Attending an interview after a break is a terrifying process for many. A career break makes one feel less confident and ups the chances of making one feel invisible during the interview process. Here are a few ways you can prepare yourself to face interviews after a break with confidence.
Explain your break
Talk about your break briefly keeping to the facts. Make sure you convey clearly that you have attended to the purpose of your break and have no intention of taking more breaks. An employer is looking forward to hiring individuals who will have complete focus on the job at hand. Be ready to effectively convince of your time and effort commitment to the job.
Comeback reasons
An employer would like to know what made you want to come back to your job. It could be that you don’t have the responsibility of caring for anymore. Be honest in your explanation of how now is the perfect time for your comeback. Convey that you are invested now in attending to your professional identity.
Readiness for a comeback
The professional world thrives on looking at new and efficient ways of doing things and hence is constantly updating itself. A break without skill updates would make you irrelevant. It is important to pace yourself by filling in skill gaps through re-skilling or up-skilling. You might feel a need to catch up intellectually by learning something new or socially in the way you communicate in larger groups. Paying focus to these gaps can help pace yourself to feeling job-ready.
Evidence of Readiness
Be ready to show evidence of job readiness as a part of your comeback. If you have learned a new programming language, talk about hackathons you were a part of. If you have developed organizational skills through volunteering, talk about events you organized. In short, showing and telling is more effective than talking, and use professional network mediums such as LinkedIn to showcase your endeavors.
Own your story and express yourself with confidence.
Above all, take responsibility for your break. It was your best option to take a break then. After having worked hard to get yourself job-ready, own your story with confidence. You are not any less worthy as a person just because others don’t understand your need to take a break.
Support yourself with the stories of women who have traveled a similar path as you have and have found their way back to their careers at facebook.com/her2ndinnings/videos. Dare to put in your best effort and you will surely find your success.
About the Author
Jennifer Moses is a Career Guidance Coach at HerSecond Innings and Counseling Psychologist based out of Bangalore. HSI community members can reach her by making appointment Coaching.
Her Second Innings supports women professionals on a sabbatical in their journey of getting back to work. The mission of HSI is to guide women to achieve financial independence. Support from HSI comes in the form of job interviews, reskilling programs in Automation and, free Career Guidance Counselling. Sign up with us and complete your profile to get a call from our counselors to know your job fit. Disclaimer “The opinions expressed are those of the author. This blog claims no credit for any images or content posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images and content on this blog belong to their respective owners. If there is an image or content on this blog that belongs to you and you do not wish for it to appear on this site, please e-mail us with a link to said image or content and it will be promptly removed”
