Are you looking to return to work after 2 or more years out? Or have you returned to work after a career break?

[EmmaMumsnet]

Returning to work after an extended career break can be really difficult. At MNHQ we are interested in finding out the barriers that parents face when returning to work after having 2 or more years out. We’d love to hear from those of you who are looking to return to work after a break and those who have returned to work after 2 or more years out.

There are numerous barriers that can affect parents returning to work, from work/life balance and childcare costs to difficulties interviewing and lack of confidence. Please post on this thread the issues you have faced when looking for work after a career break of 2 or more years, whether you ended up returning or not.

Are you put off even attempting to go back to work even if you wanted to? If you have tried and didn’t manage to get back to work please share why you think this was? If you were successful returning to your sector after a long break please share your tips for how you managed this.

We are interested in talking to a few Mumsnetters about their experiences of returning to work after a 2 or more year break. If you’d be happy to be contacted about this please fill in this form whether you have returned to work or not and we will be in touch.

Thanks

MNHQ

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[cmlover]

i trued to return back to work when my youngest was 4.. eldest 7. so 7 years.

I was a single parent with out much help which limited me to what inwould apply for.

1- kids didn't see there dad at all and didn't have weekend childcare so weekends and nights was not possable.

I spent 2 years applying to everything and anything I could do. barely getting call backs. finally ingot a job cleaning the public loos, which was not a job in ever wanted to do but it got me on to the job ladder as it where

it's allways easier to get jobs whilst in one. I changed jobs 2 more times. cleaning police station, working as a cleaner in a posh hotel before landing a job in a nursery and started getting higher qualifications, now Iv almost finished my level 3 in childcare and looking at my level 5.

with a big job gap in think employers think your lazy or havnt got any get up and go and 99 percent of the time it isn't true. when job hunting and getting turned down it really knocks your confidence.
i remeber two esp bad rejects, one was from burger king, and I cried because if i wasn't even qualified for burger King then what hope did I have.

my second turned up to a interveiw at Tesco to be told they had changed their mind and there wasn't a cleaning job going any more. that one I cried right there and then and the lady had to take me round the back for a cigarette. inwas just so desperate to be given a chance to prove that I am a hard worker.

I'm lucky I'm now in my dream job, get paid well and paid term time off.

[PurpleCrazyHorse]

I became a SAHM 3.5 years ago when we moved areas away from our support network. I am just starting to apply for jobs and the barriers are school holiday childcare, especially the long summer holidays and things like shifting Easter dates can really eat into annual leave if it runs April to March and you get both Easter holidays in one year. DH and I can share our time out but it's still very hard (and expensive) with no family nearby.

I've also found, that being out of work for so long has made it difficult in interviews to come up with relevant and recent experience. I once found it easy to have an interview as everything was at the front of my mind, being out of work so long makes it really difficult to think of good examples. I plan to volunteer in school once my youngest starts nursery and am retraining in the education sector too (online course).

[Florin]

I have been off for 6 years and loved my time at home but I had a niggling feeling I probably should get back into work in the next couple of years and I was worried I had been out of the workplace for too long. I wasn’t looking but on a local Mums network a job advert was advertised working part time and from home! It was exactly the hours I wanted and my skill set seemed to match what they were looking for. It was daunting writing my CV but I sent it off and very quickly got offered an interview. I was so nervous about the interview I nearly didn’t go but I pulled myself together and did it and a few hours later got offered the job! I can’t wait to start soon! It’s just what I wanted as I can bring in some extra money but still be there for our child and at all the school things etc and have time to do everything around the house, best of both worlds.

[Fadingmemory]

Long time ago now... Went back after 13 years when youngest was 5. Did a course for “returners” inc IT. Landed a PT job with a great boss who understood time off for school events, child illness etc. Became a single parent & built up to full time (someone left & I slotted in). Stayed 15 years & loved it. Managed the summer with a mix of children with father 2weeks, away with them myself two weeks, some holiday club. I couldn’t have been happier (once divorce over) or luckier with the work, boss & colleagues.

[animaginativeusername]

Decided to be stay at home mum to youngest who 18 months at the time, he is 5 and while at home I have completed access course and am currently in 2nd year of degree. Hoping to return to work full time next year.

