‘No one wanted to employ me’: How women can return to the job market after a career gap
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'No i wanted to utilize me': How women can return to the job market after a career gap
From coping with cocky-doubt to dealing with employer biases, CNA Women asks the experts about practical ways to re-enter the workforce if you've taken a work hiatus, whether information technology'due south maternity leave or a kid-caring pause.
Explaining your career break to potential employers tin can be a deal billow, said an expert. (Photograph: iStock/nathaphat)
There are several reasons why women accept a career break – and information technology isn't simply working mums who do and then to care for their kids.
Some women need to put their career on concord to take care of ageing or sick parents, and some want to pursue further education, said Sabrina Ho, the founder of Half The Sky, a career platform focused on women.
"Whatsoever the reason for taking a interruption, information technology tin seem daunting for them to render to piece of work subsequently some fourth dimension off because of internal and external perceptions virtually women who take career breaks," said Ho.
There are younger girls who are smarter than me. I look bad. I cannot do information technology.
By internal perceptions, Ho is referring to how the women perceive themselves, such every bit their feet and self-doubt, and questioning whether they are still "up to par" with their skills or are "competitive plenty" to return to piece of work.
External perceptions include employer biases that these women might face in returning to work. For example, companies may want candidates with more than contempo piece of work experience, said Ho.
CHALLENGES OF RETURNING TO WORK
This was what Shirley Woon, 55 , experienced when she decided to return to work afterwards taking a sixteen-year career gap to care for her children.
Woon told CNA Women that in trying to find a chore subsequently such an extended break, the "strongest emotions" she felt were fear and feet.
"I have lost touch. In that location are younger girls who are smarter than me. I await bad. I cannot exercise it. What would they call up of me?" she recounted.
Woon left her full-time job to care for her son total-time in 2000, before her 2nd child was built-in in 2004.
She and so followed her hubby to the US and Shanghai from 2008 to 2022 for his work assignments. Her kids were eight and four then.
The family unit returned to Singapore in belatedly 2022 and that was when Woon decided she wanted to "live out the rest of her life" meaningfully. So at the historic period of 46, she enrolled in a master'southward degree in counselling.
But her biggest challenge, she told CNA Women, was that "no 1 wanted to use me".
Because I had been dwelling house for so long, my CV was not updated. Self-confidence was depression.
Woon described the two years that she was looking to re-enter the job market as "frightening".
"Because I had been abode for so long, my CV was non updated. Self-confidence was low," she said.
Not wanting to surrender, she started her own private counselling practice in 2016, and published her first book titled Bleeding Hearts last yr, which looks at self-harm equally a coping behaviour.
Today, Woon is a psychotherapist and the founder of The Bluish Pencil, a counselling service focused on couples, young adults, children and families.
Her difficulties in getting a job after a career hiatus isn't unheard of.
Findings from a 2022 survey of 500 managers past UK law firm Slater and Gordon revealed that one third of managers would adopt employing a man in his 20s or 30s than women in the aforementioned age group, worrying that motherhood leave would take an affect on their productivity and performance.
Forty per cent of the managers surveyed confessed that they were "more often than not wary" of hiring women of childbearing age.
The situation is similar in Asia.
According to a 2022 White Paper by recruitment agency Robert Walters Singapore, 65 per cent of women in Asia have taken a career pause at some bespeak in their lives.
Sometimes, women returning to work might even take to have a lower salary.
When information technology came to returning to the workplace, the women cited fiscal reasons (35 per cent), the desire to acquire new skills (28 per cent) and lack of fulfillment by staying at home (18 per cent) as reasons.
However, the survey besides establish that 46 per cent of hiring managers in Asia had not employed any returning women in the previous yr.
Said Helen Ng, the co-founder of recruitment house Ansa Search: "From our years of experience in recruitment, we've seen that women going through a transition in their family lives ofttimes get the shorter cease of the stick.
"For case, they might be passed over for promotions or their bosses might assume that they are not up for a bigger job.
"Sometimes, women returning to piece of work might even have to accept a lower salary as companies could assume that a request for "flexible hours" means that they will not be as committed to their jobs as they used to be," said Ng.
