In which I argue that hiring women after a break isn’t that hard after all
Finding a job that you love is hard. Finding a job that you love, after taking a break, is harder still. Or so it seems.
Women who interrupted their careers to raise children or focus on their homes are apprehensive about the job search. What’s a good way to explain the gap in your resume? Is it possible to compete with a younger cohort? Are my skills rusty? It’s hard not to let the doubts creep in.
But that’s only part of the story. In my conversations with hiring managers, I have found that contrary to notions of bias, most managers favourably rank women restarting their careers. This preference is not driven by corporate mandate to improve their gender diversity, rather it’s more pragmatic.
The time needed to train a person for job can take months. But when hiring women with previous experience, the time investment is much shorter and the outcome more productive.
Such candidates are also used to working in different environments, across a breadth of subjects and with different people dynamics. There is less time needed in mentorship and hence a faster ride towards leadership roles.
So why are so few women able to find jobs that match their skill and interest level? For one, many women do not clearly articulate their strengths and instead focus more on explaining their break. Women returning after an extended break may also find that their skills need to updated. The gap may be technical in order to keep up with the fast changing market and applications. It can also be trainings in communication, networking and a small investment in guidance from experts.
But the gap can be bridged, these drawbacks can be managed.
And that’s the idea of Serein. We aim to help you find the best job. After all more balanced the gender ratio better the country’s GDP. But that’s the subject of another post.
About the Author
Dr. Ishani Roy is passionate about helping women in India women restart, accelerate their careers after a break and enable diversity and inclusion. In the process she’s hoping to make a dent in the gender ratio at the workplace across the world.