How to Re-Enter the Workforce After An Absence

Have you taken a career break and you’re now ready to re-enter the workforce, but not sure how to navigate it all?

Many people take a career break, for various reasons:

You’ve been a stay-at-home parent, but the kids are now old enough for you to go back to work outside the home.
You’ve been caring for a loved one who no longer needs your help.
You’re recently divorced and need an income, or more of one.
You sidestepped your career for a time, while furthering your education.
You’ve taken time off to travel.
You’ve been self-employed but now want a steady pay check, working for someone else.
You retired, but now find that you need to supplement your income.
You don’t necessarily need the income, but you want to have a job, whether paid or volunteer.

Whatever your circ*mstances, getting back out there and landing a job could be more difficult for you than it is for someone transitioning from one job to another.

It can come with much anxiety and confusion about how and where to even start, and how to improve your chances of landing where you want.

Job search guidelines for anyone

Successful job search follows pretty much the same guidelines, whether you’re re-entering or making a career move from one employer to another.

The first steps toland a good-fit jobare:

Targeting– Identify the kind of job you want and target specific companies or organizations where you want to work, that will be a mutual good fit.
Research– Conduct research (includinginformational interviews) on what current challenges or problems your target employers are facing that you can help them overcome.
Personal Branding– Define which aspects of your personality and which of your areas of expertise combine to differentiate your unique promise of value to your target employers.

If you don’t get these things under your belt first, you could easily be in for a frustratingly prolonged search. Everything follows from the foundation you create by doing these 3 things.

Next steps include:

✅ Creating your job search materials – resume, cover letters, LinkedIn profile, biography, etc. Focus on the contributions you’ve made to past employers and the things about you that will resonate with your target employers.

✅ Building out your LinkedIn profile, populating as many profile sections as you can, with as much relevant content as you can.

✅ Building an online presence to position yourself as social media savvy and to provide more info about yourself for recruiters and other hiring professionals who will Google “your name”.

✅ Preparing for job interviews by creating and rehearsing career stories that will help employers see you on the job, having ready answers for the questions you’ll be asked. And you’ll need to put together the questions YOU will ask interviewers.

✅Getting busy reconnecting with your professional network, including executive recruiters, and expanding your network.

Whether you’re a senior executive, mid-level executive or, really at most any professional level, best practices to get back in the workforce are about the same.

Below you’ll find my advice, along with suggestions from other job search and career experts.

Maintain your confidence as you plan to re-enter the workforce

A good place to start is with recruitment firm Flex Professionals‘ 9 very helpful tips to maintain your confidence as you re-enter the workforce:

Believe in your professional self
Stay current with the ever-changing world of technology
Take time to self-explore
Consider part-time as a transition option
Update your resume (and LinkedIn profile) and get intimate with the details
Connect to your professional network
Grow your network
Volunteer with purpose
Use social media to engage professionally

Ease into your return to work if you’ve had a long absence

If you’ve been out of the workforce for a long time, Indeed has some good advice, including:

Start with volunteering. Volunteer work can help you get up-to-date on skills you’ll need for your new job, and will expand your network.
Do some freelance work. Freelancing will build your work portfolio and minimize employment gaps on your resume and LinkedIn profile.
Ask others about their experience. If there are other people you know who transitioned back into the workplace after a long break from employment, ask how they were successful. You may find you can use their same strategies.
Take refresher courses. If you feel your skills are outdated, consider a refresher course so you can feel more confident in your abilities and can speak about your knowledge on your resume and during an interview.
Get a certificate. Relevant certifications can elevate you above the competition and show that you are serious about continuous education.
Focus on your soft skills. A major differentiator between candidates are the unique attributes and soft skills they offer to any workplace, so focus on things like adaptability, communication, time-management and creativity. Explain to the hiring manager how your particular soft skills make you an ideal fit for the position.

