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How To Find A Job After A Career Break

Are you looking for a job after taking a career break? Whether you took time off to raise a family, care for a loved one, or simply pursue other opportunities, returning to the workforce can be a challenge. How do you explain the resume gap on your CV? And how do you convince employers that you’re still the right candidate for the job?

While companies can have a problem with career breaks, there are ways you can turn your career break into an opportunity to land the right job. If you’ve taken a career break and don’t know where to start, here are some tips to help you with your job search.

 

1. Join Social Media Platforms and Groups

Social media is a powerful tool to help you find a job. Gone are the days of finding jobs by reading newspaper ads and visiting physical buildings. There are a lot of job openings posted on social media by recruiters. Much of the recruitment process can also take place on social media. Hiring managers can search for candidates, send job descriptions and schedule interviews through social media.

2. Update Your Online Profile

If your last update was when you were last employed, now is the time to update your profile. You want to appear as a relevant candidate for job opportunities, especially on major career sites like LinkedIn, Indeed and Glassdoor.

It’s even better to be honest and add a career break section to your LinkedIn profile. Present your career break as a season to acquire skills, so recruiters can focus on your abilities rather than those years without work. For example, traveling abroad can help you improve interpersonal skills that can be valuable in a multicultural organization. Or maybe caring for a baby has helped you learn how to better manage your time.

3. Find a Company That Gives Opportunities to Older Employees

Carol Fishman Cohen, founder and CEO of iRelaunch, gives career “relaunchers” some practical advice in an eye-opening TED talk: Consider applying to an adult internship. We think of internships as applicable only to young professionals, but apparently, today some companies, Amazon and Accenture, are giving skilled and experienced professionals an opportunity to go back to work and restart their career after a career break. Are.

If you can’t find an adult internship, you can look for more inclusive companies that don’t discriminate based on age or experience. Check out the companies that have signed on to the Employer Pledge Program with AARP, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that empowers people to choose how they live as they age. Companies on AARP’s list, such as Airbnb, Lenovo, and Shutterstock, are committed to considering all applicants regardless of age.

4. Build a Skill-Based or Hybrid Resume

While there are many resume formats that you can choose from, a skill-based or hybrid resume may be the best option after a career break. You can see examples of the three main resume formats in Hybrid Resume, and Do You Need It?

A skills-based resume highlights your skills and abilities rather than your work history. This can be beneficial if you have gaps in your employment history or if you are changing careers. A hybrid resume is a combination of a chronological and a skill-based resume. This format can also be helpful if you have gaps in your employment history, allowing you to showcase your skills while providing a chronological overview of your work history.

5. Upgrade Your Skills

If you want to stay relevant in your field, you need to upskill. Even if you think you’ve been out of the workforce for too long, it’s still not too late to keep learning or updating your skills. Be inspired by Francis, 42, who quit his job as an electrical engineer and went back to work as a YouTube creator two years later, as featured on CNBC Make It. With access to online education platforms like edX and Coursera, it has become easier to reinvent yourself.

Consider your goal when you start learning online. Are you an accountant looking to learn the latest accounting techniques? Then you can look for a specialized course like the Intuit Bookkeeping Professional Certificate, which also gives you hands-on practice with the accounting software QuickBooks Online. Or maybe you want to improve your soft skills? Then you might want to try Empathy and Emotional Intelligence at Work in edX.