. ‘Not all jobs are advertised and there may be projects you can get involved in, which gives a chance to test the waters before making a commitment,’ she says.

10 IMMERSE YOURSELF

‘Invest time in reading, watching and listening to things that are relevant to the work that you’re interested in,’ says Ellis. ‘This gives you a useful window to the world that you’re hoping to become part of, plus helpful references that you can mention in interviews.’

Back To Business (Harpercollins Leadership) by

Nancy Mcsharry Jensen and Sarah Duenwald is out 18th

February. The Squiggly Career (Penguin) by Sarah Ellis and Helen

Tupper is out now. To get 25% off Arit Eminue’s one-to-one career coaching, visit ariteminue.com and quote RED2021.

‘For each job you’ve had, write down the key aspects you liked, and those you disliked’