Return to Work

Looking to make a change to your work-life status? You might be considering or ready for a return the workforce.  The approaching summer months could be reminding you that you want to downsize your career. Or you may be starting or continuing a job search after a layoff or career change of heart. In all…

Lots of women itching to work again after a family hiatus worry that they’ve chosen the worst possible time to return to the workforce. They already feel great trepidation about the gap in their resumes, and a difficult economy makes it appear that only current professionals will land the few available jobs. While I do…

Twitter can be a fascinating place—especially because you have to contain your profile to a mini bio of 160 characters or less. (Look at mine if you’re interested—and click to follow me, too!) One Twitter profile I read recently belongs to a woman who left the work force and she noted “I used to be…

Halfway through one of my presentations on how to return to the workforce after a hiatus of a decade or more, a woman in the audience added both humor and more somber reflection to the lively discussion. At the time, I was speaking about the prickly “Lean In or Lean Out” debate, and suggesting—first and…

Facebook and Twitter are cluttered with pithy quotes, and “thoughts of the day”.  With so much to read I often skip over these motivational mantras—but one attributed to Cathie Black made me stop and stare: “How Wide a Frame Can You Put Around Your Future?” Black, a former president of Hearst Magazines, wrote a letter…

Whether the target is a retail job on Main Street or an executive-level job in the C-suite, stress is still high among long frustrated job seekers.  There’s no shortage of fingers pointing at potential culprits—depending on your politics it could be the House, the Senate, Obamacare or presidents who have long left Washington, D.C. When…

For many women who have been at home for a long hiatus, it won’t be possible to achieve the peace and well-being of long-term financial security without returning to the workforce. Perhaps for you and others you know, this may appear easier said than done. “Who would want me now?” is the question I’ve been…

Here’s a revolutionary thought: instead of wasting a lot of time wondering whether you can or should “have it all” (family and career), how about realizing that for most women it makes long-term sense to DO IT ALL. What am I saying, exactly? I’m saying that with few exceptions most women need to (as I…

In many of my blog posts I’ve talked about the need for family support when you return to work after a long hiatus. As much as you may want to restart your career, it’s very difficult to blend both work and life if your spouse is not on board. When it is not driven by…

Recently in collaboration with Ivy Exec (a great professional resource you should all know about), I held a webinar for women who are thinking of taking a work hiatus. It was Part II in a series that advises women to “Look Before You Leap” out of the workforce. My mission is to help as many…