by Katie Dunn | Apr 24, 2017 | brand, career break, confidence, job search, women in business
You’ve got the power!
You have the power to tell your story in your own words every time you meet someone new, write a cover letter or go for a job interview. Don’t give away that power! It’s called positioning and if you don’t position yourself a certain way, others will position you where they think you belong. Positioning is so important that it’s one of the famed 4 P’s of marketing. Isn’t marketing yourself successfully what job searching is all about?
As a job seeker with a gap in your work history, you are an unconventional candidate. A recruiter will look at your resume and wonder “What was she doing during the years that she wasn’t working?” You don’t want a recruiter to wonder about you and here’s why:
Why You Must Tell Your Own Story
I have a recruiter friend who has looked at a resume with a gap in the presence of other recruiters. When there is no explanation for the gap, the recruiters discuss possible reasons why the candidate has a work gap and eventually settle on a reason that seems plausible to them. Then they use this made-up information to justify offering the candidate a lower salary since the candidate appears out of work and probably won’t negotiate. Sound wrong? You bet! But it happens, and this is why you must clearly position yourself as a viable job candidate with relevant skills and experience and no mystery.
How to take charge of your personal positioning:
#1 Know what you gained from your career sabbatical
Everyone knows it’s not easy raising children or caring for elderly parents, but it’s up to you to articulate why you are a better job candidate than the next person. Did you learn a new skill, manage people or projects through your church or your children’s school, do volunteer work or gain a new perspective on work and life? Consider your career break as one chapter in the long book of your career and practice speaking about your break and what you gained from it with confidence. Work this right into your elevator pitch.
#2: Have a compelling story about a recent skill upgrade that you pursued
Determine which skills are most valued in the line of work you want to get into, and be sure you not only possess them but can speak to how you recently updated them. Being able to say something like “I just took a course in data analytics at Wake Tech” or “I made a commitment to spend 5 hours a week on online coursework in Project Management skills” can make a powerful impression and position you as a continuous learner using your career break to prepare yourself for your next step. Be sure your recent coursework and skill upgrades are included on your LinkedIn profile.
#3: Make sure your resume isn’t full of holes
Write a strong Summary or Objective at the top of the resume that presents you as a professional and takes the mystery out of any significant work gaps. Consider attending the Back to Business Women’s Conference on February 21, 2020 in Research Triangle Park, NC where we’ll have a resume-writing workshop. Or seek 1-on-1 help from a professional resume expert like Mir Garvey of RTP Resumes.
Take Charge!
Take charge of your professional reputation and personal brand. If you aren’t proactive about telling your story, you are missing out on the opportunity to market yourself as a great job candidate. I encourage you to think about what you want your professional identity to look like and to make sure that your resume, cover letters, LinkedIn profile and networking efforts are all working together to reinforce this identity. Have a cohesive story, own it and tell it with confidence.
Check out more articles with specific job-hunting tips for women returning to work after a career break at www.BacktoBusinessConference.com.
by Katie Dunn | Mar 28, 2017 | career break, job search, moms, resume
Back to Business Guest Blog by Mir Garvy of RTP Resumes
Whether you chose to step out of the workforce for a year or for 15 years, getting back into it can seem like an uphill battle. It can feel daunting to work toward gaining acceptance in your chosen field, toward maintaining your confidence and self respect, and toward eventually securing a position that rewards you for what you know and what you can do.
Waiting for that eventuality can be frustrating. After you’ve taken a career break you’ll be using the same skills you’ve always used to job hunt: a polished resume, a strong network, an understanding of industry trends, and a dedication to your personal goals. Keeping a positive attitude in all this is essential, but it might require some effort.
I find knowing that others have successfully relaunched their careers gives other people returning to paid work—especially women—the encouragement they need. I’ve helped enough relaunchers to know that every path back to work is unique. The people who come out on top are the ones who are flexible and creative, willing to combine some new skills with their old ones.
