Career Trends: 3 ways to present your career break positively and land your next job.

Edition: March 19, 2022
Curated by the Knowledge Team of ICS Career GPS

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• Excerpts from article by Camilla Han-He, published on fastcompany.com

For long, there has been a stigma surrounding career breaks, despite the myriad of reasons to pursue one — including, but not limited to things like, starting a family, focusing on health and well-being, and chasing passions. 

It’s time we break the stigma and embrace career breaks for what they are: important parts of our career journey and what makes each one of us unique as a professional. 

According to data collected, 64% of people globally say they want more ways to positively represent their career breaks. As for hirers, the conversation is building as well with 44% of hiring managers wanting to know the reason why a candidate took a career break. 

Even so, it can still be intimidating to publicly share your career break story while trying to navigate a return to the workforce.

Here are three ways to leverage your career break as an advantage during job search:

1. Highlight your career break on your LinkedIn profile.

• Career breaks are not shameful, nor should they be hidden from your professional story.
• In fact, 51% of hiring managers say they’re more likely to contact an applicant that provided context into their career break. 
• Tackle the job search head-on with transparency, honesty, and authenticity.
• You can now add a career break to the experience section of your LinkedIn Profile.
• There are various options to reflect the type of break you took like caregiving, career transition, health and well-being, and more.
• Share about new experiences during your time away from work and highlight skills you gained — look for ways to tie them to roles you’re interested in.
• Be bold and intentional with how impactful your career break was and continues to be.

2. Share your experience and learnings in job interviews.

• It may be difficult to exude confidence when coming back from a career break.
• However, hiring managers believe candidates should proactively bring up their career break during the interview and highlight what they learned during that time. 
• When tackling interviews, focus less on your time away and more on how this has helped you grow, learn valuable skills, or helped you discover a new passion.
• Start by connecting the dots between what you did during your career break and what you can bring to a particular role as a result.
• Almost 70% of people say taking a career break helped them gain perspective and figure out what they really want from life.
• Don’t shy away from telling your story and the unique value your experience can bring at work.

3. Network and seek advice from others who took career breaks.

• If you have ever taken a career break, you’re not alone.
• 62% of people have taken a career break at one point or another, so don’t be afraid to reach out to your professional community for help and advice. 
• Be explicit about your goals by turning on the Open-to Work feature on your LinkedIn Profile, which lets the community know you’re open to new opportunities.
• If you’re comfortable, share your experience with your network.
• You never know: sharing your story can inspire others to do the same and bring much-needed attention to this important topic.

51% of hirers believe people who take career breaks can restart their careers at any time.

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Have you checked out yesterday’s blog yet?

Education & Career Trends: 5 tips for starting or transitioning to a career in IoT

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(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the article mentioned above are those of the author(s). They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of ICS Career GPS or its staff.)

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