HOW TO FIND A JOB AFTER TAKING A CAREER BREAK
Jun 07, 2016
From the moment I met Sara, I knew that only a few tweaks will set her on her way to shine in her new job. Despite being on a career break for 18 months with the last 6 months in active job search, Sara had full confidence in her capabilities and excitement for what the future holds – a major plus for people who are on job search.
Sara had done a lot of things right in her job search process and for the ones she didn’t, it was very easy to provide her the right support. Within 6 weeks of our initial meeting, Sara started work at one of the leading global banks. It was a pleasure to work with her; she made our job so easy.
So, what did Sara do that a lot of people in her situation don’t?
Managing Mindset
The most important thing in Sara’s favour was her mindset. Usually when I meet clients who have been out of work for a while, I can sense the drained energy they bring to the table. Feelings of being a failure, making mistakes or the omni-present self doubt outshine the smartness of the otherwise extremely capable professionals. With Sara, it was another case. She met me with full confidence in her capability; she just hadn’t looked for jobs for a while and needed some professional advice in job search.
Right Approach to Networking
Sara was ever ready to meet and speak to more people. Within a week of her engaging us, I was going to speak at a conference with Regional HR leaders. I asked Sara if she would attend the conference with me and she was up for the challenge. We prepared an elevator pitch for her. Throughout the conference, she asked relevant questions and made excellent recommendations. Result – she was interviewed during one of the lunch breaks by Global HR leader and referred into organization (One of the top 3 companies in their sector)
Sara was also open to speaking to some of my connections in her industry. And no, she did not have one of the “Can you give me a job” conversations which a lot of desperate job seekers do. Instead, she asked for their guidance in bringing her career back on track, the kind of challenges she was seeing in the industry and had a great discussion on how the connection was overcoming this challenge in her/his respective organization. Through her conversations, she was impressing people with her expertise and people were open to referring her towards the right direction. Not all the people, but some. Her pipeline of opportunities was growing.
Sara also tapped into her personal network to see if any one of her friends might be able to refer her to right organization.
Engaging in Voluntary work
Volunteering was something Sara did on her own, way before meeting us. Volunteering is anyway an excellent way of contributing to the world. In your job search, it helps you much more than you help other people in the following ways:
- Volunteering is therapeutic. By helping other people, we feel we are capable of doing good and it improves our self confidence
- It keeps the job seeker busy and with a purpose
- You further build your network through other volunteers and you never know who might be able to refer you to your next job
- You learn new skills which might be helpful in your next job.
In Sara’s case, she volunteered with an organization working with youth on helping them develop in their career. The job she finally took was looking for someone who understood millennials and Sara was able to highlight her recent experience at her voluntary organization.
Invested in learning
Our coaching program was not the only investment Sara made in up-skilling herself. She also completed a couple of professional courses that will be useful to her in her career. She was using this time off to prepare for a rocket launch for her career on its second stint
Being Reachable
Embracing the new methodologies in recruitment, Sara was active on LinkedIn by participating in relevant group discussions and sharing industry insights. Her job came to her when a recruiter noticed her profile and presented her with the opportunity.
Your job search is your own responsibility. Companies, recruiters, headhunters – no one owes you a job. You definitely add value to them and companies cannot exist without talented staff. How can they hire you if you are not communicating your value to them?
If you have been looking for job for a long time, take a step back and evaluate if you have really been pro-active in finding your job or are you just being reactive to the jobs that are published online at different platforms? And if you feel you have been pro-active, have you tried new techniques? Are you on the right track?
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JobS-ME: Job Search Made Easy
JobS-ME is a training, coaching and consulting company helping professionals get their next ideal job fast. True to its name, JobS-ME was launched to make job search easy and effective.
