How to give yourself a window to return to the workforce
The global pandemic has led to a record number of women leaving the workplace.
More than one in four women are considering downshifting or leaving the workplace completely because of the pandemic (source) and of the 1.1M people ages 20+ who have left the workforce between August and September, more than 800K were women (NYTimes / National Women's Law Center ). While child caring and caretaking is important work, the long-term impact on career, especially for those who did not plan to leave, can be severe. I'm a personal finance blogger who made the choice to take a year off to stay home, but I knew I’d return to work because of family financial obligations. I had the privilege of choice, but for the many women leaving the workforce due to the pandemic, it was not a choice. I'd like to provide some comfort and practical advice for getting through this difficult time and improve your odds of re-employment .
Focus on the transition
You as a parent cannot do it all, and if you made the choice to leave your career, it's because the systems you relied on have failed you. Right now, focus on making a new routine at home. Check out many of Lauren's free resources and build in systems and routines. In a time of crisis, a routine can help stabilize our mental health.
Update your resume and your LinkedIn profile
Once the chaos has died down, take a few hours to update your resume and your LinkedIn profile while the memory of your job is still fresh in your mind. I like having a master resume, where you have details of everything you did, and from that, you can create customized resumes. Beef up your LinkedIn profile! Recruiters are always searching profiles for certain keywords, so the more detail in your LinkedIn profile, the better.
Make networking a natural habit
During the long days of being at home with my son, I created a routine of scheduling 30 - 60 minute phone / Zoom calls with friends to help break up my day. These calls were key to saving my sanity in pandemic, but they also provided an opportunity for me to learn about what my friends were doing professionally. By showing that I cared about what was going on in their lives, both personally and professionally, organically, I found ways to help them. I also used the Feedly app to add newsfeeds for my industry, and every day I'd spend some time browsing the latest headlines. Another website I love is smartbrief.com, which you can use to select daily email newsletters for your industry. This half hour was not only great for my mental health, I was also able to pick up on a trend that I ended up publishing a paper on with my employer.
Keep your skills sharp
A lot of people were surprised that I made the choice to write a paper with my employer while not on payroll. You do not need to do exactly what I did, but the reality is that skills become rusty over time if we do not practice them. Consider having a small project or volunteering opportunity to keep skills current. Upwork, Mechanical Turk, are just examples of broad marketplaces where you can find project based work, and be sure to search specific to your industry and network with friends as well.
You should share about the leave of absence when interviewing
Many people are really afraid to address the elephant in the room when it comes to a long career break on their resume. When applying, the cover letter is the best place to address the leave of absence. A sentence or two in the introduction such as "After taking a year off to homeschool my children during pandemic, I am now ready to return and am excited for this work opportunity" suffices. During the interview, you can bring it up if people ask about it. If a potential employer reacts poorly to the fact that you had a really important reason for taking a leave of absence, that is likely an employer you do not want to work for long-term.
Being a parent and/or caretaker during this year is hard. You are doing hard things that you did not expect to be doing, so be sure to be very kind to yourself, and remember that you are a valued human being, whether you make income or not. Your self-worth is not in your net worth or your salary, and taking care of others is one of the most important jobs in the entire world.
Shang is a personal finance blogger and influencer, better known as Save My Cents. She reached the ability to work optional at age 31, and took a year off at age 34 to care for her first child. She recently returned to work full-time as a management consultant and continues to coach people to reach financial independence in her free time.
Get in touch!
Instagram: @savemycents
Website: Savemycents.com