Carol Fishman Cohen on career breaks: "Most relaunchers are surprised they were out as long as they were."

Not long ago, I asked Hello Monday podcast listeners to write in with the most urgent questions you had about your careers. And, I... got a lot of mail. That’s what a pandemic, a recession, and high unemployment will do. But one question came up more than any other. And the people asking it were almost entirely women.

They wrote to say: My family needs me right now and I’m thinking about taking time away from work. ...Can you do an episode about that? 

You bet we can. 

This week, we're tackling career breaks. When should you take them? How can you prepare for them? And what can you do to make sure the return is a success?

To learn more, I began by calling a listener, Myrna Setty. She lives in Florida. Myrna is an attorney in her 15th year of practice, and she loves it. But, It’s been hard having her two daughters at home - it’s affected her attitude, a thing she works hard to model positively for the girls. Myrna thinks constantly about taking time out of the workforce to help her family.

To gather advice for Myrna and others who are thinking about a break, I spoke with Carol Fishman Cohen. She runs a corporate career re-entry program called iRelaunch. And, she’s written a book called Back on the Career Track. Carol’s been doing this work for decades, which gives her some much needed perspective on what stepping out might mean in 2020:

Here are some highlights….

On career and identity: "When people go on career break, they become more and more professionally disconnected. Accompanying that can be a diminished sense of self because our society attaches so much importance to what you do for work as part of your whole professional identity."

On change moments: "The career break is often a time of reflection where you step back and give yourself the opportunity you hadn't given yourself before to reflect on whether you were even on the right career path to begin with."

Advice on preparing for a break: "Document the work that you've done, document milestone moments, positive and negative...When you're coming back into the workforce, you have to have anecdotes from your prior work experiences that are relevant to whatever roles you will be applying for in the future."

More advice on preparation: "Make lists of important people in her work life. It could be her clients. It could be an accountant or people who work for her."

On the length of time people leave for: "Most relaunchers are surprised that they were out as long as they were. Everyone's thinking, 'I only thought I'd be out two or three years. And the next thing you know, I woke up and 10 years had gone by.'"

Advice on the job search: "Don't get hung up on level. Just get your foot in the door and then you'll move back up over time."

?? Office Hours

Are you wrestling with whether to take a career break? Or, are you attempting to get back into things after some time off? This week, Hello Monday producer Sarah Storm and I have invited Carol Fishman Cohen to join us for Office Hours. We'll convene at our normal time--Wednesday afternoon at 3pm ET. Come, bring a cup of coffee, and join Carol and other Hello Monday listeners for our mid-week coffee break this Wednesday at 3pm EST. You can rsvp here, or just follow me on LinkedIn.