Meet Relaunchers Alex and Melanie
Here are two examples of what I mean. One story demonstrates how a forced career break can be framed as a growth experience leveraging someone into a new occupation. The other shows how even minimal but ongoing involvement in the same occupation can plug holes in a resume.
Alex’s Story
Alex (name changed for anonymity) was 50 years old when we worked on his resume. He had spent more than 25 years in the hospitality industry and then went through a divorce. Instead of a plum job as a Director of Operations at high-end destination resorts where he oversaw a large staff that managed top-tier functions such as golfing events, professional conferences, and weddings, he became the trailing spouse to his ex-wife, who moved twice with their children.
Alex struggled. Forced to take whatever jobs were available to him in the cities where his ex-wife chose to move, he worked as a store manager at The Home Depot and then at The Fresh Market.
When both of his aging parents’ health became problematic, he stopped working to care for them. This career break extended to two years. When they died he was charged with settling their estate.
During this time, he was not employed at all, but something interesting happened during those years. As a result of spending time with his own failing parents, he become passionate about working in an industry that improves the lives of elderly and frail people.
He decided to earn a certification in the field of elder care. His new resume leveraged his experience managing resorts to managing assisted living facilities.
We labeled the two years off a sabbatical. He told the story of caring for his parents in his cover letter, and he briefly mentioned the personal side of his being a trailing spouse as a single dad in his interview, then quickly moved on to all of his professional and transferable skills. The happy ending is that Alex was recently promoted to Senior Operations Director of a chain of assisted living facilities.
Melanie’s Story
Melanie (not her real name) is 43 years old now. In her twenties she had earned a degree in marketing and then worked for eight years in advertising and public relations, advancing her career each year.
Social media was just becoming a viable revenue-generating tool that businesses were taking as a serious part of their overall ad and marketing spend. She gained considerable experience writing blogs, ad copy, web copy, social media posts, and creating graphics for all of these outlets.
But then, Melanie and her husband decided to start a family. At age 30, she stepped out of the workforce and spent the next 12 years raising three children. From time to time, the agencies where she’d worked, as well as former colleagues who’d gone on to work at other marketing companies and ad agencies, would reach out to her to do contract jobs. This was a fortunate circumstance.
She didn’t make much money from her contract work, but she did form a sole proprietorship and report her earned income each year. By the time her youngest was ready to start school, she was ready to get back to full-time employment.
Because, on paper at least, she had owned a business for 12 years, we were able to draft her resume to show she was continuously employed. Granted, there were months—and even years—when she earned zero income for her business. But, luckily, she had maintained some level of business involvement in the midst of parenting, and some documentation to prove it.
As a result of what the piecemeal jobs required of her, Melanie had kept up to date for the most part with trends in her industry. She joined a couple of professional organizations. She attended a national conference in social media and digital marketing to brush up on all the very latest platforms, trends, and who the thought leaders were.
Her resume, her LinkedIn profile, and her interview skills quickly strengthened and she started applying for jobs. By the time she dropped her youngest off for his first day of kindergarten, she had accepted a position as Senior Social Media Manager for a well-known IT company.
I love it when all the pieces come together like they did for these two clients. Even though Alex and Melanie did not exactly plot ahead of time how they would fill the hole of a career break, and even though their work history was quite haphazard because of the curve balls they were thrown, we were able to shape their stories to make their career gaps appear logical and intentional.
Your Story
If you are a relauncher, consider how to piece together a story that frames your career break in a way that works to your advantage. If you need help with this, you may want to work with a professional resume writer who has experience in this area.
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About Mir Garvy, MS, CPRW – I’ve written resumes for 2,000+ job seekers just like you—and helped my clients land jobs with companies like Amazon, SAS, Google, Duke University, Travelocity, Cisco Systems, GlaxoSmithKline, Expedia, and IBM. www.rtpresumes.com
by Katie Dunn | Oct 1, 2016 | career break, interview, job search, moms, women in business
For women, professional dress is often a topic that causes a lot of confusion. We suggest that you dress for the Back to Business Women’s Conference as if you were going to an interview – use it as a practice run so that when you do have an interview you aren’t suiting up for the first time in a long time. Even though workplaces have evolved to be much more casual today than they were in the past, there is still an expectation that you wear a suit to an interview.
