Women Returning to the Workforce

With the kids back in school, stay-at-home moms dream of recapturing their professional careers, and speaking in full sentences once more. Yet, when most of a woman's time has been spent in early development, it is easy to lose confidence in the professional self. As a mother often spends 5-9 years in full-time parenting, and sometimes waits until children are off to college before contemplating a return to work, these six steps will help build self-confidence and ease a stay-at-home mom's transition back into the workforce.

Join professional associations
You need to build skills, confidence and workplace contacts to get reconnected to your profession. Check out links to all the major professional associations on the Internet Resources page here at the site.

Investigate profession associations in the area you're interested in pursuing, and also one for women in business. There are real advantages to joining professional associations: the monthly meetings where you'll be able to network with local professionals in your field, and mixing with professional women (many of whom have been where you are) can also ease your re-entry. Also with your membership you get a membership directory, extremely useful for networking contacts; check out the on-demand networking workshop on the site launching first week of October 2005.

Update your resume
If you're planning on returning to work, it is essential that you involve yourself in community activities, anything from PTA to church organizations. Involvement keeps your skills current and provides achievements for your resume, plus you can use the volunteer work and community involvement to lessen the gaps in your work history. Examine your child rearing years and identify your achievements on your resume. In this example you clearly see a manager who has kept those management skills polished:

1999- present: community and volunteer work.
Conceived, designed and implemented an annual fundraiser for local orphanage, raising up to $5000 in individual contributions and $12,000 in corporate sponsorships. Coordinated all activities for volunteer staff of sixteen.

Creative re-entry
Check out temp agencies as an initial way to transition back in to the workforce. Temp jobs are easier to land, they offer valuable current experience, can be more time flexible and can lead to full time positions. Part time jobs offer the same benefits, as do job sharing (common in healthcare), and telecommuting opportunities that let you work at home are also worth checking out.

Learn how to organize your first job search in years...

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