'I NEEDED A BREAK FROM THE KIDS'
This was how Michelle Choy, 46, felt after diving straight into becoming a full-time homemaker after she graduated with a degree in occupational therapy in 2000.
She cruel significant in 1998 while studying for her university degree overseas, and got married after her outset daughter was born.
The couple went on to have a 2nd child earlier returning to Singapore in 2000. This led to her staying abode for two years to care for her 2 daughters.
There was no social media then, she told CNA Women, and so information technology was just staying home with the kids.
"Subsequently I had my 3rd child in 2002, all of a sudden it became too much. I needed a break from the kids for my sanity," said Choy, adding that being a stay-at-dwelling house mum was "very exhausting" and "isolating".
A few months after her third kid was built-in, she decided to look for a chore.
STRUGGLING TO WORK FULL-Time
She managed to detect a job right away, equally an occupational therapist at a slimming eye but after a couple of months, realised that she wanted to aid these women with the psychological issues that came with weight loss, which included emotional eating.
Plus, she felt she needed to take more flexibility in her working hours.
This led to her opening her ain slimming centre with her husband in the same year.
The business however, roughshod victim to SARS in 2003, which apace depleted the couple's finances – leaving them and their three young children "penniless".
To support her family, Choy took on a range of function-fourth dimension jobs, from being an insurance amanuensis to baking 3D cakes.
She besides went on to have three more children, and with a large brood anile one to ix years to intendance for, working full-time was just not possible.
It was just after she turned forty, when her youngest child started pre-school, that Choy managed to footstep out of the home. She started The Little Executive, an educational instruction studio equipping children with skills such as resilience and emotional intelligence.
While both Woon and Choy successfully founded companies of their own, both women pointed out their struggles in returning to the workplace after spending a significant number of years away from it.
ADJUSTING TO THE NEW Part OF MOTHERHOOD
Even if your career hiatus doesn't stretch into years, taking a shorter break, such as maternity leave, may also have its challenges.
While those four months may seem like a short breather and yous're more than set up to return to your task after, picking upward right where yous left off, the reality may not exist that straightforward.
Women returning to piece of work later maternity leave often feel a meaning impact: Work has moved on since they were last in the part, and sometimes, new people may take joined the company or your team in your absenteeism.
You volition find yourself with less time and energy to practice the same jobs that you used to do.
Often, returning working mums take to deal with challenges at domicile likewise, every bit the family unit gets used to a new baby and new routines.
Sher-li Torrey, the founder of Mums@Piece of work, told CNA Women that the focus for women returning from maternity leave is mainly finding the remainder between the new role of maternity and standing to be an efficient employee.
She said some of the biggest challenges these women face up include adjusting their personal expectations of what can (or cannot exist done) at work. " You will find yourself with less time and energy to exercise the aforementioned jobs that you used to do," said Torrey.
You will also demand to accommodate the expectations of your boss and co-workers. For example, maternity may rob you of the time needed to socialise with your colleagues outside of work.
And working late nights may no longer be an selection, Torrey added.
Additionally, yous may fifty-fifty need to consider having culling career paths that will not jeopardise bonding time with your children.
"We met a few direction consultants who had to travel oftentimes for piece of work. After they had their beginning child, they asked for roles that were more "fixed" and had less travel – some taking on research roles, rather than customer-facing roles," said Torrey.
PRACTICAL STEPS TO RE-ENTER THE JOB Market
If you're fix to render to the workplace, there are applied ways to increase your chances of getting job interviews. Experts recommend the post-obit:
- Outset, reach out to your network and let them know yous are looking for a task. "It's always skilful that y'all have a sponsor to recommend you to a function, particularly when you have been out of the job market for a while," said Zen Soh, Principal Consultant for Bookkeeping and Finance at Robert Walters Singapore.
- Update your resume and create a LinkedIn Account (if you don't already have one). " Make sure your LinkedIn account is updated so that you lot are searchable by recruiters and in-firm recruiters. The plus point is definitely your power to outset immediately," said Soh.
- Consider part-time piece of work to build your confidence. "Short-term assignments can often provide an excellent foot in to help y'all assimilate into the workforce, establishing a network and building connections," said Ng of Ansa Search.
