When you are
returning to work after a career break, or going back to work after any extended period away from the job, it can prove to be quite a challenge. If your kids are now in school and it's time for you to restart your career, my expert advice will help you to overcome your concerns.
Whatever the reason for the career break, even if you were made redundant, the absence from work frequently causes feelings of reduced confidence and lack of certainty about your ability to perform a particular job when you return to work. This section is going to show you how to overcome the fear of going back to work. Read here about how outplacement helps people get back to work.
Returning to Work: Career Break, Maternity Leave or Kids In School
If you are going back to work, or starting working again after say maternity leave and your job has been held open for you, the transition will be somewhat easier than if you had lost your job altogether.
When parents return to work after taking a career break for childcare reasons, they will usually find that getting back on track with their careers is eased by their employer's understanding and willingness to help them 'pick up the reins' again. If you are aiming to go back to work for a new employer, after a period of unemployment these tips for writing a Job Application Letter will help you to get that part right, but read on for this example of a Career Break Cover Letter
For some advertised jobs, you need to know about filling in a job application form. You may be asked to contact the employer to get a copy of the application form in the first instance, but if you need to fill in an application form to apply for the job, these are the main things to think about. Get this right and the rest is easy.
Stages Of Getting Back To Work
As part of their getting back to work policy, employers will usually help you with a return to work interview which is great for career break returners and helps you to get back on the career path again.
However if you lost your job through redundancy or you've been ill, perhaps you have been responsible for elderly parent care or been bereaved, especially if you have been away from work for some significant period of time returning to work can be most difficult.
It can be especially difficult to be optimistic if you are feeling a little hurt or emotionally fragile following job redundancy or other loss, but even when you know you need the change returning to work can be difficult to get going.
To overcome the lack of self-certainty that a period away from work often causes, you need to find some way to boost your confidence and the best career tools to get you in the right frame of mind. One way to help you is by thinking about the positive attributes that you undoubtedly possess. If you can say what yours are, you create a deeper understanding of the person behind the words. The person hearing the description of your personal attributes will develop a much stronger mental image of the sort of person you are. That is important because the key to most interviews is convincing the interviewer that you are the sort of person they are looking for; this is particularly true when you are returning to work after a period of absence such as maternity leave or even going back to work after retirement.
These Are The Stages You May Find Yourself Going Through:
1) Thinking About Thinking About Going Back To Work
You do not really want to consider a new job at all and if you feel pressured or coerced into it you will actively resist.
You perhaps know you should be looking but you aren’t really committed to job hunting. You may be giving it some half-hearted thought because of pressure from others – “you really ought to be returning to work and getting another job” but you do not want to take it any further.
Do you suffer from anxiety about returning to work? The Anxiety Test! Take this test and find out what to do about it!
2) Thinking About How To Get Back To Work After a Long Break
You do see a need for getting back to work and you may be considering making a the move “sometime” or perhaps when you’re quite ready. Which isn’t yet?
3) Preparing For Returning To Work
You’ve made a preliminary decision about returning and you’re preparing to look for the new job.
This stage involves both the psychological intention to take action to return to work and the initial practical steps towards the changes you must make.
You now need to develop and enhance your plan and consider the consequences. Your confidence and motivation are most severely tested at this point. Deciding what you are qualified to apply for is the crucial issue at this point and affects your whole approach to going back to work.
4) Taking Action
You start taking concrete behavioural steps, seeking information about returning to work and following advice on practical strategies and activities. You seek help with confidence boosting information and practical job search materials such as cover letter templates and CV or Resume examples to model.
You can now start actively job-hunting. You are thinking about your skills and experience as well as getting your CV or Resume up to date. You start a file to chart your applications and other activities. You start to rehearse what you need to say when your first interview comes along.
5) Keeping It Going
You have started your job search process and are now making efforts to maintain the momentum of your campaign. You are applying for jobs, networking with contacts and attending interviews, feeling serious now about returning to work.
However, you soon recognise that it can be disheartening and that your confidence can waver after the initial enthusiasm. You must learn not to lose heart, as a lack of early success can lead to a loss of motivation; but persistence, patience and perseverance will always pay off with the result you want.
Now, it's all up to you and your own sense of determination, but with some expert help you may find that some things become much easier. With some guidance you can achieve the return to work that you desire, and the routes back into work can be made easier if you have the right helpful information.
Overcoming job search inertia is the key to your career's wellbeing. Inertia or more simply inactivity is defined as a disposition to remain inactive or inert; as an example: "he had to overcome his inertia and get back to work" also means an unwillingness to take action.
Beat Your Fear Of Going Back To Work
After any length of time away from work you inevitably lose some of your normal confidence and the thought of returning to work can be quite scary. You may fear that your skills have become dated or that you will no longer fit in with your co-workers from before. As an expert
career coach, I recognize many of the emotional obstacles you will face because I too have been through this difficult transition in my own working life. This is the main reason why I created this special
Returning To Work Pack which is sure to help you overcome your concerns and help you make the journey back into employment more smoothly. I suggest you read the page about
Outplacement to help you understand the possibilities.
When it all goes right and you do find a job, then starting a new job is also the time when you need to be extra careful not to tread on too many toes, use your personal marketing skills to make sure you fit in because you cannot rely on the goodwill of people who are already established in the organization although you will be told about the elusive 'honeymoon' period.
The Anxiety Test! Do you suffer from anxiety? Take this test and find out what to do about it!
