Getting back into your groove after a career break

Welcome to edition 7 of my newsletter!

You may have noticed that the monthly publishing of my newsletter stopped a few months ago. I'm hoping now to be back to monthly.

This edition is focused on how to get back to it when you've had a break. I figured that was quite appropriate for me right now! So it may be a little more personal than usual, but hopefully it might help some people. There's a fair amount of text so be warned! I've also changed the name of the newsletter which LinkedIn advise against - so we will see if there is any impact from that.

I've had a kind of break since March this year whilst I've been dealing with a traumatic personal situation. It's been hard to focus on work, and honestly, a lot of things have felt pretty pointless.

I know that this is also the case for many of the job seeker clients I work with, particularly those who have been out of work for a long time, or those who have worked for the same organisation for a long time and suddenly find themselves having to move on.

Motivational client stories!

I've had 2 clients this year who have found work after a break of 3 years. Both finished before the pandemic hit, and so then found themselves job seeking in that horrible time period. Both had caring responsibilities, and both had been with the same organisation for many years.

Client 1

My client had a couple of years off (paid) work, looking for jobs, but fairly half heartedly because she was also managing a house renovation project. Eventually she realised she needed to get back to a routine, and when applying for jobs didn't seem to be working (she really doesn't feel comfortable in interviews), we talked about trying to get back into work by temping. Ok the money isn't great, but it worked for her. 2 or 3 placements later, a contract job had been secured. When that ended, she started temping again, and quickly landed a role which turned permanent. She's now very happy, and didn't have to go through the interview process.

Client 2

This client was based in London, but had a fair commute in. Once the shock of the redundancy subsided, she decided that a lower paid role closer to home was what she was looking for. She decided not to look too seriously throughout the covid period, but as we started coming out the other side used a few agencies that specialised in her area to find roles. They loved her CV and she was getting interviews, but a lot of the employers were asking about the time off. Such a shame that so many organisations are still hung up on this. She kept going, and found a small, family run, local company who realised what a find they'd got with her - her skills and experience were exactly what they wanted, and they didn't care at all about the break. She's loving the role, a mix of home based and office, and is learning new things all the time.

So, how do you get back into your groove when you've lost motivation?

It's tough for sure. My clients found that having someone to talk to helped, we'd have a catch up every couple of months or so to see how things were going. They both spent some time learning some new skills.

They both were also pretty clear on what they wanted. They thought about what was important to them for a new role - if you've not seen them before, take a look at some of my previous articles about values and strengths. It might seem a bit fluffy, but I really think it helps to do this.

Setting yourself targets and goals can be really useful to do as well, something written down is so much more likely to be achieved than something that just sticks in your head.

What am I doing to get back into my groove?

Well, I've spent a lot of time thinking.

Some of what I've been thinking about is what do I enjoy, I mean, really enjoy.

It's helping people to use LinkedIn to manage their career, it's career coaching, it's writing.

These all play to my strengths. I decided to stop offering career coaching programmes for several months. Mainly because I couldn't commit to regular sessions with clients, there's so much going on for me that means I have to stop with no notice sometimes. But also because I was finding it tough to have other peoples problems to deal with as well. Sometimes you need to recognise your strength can be a weakness when other factors change.

LinkedIn Career Coaching has become my niche. I absolutely love it.

I've invested in some experts to help me refocus on what I'm doing:

John Espirian - I'm in his membership group and have had a couple of sessions with him to help me think through what I want to do

Rosie Parsons - I booked her to do some new photos of me, that helped lift me as well as help with my brand

Trudie Avery - for brand colours and ideas, banner and canva support

Jo Watson (CMgr MCMI) - very recently, to join her membership group for writing

All of these people have helped energise me and get me thinking of what it is I want to do next.

I'm launching my live series on Friday this week (25 November) called Career Stories, it's all about people and what they do and why they do it. I'm really looking forward to some great conversations full of advice for people watching.

Mostly, I'm trying to be kind to myself, and on the days when it's too hard, I'm not beating myself up.

Advice for using LinkedIn for your career break

There is a feature now in your experience section where you can add a career break. I think it's a good idea, but I know others who don't think it is as they feel organisations may penalise you for this. I think you do what is right for you. If you can do the work on values, and looking at the values of target organisations, then hopefully you'll find some that support you.

Something you do need to consider on LinkedIn is that the algorithm still appears to favour people with a job in recruiter searches. Totally crazy if that is the case. My advice is to add a new experience line, and add something like "career sabbatical" in the title, and then write a bit about what you've been doing. That will trick the algorithm.

Engage with people. Find people and posts relating to the area you work in, and spend time building your network and presence. There are so many lovely and supportive people on LinkedIn.

If you feel like it, share a bit about what you are doing and/or what you are looking for. Either as your own posts, direct messages to your contacts, and if appropriate in comments on other peoples posts.

Be visible - you never know where your next opportunity might come from.

Being on LinkedIn has helped me feel connected when I have harder days.

Next edition

Will be less text, more images, videos, tips and less reflective! If you've made it to the end well done and thank you!