- Be honest well-nigh your skills and consider upskilling. " Women need to keep in listen that in returning from a career break, it'southward a two-style relationship," said Ho of One-half The Sky. "Y'all need to focus on not only what a company tin do for you, but what you tin can practice for yourself to grow and develop your career."
EXPLAINING YOUR CAREER GAP TO POTENTIAL EMPLOYERS
Women who take career breaks to focus on their families don't intend to finish working for proficient – which is why it is hard for them to conceptualize the difficulty of explaining a career break to a potential employer, said Ho.
"And information technology's a shame how many women have to face up the perception that caregiving is not a valuable asset – that it'south not a skill that should be acknowledged in a woman who longs to return to piece of work," she added.
So be honest with yourself – and your prospective employer, who are often able to pick up crimson flags from answers that don't tally.
For case, if you lot take taken a break to settle some personal matters, focus on your kids or accompany your husband for his work assignments overseas – merely share that that was the instance, brash Soh.
Ho added that information technology's also good to share what you did, what you learned, and the challenges you lot faced while y'all were abroad from work.
" Employers look for a positive and confident mindset from women wanting to come dorsum to work. Conviction suggests that they are willing to get back in the game and build on the gaps that may take grown," explained Ho.
It's almost like nailing your showtime date, said Ng from Ansa Search, as explaining your career break can "make or break" the deal.
" On a get-go date, we want to brand a great offset impression," she said, calculation that the aforementioned applies for people who have taken a career break.
"Merely like how if you're dating someone for the outset time, think about how you might share near your past relationships, why you broke upwards with your ex and why you take been single for a certain number of years," she added.
CONVINCING YOUR FUTURE Visitor THAT YOU ARE WORTH Information technology
Firstly, brash Torrey, don't apologise for the suspension. Instead, focus on how you lot accept spent time looking at that expanse of your life and how you are now ready to re-embark on your career path.
"Working mums are some of the well-nigh highly constructive and productive individuals I've seen as they take to multi-task within the fourth dimension that they accept," added Soh of Robert Walters Singapore.
Torrey said that although it will exist hard to justify relevant skills to employers, you can highlight these:
- Your attitude in wanting to learn, re-larn, change and adapt.
- Your motivation in prioritising your career – you volition exist more than motivated than earlier, compared to someone else at a different life stage.
- Your maturity and stability: Employers appreciate workers above forty years sometime for their self-awareness and maturity.
HOW TO TALK Most REMUNERATION
At present that you've been offered a task, how do y'all make sure that you are accepting something that is aligned to what yous want and need?
Await at the remuneration package along with your working hours so that you can all the same take time for your family.
"You don't wish to toll yourself out of the market and neither would you want to take a lowball offer," Ng added.
"Some returning women settle for less than satisfactory pay packages, in substitution for other competing factors – such as the workplace'southward proximity to their homes, flexible hours and/or something that's not too taxing," she added.
Ng recommends that you begin with the terminate in mind, past looking for a recruiter to guide you lot through the interview process, which includes salary negotiations.
Working mums are some of the about highly effective and productive individuals I've seen as they have to multi-chore within the time that they have.
If you prefer to not piece of work with a recruiter, you tin can still exercise your ain research on, say, the visitor's competitors and enquire around to get together market intelligence in the field.
According to Ng, the best way to negotiate your offer is to do it verbally, over the telephone or in person (not via e-mail or WhatsApp). Ready to substantiate your request with solid facts as well.
At the terminate of the twenty-four hours, think to have a stride dorsum to reflect if it's truly something that you lot're happy with, suggested Ng.
" If it's not in the ballpark yous had in listen, don't have no for an respond. Be assuming in negotiating for a better packet."
"(But) do it with grace, humility and some common sense and you lot'd be surprised that some companies do have some leeway to improve their initial offer."
CNA Women is a new section on CNA Lifestyle that seeks to inform, empower and inspire the mod woman. If y'all have women-related news, problems and ideas to share with us, email CNAWomen [at] mediacorp.com.sg .
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Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/women/best-career-tips-how-return-work-287181
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