Top of Returning To Work page.
Back To Work: Practical Information and Links To Help You Get A Job.
Returning to work after a period of unemployment, or returning to work after any extended period away from the job such as a maternity leave, can prove to be quite daunting. You may feel that your skills have become outdated or your ability to deal with people has been diminished.
Whatever the reason for the career break, the absence from work frequently causes feelings of reduced confidence and lack of certainty about your ability to perform a particular job.
If you are Over 50 And Looking For A Job, you may well think that everybody is against you and that there are no suitable jobs for mature workers like you. I've included information that I think that they may help to throw some light on what the older workers, people who are over 50, can actually do to help themselves get back to work - even if you took early retirement.
Going back to work is often one of the main goals geared towards returning to a normal life. By far the easiest way to get back to work is to return to the last place you left (assuming you were happy with your job and the company). This article can help you decide whether staying at home or going back to work is right for you.
Jobseekers should think about the skills they use in what they do and where they go in their everyday lives and should also think about their interests and skills and how to apply them in a work setting. This is one reason that employment counselors stress the importance of job-seekers exploring what they want to do as a step toward finding a job for the long term.
Getting Practical Information
Information is available about training courses, grants, how to find work, including CV tips, help with interview techniques and advice on how to improve your skills. Employers want to know some important information about you before they invite you for a job interview or offer you a position. At some point in the job search, you will likely be asked for the names and contact information of several people who can vouch for your character and work ethic. Try this approach outlined in my 7 Steps Article.
Back To Work Links
Knowing how to
Find A Job is the main concern for lots of people in this difficult economic jobs market. With job losses and redundancies affecting more and more people, the fear of not being able to find another job naturally increases. Don't overlook the importance of
career planning even at this stage.
Top Jobs include Heathrow Airport Jobs which are always available as people retire, leave for other employment, go on maternity leave and with the ever increasing expansion and renovation new jobs are created. Follow the link for LATEST US JOBS to view the new jobs board latest jobs listings. Or you can use the search boxes and job links on this page to find the job you're looking for.
Truth is, most of us are in need of good careers information and advice from time to time.
On this page are some recommended additional useful and sometimes inspiring links to other resources that you may find helpful as you progress your career or job-search: Links Page
My Recommended Jobs Resources are just what you need when you are returning to work and have very little time to prepare for the ideal job you've just spotted. You know what I mean? If you haven't got your Resume or CV just right and you're not sure about the best way to write a job application cover letter, then you need emergency help. And that hasn't even started to think what you will say at your interview - if you get one!
There's a really useful free ebook to download called
Surviving the Career Jungle which I'm sure will help you.
Employers
Employers fill the majority of job openings through the unadvertised, or hidden, job market. Most employers are reluctant to hire and train someone who will not stay in the position very long. When returning to work, try to find employers that interest you, set up an appointment with as many as you can, and then meet with workers who have jobs that you think you might enjoy.
Unemployment
Unemployment figures due this week are expected to show signs of a jobs recovery, but concern is mounting for 620,000 people who have been seeking work for more than a year. There is still a demand for oil and gas workers in oil rig jobs.
Experienced Workers
Older workers (55 and over) tend to have relatively low unemployment rates (in part because younger workers, with less professional experience, are often the first to be let go), but the devastating jobs picture is undermining that advantage, according to a February report from the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank.
Career Change
I see many women who want to trade careers when they return, seeking something "less competitive" and more family friendly than business or law or whatever.
Planning ahead and focusing on how youre going to spend your money when you do start back to work is a good start.
My Professional CV Writing Services
If you need a professional CV to help you returning to work, you've already seen what I can do if you have looked around this site, so if you want a truly personalized CV, written by me, which combines all of the impact and interview-winning features created from your own information, then I can do it for you quickly. Just click on CV Writing Services to get started.
Expert Online Help
To get me on your side, join my
7 Steps Program of Career Management and save money as well as your time by accessing my online career coaching programme which will give your career an immediate boost. Whether you are trying to get a new job and get back to work, or you are considering a career change, this programme will instantly give you the knowledge, skills and confidence to get your work life and career back where it should be.
If you are amongst the numbers of public sector and government employees who are threatened with job loss over the next couple of years, you can get yourself better equipped to deal with the enforced career change by joining my 7 Steps Program.
When you move from the public sector to the private sector employers, which is where the new jobs are anticipated, the differences in environment, work styles and approach to economic realities, mean that you will not just be changing your job, it will be no less than a complete career change.
With my on-line coaching programme you have a self-directed agenda that you follow at your own pace so you gain all the benefits of a personal career coaching service, with direct access to your own highly experienced Career Coach, which means no need for traveling to a career centre for a meeting or waiting for an appointment with your consultant.
The 7 Steps Program is laid out in easy to follow stages and you can take as long as you want to, or repeat steps as you wish. It's your programme so you can do it any way that feels right for you.
Returning To Work Pack
In our specially created Returning To Work pack you will find: |
With this Returning To Work Pack which is sure to help you, you have everything you need to get back to work after a career break. Going back to work can prove to be quite a challenge, but you can now overcome the difficulties and whatever the reason for the career break get back on track FAST!!
Don't Delay Buy it Now For Just £9.95Click the PayPal Button for an Instant Download - Whatever Time of Day Or Night It Is!
Buy with confidence - you have my 100% cast-iron guarantee of satisfaction, or your money back.
Back to top of Returning To Work page.