Emerson Exchange 365

I feel like my career adventures could be an episode of the “Back in Time” series. If you are considering a sabbatical for family, travel or any number of reasons or if you're in the process your planning your relaunch, here is one journey and some advice to consider.

After becoming pregnant with my second child, my company was forward thinking enough to let me explore a part time work week. It was the first time for both of us and there were a few missteps. In the end, I felt that I was not giving 100% to either life. I had one foot in the work world, but wasn’t’ able to take on the challenging assignments I desired and one foot at home, but was reading about the key events in my child’s development in the nannie’s journal.

I decided to take a sabbatical for five years until both kiddos were established in school. I left a “high pot” (high potential for executive management) job with no promises of return to my position. However, I had a soft agreement with my family that this transition was the best for us and only temporary.

Fast forward fifteen years. My children are now both in high school and I have lived in Central America as an expat, just closed my second small business, wrote a book and volunteered countless hours in many organizations. Note: I do not “stay at home” quietly.

I was happy with my current life but also a bit restless. Then, I ran into a former co-worker that asked if I would be interested in coming back, on a contract basis, to my former company to assist with product management for a new product launch. Soon after it was official, this was my RELAUNCH back into the corporate world. It was this role that led to my current full-time position in Business Development.

Considering a sabbatical or a change? Here’s some advice:

1)     Don’t burn bridges. Even though I felt divided between the roles of being a business person and being a new mother, I still performed my work at a high level. It is easy to get frustrated with your situation or current position, but don’t take it out on the job. It is in your best interest to keep yourself positively engaged as you make your decision to stay or go.

2)     Stay in touch. Connections are key to relaunching your career. They can help you seem like less of outsider if you decide to return to the same company. Insiders always have the first scoop and best access to new positions. I made a specific effort to meet friends and co-workers for lunches and to keep up-to-date on what was new in the office AND new in their lives. Today, I also nurture and broaden my network via social media.

3)     Value your soft skills and experience. When you are ready to come back to the corporate world, take some time to evaluate what you have done during your time away. I suspect you will be surprised by how effectively you ‘moved your world’. Write it down and summarize. Be sure to use strong verbs to describe your accomplishments. Here's an article to help get you started, Powerful Words for a Winning Resume. 

4)     Know your worth. Once you start interviewing, the inevitable question of salary will come up. Do your homework ahead of time. Although it can be an uncomfortable question, asking close friends in the industry can give you a reasonable range of salaries to expect for specific types of work. Online resources like the LinkedIn salary tool and Glass Door salary index can also help you narrow down your salary range by title and geography.

5)     Accept that things change. One of my biggest fears was whether or not I would be able to learn all the “new stuff”. Face it, some things will have changed: business systems, lingo, technology and even, people. Take the self-doubt and stuff it down. You are a “new employee” again. Channel the excitement and fear to energize yourself to dive in. You got this!

6)     …And, that some things don’t change. My biggest surprise was how much hadn’t changed in my organization over a 15-year-period. Some of my former peers were at executive level, but most were not. I expected all of the problems and frustrations I had faced as an employee to magically disappear. They did not. Things are better, but we still have diversity and work/life balance issues, and a host of other issues I would love to have been resolved.

As you relaunch yourself back in the corporate world, don’t expect that it will be magically different. What you can do is work to change things from the inside. I recently took a class with Jim Bearden, author of Unleashing Heroes, and the key point that stuck for me was that I can choose to take the “Hero Perspective”. In a nutshell, this means that I can choose to be accountable to how I react to things that frustrated me in the past, to figure out ways to improve or change, or in some cases, ways to accept the things that frustrate me.

7)     Swallow your ego. Remember, you are starting over. You cannot ride on the coattails of your past reputation for very long. Even though you may have known executive management in a past life, your day-to-day interactions are not likely to be at their level. Remain true to the person you are and blaze a new trail, and reset the performance bar for who you are today.

8)     Keep a reminder of your vision. If you choose to return to the workplace, create visual reminders of the reasons you came back and what you hope to accomplish. A dream board is an excellent visual tool that you can keep in a place that is visible every day. It can put a smile on your face and help you focus on your goals.

Whatever career role you choose: working professional without children, working parent, or stay-at-home parent – make a plan AND be flexible. Life can be messy. What you want and need today will change over time, especially over 15 years!  The good news is, you can choose to go back OR forward in “career’ time.