Here are a few suggestions for business attire. Our motto is: keep it simple and err on the conservative side.
- You can’t go wrong with a black or navy blue suit and a light-colored blouse. Both pantsuits and skirts are fine. A skirt that ends at your knee looks both stylish and professional. You shouldn’t have to spend a lot of money for a basic suit.
- A pair of solid-colored pants or a skirt with a blouse works well also. Avoid loud patterns and low-cut necklines. If you’re not going to be wearing a suit to work once you get that job, don’t invest in a suit now. Instead, go with a nice-looking pair of dark pants or a skirt and blouse that fit well. Look for a pair of tailored pants and make sure they are clean and well-pressed.
- Keep your jewelry simple.
- Much has been written about the impression that shoes make during job interviews. They don’t have to be fancy, but they do need to look polished, and not worn.
- Avoid trendy looks and go for more of a classic style. You don’t have to be boring, but a well-tailored, professional look says a lot of positive things about you before you even open your mouth to wow a potential employer. First impressions count for a lot!
What’s “Business Casual” all about?
And here’s a word about “business casual” because this is a phrase that often leaves people wondering what exactly they should wear: Business casual should be more business and less casual! While a full suit is not required, go for a tailored skirt or suit pants and a blouse. You’ll still want to make a businesslike impression.
by Katie Dunn | Sep 9, 2016 | career break, job search, moms, women in business
Dear 25-year old Self:
You’re just a few years into what will hopefully be a long and fulfilling career. I know you’re not thinking about how you’ll juggle career and family when the time comes, and that’s exactly why I’d like to share with you what I’ve learned over the past 20 years. You may want to take a break from your career to raise a family. Here are some strategies for success you can employ now that will make it easier to re-start your career when the time is right:
- Keep one foot in the working world: If you can find an opportunity to continue to work on a limited or part-time basis, take it! This allows you to have an employment history without a gap and to stay in touch with the professional world. Besides, it’s refreshing to have adult conversations. This is the #1 thing that women returning to work tell me they wish they’d known when they left their jobs to stay home.
- Make family your priority: You’ve heard it before – you’ll never get back those years when your children are young. If you have the luxury to be around for those early milestones and you want to be home, then seize the opportunity and savor it.
- Consider your options, choose confidently and enjoy life. Forget “working mommy guilt”, whatever that is. Whether you choose to continue working or to stay home with your children, do the best job you can and don’t second-guess yourself. You can always reconsider your decision as your circumstances change, but move forward with confidence in whatever direction you’ve chosen.
- Raise independent children: Having your own career, interests and hobbies is so much easier when you’ve raised independent children. I recently dropped my rising 9th grader off for student-only freshman orientation and was bewildered by all the moms going in with their kids. When I asked my daughter if she’d like me to come in she said “Mom, I’ve got this.” Wow – did that make my day! I drove to work feeling a bit sad that she was growing up so fast, but absolutely thrilled that she was so confident and independent.
- Attend a conference once a year: This is a great way to meet people and stay current on new developments in your field. Choose a conference nearby to keep the cost low or pick a conference in a city where you have friends or family and turn this into a business vacation. May we suggest the Back to Business Women’s Conference? It is held in October in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Tons of professional job search advice, support from an amazing community of women, a resume workshop, a networking workshop, and so much more – just what you need if you’re returning to work!
- Keep the network up: Make a conscious effort to keep in touch with your professional contacts. This can be as easy as emailing a few people each week to say hello and let them know what you’re up to.
