- Ignore naysayers, the negative “macro picture” and concern about ageism. “Good luck getting a job in this environment,” “9 million people lost jobs in 2020,” “I’m worried I’m too old and people have written me off.” Whether these comments come from others or they are voices in your own head, you need to put them aside and get focused on the hard stuff which are the concrete steps that you must take to get hired in any economic environment – steps 2 and 3 below.
- Get specific on exactly what you want to do and upskill or reskill. This includes certifications and re-certifications. Everything else will flow from this decision. It takes time and can be a rigorous process to decide if you are going back to what you did before, something related or something brand new. Here are examples of how successful technical relaunchers updated skills or retooled to a different technical area:
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Electrical engineer retrains as data scientist after 10-year career break: Took the MIT edX course in Python
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Manufacturing engineer retrains as quality engineer after 11-year career break: Became Lean Certified through the American Manufacturer’s Association
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Software engineer returns to computer science after 8-year career break: Completed Master’s Degree in Applied Computer Science and took U of Illinois Coursera Course “Patterns in Data Mining”
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Software developer returns to software development after 22-year career break: Completed 9-month graduate certificate in software design and development.
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Civil engineer returns to civil engineering after an 8-year career break: Volunteered with her town to do wastewater system reviews in exchange for the field experience required for obtaining a civil engineering specialty recertification. Worked for small civil engineering firm in lower-level assistant role while updating CAD-CAM knowledge.
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- Don’t stop there. Become a subject matter expert in your field – this means read the publications, follow the experts’ podcasts, articles, books, presentations, understand the products, services, acronyms, latest innovations, research, and controversies. Read, think, understand and get to the point where you can have an active discussion about these topics in your field. Relaunching developers: set up a github portfolio for any projects you work on related to learning new languages. Subject matter expertise breeds confidence, keeps people focused on the substance of what you are talking about and less on your age or number of years out of the workforce, and sets you up for success in the interview process and once on the job.
- Look at employer-members of the STEM Reentry Task Force and their return to work programs – note success stories from these programs such as those of Northrop Grumman iReturn’s Gabriella Bean and Sue Spillane who returned to their engineering careers after career breaks of 22 and 19 years, respectively.
- Identify sectors that thrived during the pandemic, and those that didn’t. Look for roles at both. The Pandemic fueled growth at finance, tech, edtech and e-commerce sectors broadly, and in specific areas, such as companies that enabled virtual meetings and virtual working. However, note that companies where there are layoffs are often still hiring. They may be hiring for different roles than before, or specialized roles for which they have consistent demand. Plus, as we emerge from the Pandemic-induced recession, companies that were hard hit will be hiring again.
- Identify employers in those sectors and research them thoroughly – business, products, services, clients, suppliers, financial information, number of employees, technical data, leadership, social media presence – we mean EVERYTHING. Listen to this podcast for more ideas.
- Identify professional associations (like SWE!) and investigate events, programs, local chapters and mentoring opportunities to update and expand your current professional network, to find people who work at your identified employers, or people who know those people.
- Consider your network from your pre-career break role and your network during your career break, including spouses and partners of people you volunteered with during your career break or people you can meet through getting involved in a new, virtual activity such as Toastmasters. You never know where you will meet the people who will be the most helpful to your relaunch. Letitia Shen, an engineer who successfully relaunched after a career break of over 20 years found her most important mentor through a friend who met the person at a church gathering. Listen to our podcast conversation with Letitia
- Find like-minded relaunchers and go through the job search process together. iRelaunch has private Facebook groups of active relaunchers spanning a broad range of fields. Join one.
- Don’t get hung up on the title or level. Get in the door. Read this article to hear from relaunchers who returned to work at a lower level than where they were when they left, and see where they are today.
Keep up-to-date on STEM reentry opportunities through the STEM Reentry Task Force.
Subscribe here to receive our reentry emails.
Related content:
- Attend Our Virtual Workshop on Digital Body Language
- Why I Changed Careers from Big Tech to Finance: A Personal Journey
- Podcast: Is It Time To Step Into a Leadership Role?
- Modern Networking in the Social Age
- On-Demand Webinar: What Does Research Tell Us About STEM Success for Women?
