Once upon a time an old chap said to me, that a ‘career is just a job that has gone on too long”. I guess having had several “careers” (or more to the point jobs in the past), I do understand how important careers to us all.
This came into sharp focus following a conversation around people (mainly parents and people with disabilities) who have or had career breaks and are now looking to get back to their careers. The very interesting conversations suggested one or two possible camps of opinion. One being, “I’ll be fine, my CV is up to date and as soon as I get my job searching going I will be snapped up”. Or conversely, I’ve been out of the workplace for 5 years after bringing up my children (or having an illness) and my skills, CV and everything else to do with work is out of date”. Of course the truth of the matter is somewhere in the middle as it always is. Those that appear over confident may be displacing the anxiety of the situation; whereas the second group are probably catastrophising slightly. So how do we make sense of the range of emotions at getting back to work, to making positive and constructive plans to get you back in the work saddle after a break.
Careers after a Break
Interestingly, the term career can refer to many types of employment ranging from the semi-skilled through to skilled, and onward to semi-professional to professional. Needless to say, specific careers paths will no doubt have their own goals & objectives, a plan on how to get to those objectives. Plus a step by step evaluation on how to get to where your you want to be. Indeed moving onto career development, this can be further defined by the “lifelong psychological and behavioural processes as well as contextual influences shaping one’s career over the life span” (Herr & Cramer 1996). As such, career development involves the person’s creation of a career pattern, decision-making style, integration of life roles, values expression, and life-role self concepts.
What to do
Now with that knowledge in mind lets assume that an individual has has career but has spent a few years caring for children, had an illness or have experienced redundancy for example. Then how do you re-engage with the workplace once more? To many it can seem as easy as walking back into a role similar to one you left. On the other hand can create an overwhelming sense of inertia as a result of outdated career management knowledge & skills. Clearly things have moved on with certain professions, along with the organisations you may have worked in the past. Perhaps the people you have worked with have also moved on, or maybe your employability skills are a little out of date and the CV is, well, a little dusty?
Jump into your career again, here’s how
Fortunately all is not lost – in fact far from it. To start with perhaps you may consider volunteering in an area of interest or networking. This will help to get you back into the groove again and to make those all important contacts or jobs of interest. Or perhaps spend time looking at your drivers, motivations, interests, constraints or personal qualities that will help create a foundation for your job search.
However, a well crafted CV focusing upon your strengths, achievements and what you can offer is an enriching process. Even if there are gaps in the CV its all about what you have been doing, perhaps voluntary work, helping out in the community, or even at a school can really help to plug the gaps in employment history. Moreover, an overhaul of your CV and where you fit can promote a positive “call to action”.
This will help to create a process and is a serious motivator to help move your thoughts toward reconnecting with your skills and the value you offer to an employer. This can support you with what you need to do and how you are going to reach your goal to pick up your career. The diagram below helps focus upon processes that a good career coach will guide you through.
What Now?
Firstly try to focus upon the reasons you want to go back to work. Of course these are many, financial security being just one. Hopefully you can go back into a role that you have been involved in before or perhaps you may want to try something new. In that case there is a good case for a thorough re-evaluation of your career capital. You know, where your skills, knowledge, experiences etc reside. Career capital is the information you can draw from so that you can broadcast to help employers see the benefits of employing you. This is also known as a craftsperson mindset. The type of mindset that helps you build your talent incrementally just like the apprentice to mastery model. The solidity of your talents that have been learnt over time and are hugely important to an employer. The employer that needs to be able to trust you to do the job well and to bring creativity and control based on experience and skills.
Okay we have recognised our career capital, strengths, skills, talents etc, time to get the CV is up to date. You calling card to create interest with prospective employers and one way to get you invited to an interview. A lot of people fear interviews, in fact research suggests that an interview or having to give a presentation is a fate worse than death. An interview is primarily the opportunity to tell your story and showcase your talents. Perhaps more relevant today an interview is all about demonstrating your personality, drives, motivations, competency, strengths and the value you will bring. Interviews will be discussed in another blog as they deserve more space than on offer here.
Lastly…….
Needless to say there is a great deal more to supporting people manage the transitions toward a fulfilling and satisfying return to work. However, the steps necessary to get back to work after a break can depend on many factors. Many of the factors are psychological and bound up in the personal circumstances that the individual finds themselves in. If you have a disability, have experienced an illness then the confidence to get back to work can be hard to find. The truth is however, work is a healthy place to be and can aid your recovery from illness or issue that you may have experienced.
Parents who took time out of the workplace to look after a young family can also feel cast adrift and disconnected from work. It is hoped that the workplace can keep hold of those working parents through progressive parental leave policies. Therefore the leap back to work is less onerous and scary.
So although the old chap may have been right about a career being a job that has gone on too long; the help is there to make your career last a lot longer and work for your benefit.
References
Herr, E.L., & Cramer, S. H. (1996). Career guidance and counselling through the lifespan: Systematic approaches. New York: HarperCollins)
