Planning a return to work? Reentering the workforce can be a challenge no matter how good your excuse is: volunteering, working or studying abroad, starting a family, caring for a sick relative or coping with your own illness, or investing in your future by completing a graduate degree.
Your search can be made more difficult by a bias against people who have large gaps in their work history, which is often cited among top barriers to employment. Your return to work can even be hampered by your own fears or your subtle (or not-so-subtle) wish that you didn’t actually have to buck up and get a job.
But don’t worry, you can do it! With these tips, reentering the work world will be a breeze.
Tips to Help You Return to Work
- Update your skills
- Create a functional resume
- Be open to new experiences
- Be bold in your pursuit
- Seek advice
- Be an interview superstar
- Put yourself out there
1. Update Your Skills Before You Start to Look for a Job
If you can, start padding your resume a few months before you want to start looking for a job. Volunteer, take an online course, investigate internships—do anything that can help fill gaps and reboot your life and resume.
2. Create a Resume That Is Functional Rather Than Chronological
With a functional resume format, you focus on your skills and successes rather than the precise dates of your employment. Create headings like “marketing experience,” “sales successes,” or “benchmarks met,” and then list your achievements accordingly.
3. Be Bold
A killer resume may not be the magic bullet when reentering the workforce. To land a great interview, you may have to take the phone into your own hands. Consider making polite and focused calls or send letters of interest to companies you are interested in or HR departments. Inquire about jobs you saw posted online, express your interest, and ask for an interview. Making a good personal connection might help move your resume to the top of the pile.
4. Seek Advice and Take It Humbly
Now is the time to listen to your wise friends who are gainfully employed. Have your pals eyeball your resume, read your cover letter, give you tips on networking, and help you practice your interview skills. If you feel like you’re in need of a self-esteem boost, take a trusted friend shopping to help you pick out an interview outfit that will make you feel sophisticated and professional.
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5. Be an Interview Superstar
When you land an interview, arrive ready to outshine the competition. If asked about it, discuss your time away briefly. Don’t get bogged down in the details of your year in Belize or become emotional about a loved one’s illness. Emphasize your skills and work ethic rather than your time away, and pitch yourself to the interviewer as a blank slate ready to jump in and work hard in a new work environment. If it makes sense, draw concrete conclusions between the job you’re interviewing for and the things you learned while coping with real-life situations (travel, illness, graduate school) that the competition may not have had to deal with.
6. Be Open to New Experiences
The reality of returning to work world is that you might have to make some compromises. Be open to part-time jobs, project or contract work, or even returnships. These short-term jobs often provide great experience and contacts that can help you land a job that is a perfect fit for you and all of the experiences you bring to the table.
7. Put Yourself Out There
After spending all that time updating your resume, make sure recruiters can find you by uploading your resume to Monster. We can help with all aspects of reentering the workforce. Your job search will no longer yield hundreds of “so-so” options, but rather a handful of job opportunities tailored exactly to what you’re looking for.
About Nicole:
Career expert and best-selling author of Girl on Top, Nicole Williams is redefining the world of work—making it glamorous, entertaining, and relevant to modern women. Nicole founded WORKS by Nicole Williams with the vision of building the first media and content company focused on career development specifically for the highly dynamic and powerful market of young professional women. Her website, Nicolewilliams.com, is the go-to destination site for modern working women.