- Continue to meet as many people as you can during your work hiatus. I know you’ll be busy (I get it, we have four children!), but some of the people I built relationships with during the time that I wasn’t working full-time were instrumental in helping me return to work when the time came.
- Have lunch with former co-workers: I left IBM in 2003, but meet my former office-mate for lunch every fall. We have entirely different networks since our careers have gone in different directions, but over the years we’ve each asked the other to make introductions for us. And since fall is fast approaching, I’d better go check the calendar and invite Jeff to lunch!
- Have coffee with someone new and interesting every month to talk shop: I know this sounds weird if you’re not in the habit of doing this, but a few times this summer I’ve reached out to people that I didn’t know personally to invite them to have coffee and talk about something specific. I was rewarded with fascinating conversations and great new ideas! You’ll get more comfortable with this the more you do it. I promise. I used LinkedIn inmail which was great for this.
- Be a continuous learner: Subscribe to whatever magazine people in your profession read to stay current with developments in your field. I’ve subscribed to Fortune Magazine since I was in graduate school and since they just kept extending my student rate, I kept ordering it. Sure, some months they piled up on my coffee table, but I eventually read most of them and over the course of the 12 years that I considered myself primarily a stay-at-home parent, I digested a lot of business news.
- Get a good web crawler to send you articles on your field every day: The key here is to send them directly to an email folder so that when you have the time you can read to your hearts content (or until the baby cries). If they aren’t piling up in your inbox, you won’t feel guilty that you don’t get to them all. Directing them to an email folder ensures that when you’re ready to read, you’ve got a well-stocked shelf of relevant articles.
- Develop a new skill: Taking a break from your career or downshifting for a time can provide a great opportunity to make a directional change. With so many great courses online, you can develop new skills without even leaving your house that will keep you sharp when you’re ready to return to work.
- Update your resume every year on the same day: Call it your “resume-aversary” (OK,don’t call it that), but understand that designating the same day to do this each year increases the likelihood that it will happen. If you’ve taken a significant career break and haven’t even looked at your resume in 10 years, this can be a real roadblock to getting back in the job market.
- Set aside money for professional development while you have an income. This way you won’t hesitate to invest in yourself when you’re not working. While there are lots of free courses and advice out there, you’ll find that occasionally spending money to keep your skills fine-tuned will really pay off in the long run.
I hope that by the time you’re ready to restart your career, the working world has evolved to seeing a career break as an opportunity for growth and personal development. I can say with confidence that the 12 years I spent out of the full-time workforce were years of incredible growth for me. I returned to work with a renewed sense of purpose, the ability to keep things in perspective and time management skills that I could only have dreamed of earlier in my career. In fact, I owe my current success to my career break.
by Katie Dunn | Jul 23, 2016 | career break, job search, moms
Let’s face it: It’s hard to get much of anything done in the summer! With kids home and a long stretch of time in front of us, there just isn’t much urgency to be productive. For some reason, it’s easier for me to accomplish 10 things when I only have 2 hours, than when I have 2 months! So if you’re looking for a job this summer, and especially if you’re looking to get back to work after a career break, here’s my suggestion: Be realistic about what you can accomplish this summer as you continue on your journey back to work. If you set unrealistic goals, you’ll only be disappointed when you fall short.
Since I want you to feel confident about what you’re accomplishing, I’ve come up with 2 summer job search options for you. All you have to do is decide…are you “Takin’ It Easy” this summer or are you “In High Gear?” The “Takin’ It Easy” plan is for you if you’re hoping to continue your positive momentum as you look for that right job post-career break. It focuses on getting yourself ready and taking small steps toward putting yourself out there. The “In High Gear” plan is for those of you who are actively job-seeking and it contains reminders of all the things you’ll want to be consistently doing throughout the summer.
Whether you’re “Takin’ It Easy” or “In High Gear” keep in mind that devoting even a small amount of time each day to a focused and productive activity in your job search will pay dividends for you. Click here to activate the job search plan that’s just right for you. I wish you a fun and productive summer!