Two things to pay special attention to when you re-enter the workforce

Job interview prep

Spend plenty of time preparing for job interviews and especially accounting for your missed time from the workforce. You’ll want to draw a straight line from whatever you were doing during your break from work to how that experience makes you a valuable employee.

Monster.com’s advice for re-entering the workforce includes being 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.
Sell yourself 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.”

Addressing your career break in your resume and cover letters

Your resume should address the career break if it lasted longer than, say, a few months. If it was only one or two months, you don’t need to mention it in your resume and cover letters.

If you took the break to further your education, it should be fairly easy to show that this will benefit your future employer.

Many hiring professionals are more accepting now, if the Covid pandemic forced your career break with a layoff.

If the break was for personal reasons, make note of that as a place holder in your resume. In your cover letters, be a little more specific about what happened, while emphasizing how your experiences during the break gave you new or stronger skills. And show that the experience will make you a better employee.

Job Search and Career Professionals on How To Re-Enter the Workforce If You’re a Senior Executive

Job search strategist Noelle Gross recently posted this question on LinkedIn, and tagged me along with several other job search and career professionals. :

“If you have successfully helped senior professionals re-enter the workforce, what advice would you offer for other senior professionals in this intimidating situation?”

I’ve highlighted a few of the contributions here.

Executive search strategist, Debra Feldman

“I agree with the recommendations that emphasize preparation, planning, realistic expectations, establishing a focus, and conducting informational meetings, acting “as if” you are in the field. In addition, become educated and aware of current industry trends and best practices and develop relationships to source new job leads that are part of the hidden job market.
I also suggest that re-entry candidates contact their alumni career services offices for counseling, faculty connections, and fellow alumni who are at their target companies or are familiar with their target role. Have a coherent elevator pitch that draws a line from where they’ve been to where they want to be in a language easily interpreted and shared with second-degree connections. Lastly, it’s worth investing in a coach, through an academic affiliation or personal recommendation, to get started on the right track as the first step rather than leaping to update a resume before having a clear search focus and identifying potential obstacles and ways to eliminate barriers to a smooth, successful landing.”

Career coach, Peter Hill

“Before writing and distributing your résumé, reconnect with your professional identity. Take the time to look in the mirror and validate your career motivators. The benefits are too many to list here, but this plays a central role in eliminating the stress and overwhelm. And failure to do this self-discovery work can prevent you from realizing your full potential.
Stop 90% of what you think is an active job search and sort out your three employment target pillars before moving forward— role, industry, geography. Strategize your targeted plans A and B (and perhaps a plan C). This alone will eliminate much of the anxiety in your search.
What we’ve found is that an accelerated, successful search is 80% mindset. The other 20% is treating your search just like you would a business project. A systematic approach to your transition will unlock new levels of confidence in the trajectory of career success you have always enjoyed.”

Job search strategist, Jenny Foss

“Select your short list of companies you’re super interested in and start reaching out to people at these companies for informational interviews.
Leverage every connection that you have – family members, friends, friends of friends, fellow alumni at the college you attended (alumni tend to take very good care of one another), etc.
Approach with genuine curiosity
Be mindful of the person’s time — 15-20 minutes max
Remember that YOU are the interviewer. Come with questions that will allow you to learn more about that person, her team, the company, etc.
At the end of the convo, ask if they can think of another person or two that you should introduce yourself to, so that you can learn more.
THANK them.
If you follow their advice and get a good result, loop back and let them know how useful their advice was.”

Executive career coach, Soozy G. Miller

“Demonstrating value-add and impact in the resume is crucial for the 50+ crowd, especially those who are transitioning to a new sector/specialty. Demonstrating your leadership skills and the value that your leadership brought to ANY situation or organization will make you a very desirable hire.
Also, being able to show how your soft skills (communication and interpersonal strengths) benefitted the company/team/project/process also helps!”

How to Re-Enter the Workforce After An Absence - Executive Career Brand™ (2024)

Job search guidelines for anyone