Sunday, May 16, 2010

Write a Great Resume After a Career Break

The prospect of returning to work after maternity leave or after a very significant deficiency can sometimes be very daunting. You can feel removed from the social environment, almost as if you had been on a very, very long vacation.

Of course you know that this time off has been anything but a time for relaxation and you can feel as if you worked harder than ever. Nevertheless, it is now time to return to a career, and you should be aware of your resume or summary.

1st Look at this from a positive perspective. During your time off, you've earned more new skills. Are you really good at multitasking, time Management, project management and your coping skills have improved considerably! Never underestimate what you need to do to manage a busy home and bring up a young and look at these skills as important additions to your CV.

2nd Some specific coaching for women advocates that you should write a "functional" resume in this situation. This type of approach lists your skills and qualifications rather than focusing on a chronological list of employers. As such, you are definitely focus on your experience, and this should be emphasized in the document itself. List your employer without reference to dates and focus on your skills, experience and skills above all else.

3rd Do not be defensive when it comes to your time out for maternity leave. Many women fear that employers will judge them if they have prioritized family over career. But let us put things in perspective here. There are plenty of far more serious thing for employers to get worried about, such as lack of honesty, lack of willingness to work hard, disloyalty, etc. The list goes on and on. Prepare yourself as if you were a sales clerk, what objections can be raised, how will you overcome these objections?

4th During your absence from full time employment you may have dedicated some time to some studies, Put maybe evening classes, volunteering, etc., all these experiences in a positive light and include it on your CV. If nothing else, it shows that you are able to multi-task role as mother and home keeper with other interests and duties, and this strengthens your position in a future employer's eyes.

5th Show that you are in control of every situation by outlining your plan to manage the time off. In other words, it would be far better to say that you initially had planned to stay home with a newborn until a certain time until he or she arrived at a certain age for example. This is even more professional than if you were to come up with a "woolly" answer as you were willing to stay home until the time came to return to work. Once again it shows that you are in control.

6th Do some research before you prepare to send them again. How long have you been away? Find out if anything significant has changed to a prospective employer. It may be time to obtain your specific training, even learning a new system operation. Make sure you include this on your CV as it will strengthen your position.

7th You do not necessarily use the contacts you had before you took your career break, and you do not need to include references only from the workplace. By keeping in touch with some of your networking contacts while you are away from work, you must create a useful list of people who might give you references testify to your character.

In our modern society, coaching professional advice from the online life coaching experts can help you focus on everything positive in your life so you come up with a perfectly presentable CV.

1 comment:

  1. A sabbatical can be a unique addition to your personal brand and professional offerings and should be leveraged in a compelling way on your resume. See http://yoursabbatical.com/shop/materials/leveraging-your-sabbatical-or-career-break/ for more help. Thanks.

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