You took yourself out of the workforce years ago. Maybe you were a stay-at-home parent, had to deal with a personal injury or illness, or you were taking care of a sick loved one. Perhaps you couldn’t find any job opportunities and decided to live on your savings for a bit. Regardless of the reason, you’ve decided now is the time to re-enter the workforce. Getting back into the job search can be tough, but it’s totally doable! Here are a few of our tips for rejoining the workforce.
- What Kind of Work Do You Want?
Before you even start interviewing, you’ll need to figure out the type of career you’re interested in. What are you passionate about? This doesn’t necessarily have to be the same career path you were on before your hiatus. Your experience could be useful in different industries you might not have thought of before.
- Prepare
Jumping back into the job search without any sort of prep can be daunting. You want to make sure you’re ready for job applications and interviews. Research trends in the industry and companies you’d like to work for. This applies even if you’re rejoining the workforce in a position similar to what you had before your hiatus; industries change, and you want to be prepared.
- Update Your Materials
Before you start sending out applications, you’ll want to make sure your resume and other materials are up-to-date. Keep an eye out for recent resume trends. Feel free to ask your friends if they have any resumes you can use as examples.
If you’re on social media, update anything job related. This includes your LinkedIn, as well as cleaning any other searchable social media to make sure nothing offensive comes up if a recruiter looks you up online.
- Know How to Explain Your Gap
Now that you know the job you want, and you’ve done all the prep work, there’s just one thing to handle: your answer for why there’s a gap in your resume. A great answer will acknowledge the gap instead of trying to cover it up. A company wants to know why you’re right for the job, and being honest about a gap can shift the discussion to why you’re a stellar candidate. Let them know you took some time away to achieve a goal, and that it was a success.
Re-entering the workforce after a gap can be daunting but follow these tips, and you’ll be at your new job in no time.
Have you ever rejoined the workforce after a gap? How did it go? Let us know in the comments section below!