My role within nhs admin was always flexible hours, which meant childcare was never an issue. After redundancy I began work in a clinic which had fixed hours and days, making child care and related comittmebts difficult.

My children are now older in full time education, I can committ to full time and more demanding role

[CryogenicMedic]

I worked since I was 15, (sometimes two jobs) up to the day I went on maternity leave to have my DS. It's been 6 years and I still can't get accepted back into work.

• The hours aren't flexible enough.
  
• Can't afford childcare.
  
• Can't travel too far out of the town I live as I need to be able to do the school drop-off and pick-up as I have nobody else to do this for me.
  
• Employers are put off by my 6 year employment gap.
  
• Employers request references for the last 5 years. I have none as I haven't worked for the last 6 years. They won't accept references from two former employers due to the length of time since I left them.
  
• My confidence has now gone to pot. I've had just one interview out of countless job applications but I was a nervous wreck, completely ballsed it up and made a fool of myself.
  
• I'm naturally a reserved introverted type of person. My skills and experience generslly got me through life, but now I realise Im going to have to talk my way into a job...know all the right things to say, be a chatty bubbly person and win them over with the gift of the gab - something I never have had, or ever will have.
  
• I have applied for jobs that would be considered more junior than what I was when I worked. I have lots of skills, previous training and experience, semi-senior roles, and qualifications. But I've been rejected for being over-qualified. But if I go for jobs at my previous level I am under-qualified because of the length of time I've been out of work.
  

Due to being do unemployable my husband and I don't earn enough to buy our own home (despite having saved a fairly hefty deposit) and we're paying a fortune in private rent on a pokey flat.

We couldn't ever consider having any more DCs as we can't afford for me to be out of work for this long again (even though nobody will employ me anyway!).

I feel like I'm being punished for birthing the next generation.

[wishitwillbeme]

I think if you are like ohh who is "confident and love talking to people" you will get no ends of job offers.

As a shy introvert, not the most confident speaker and grand old age of 43 who had a career gap of 9 years will be a huge struggle! I already come to term that I won't be employable if or when I lose this job - which I am probably too old for.

New kitchen and bathroom gone out of my equation now, have to look into early retirement (even when I really want to work!)

[Bewarethequietboy]

Yes I've been out of paid employment for 9 years now through a combination of living overseas, having children, completing an msc distance learning, returning to the uk, having my third child, my partner setting up his own business so having to work a lot of non regular hours, and now living quite rurally means there aren't many opportunities for the sort of work I was doing before.

I have applied for a few things related to my qualifications and had one interview but realised that I was quite out of date, software had moved on, all the examples I could use in my interview felt like such a long time ago, and basically I don't think I'm very interested in going back to an office environment anymore. It doesn't really excite me, or feel like a good compromise for the rest of the family to create so much change in everyone's life so I can go and do something I'm not really bothered about.

I'm now wondering about a TA type job as I've been volunteering a little bit at the primary school my older two dcs go to and have really enjoyed it, it feels like something that really makes a difference to the children and will have a positive impact on those children and on my own, but that's tricky as my youngest is only 2.5 so it's hard to justify paying for him to go to nursery while I do voluntary work that may or may not lead to paid work, but I do think that's what I need to be doing in order to get the experience and be confident that this is what I want to be doing!

It's such a tricky one to manage as I feel like I've put in a lot of time, effort and money into my existing qualifications and now to not use them seems like a waste.

[FireflyGirl]

I was out for 2 years after having DS.

Confidence was a big factor in returning to work for me, not least because the area I used to work in isn't as profitable any more so I was looking to retrain. I have a lot of transferable skills, but it was difficult getting past application stage.

I was also surprised at how many places were really interested until they found out I wanted to do 4 days. And it was the bigger firms that were the worst.

As someone else said, I ended up applying for much more junior roles offering half what I used to earn, just because they were willing to offer part time.

I've been very lucky to have found a new job, in a new area, with the hours I want, on a wage similar to what I was earning pre-DS.

My tips are:

• Fake it until you make it.
  
• Concentrate on getting the interview, and then discuss part time/flexible working.
  
• Spend time researching how best to draft your CV, and if you aren't getting the results, consider a paid-for service.

[winnieofwhitby]

I took an 11 year career break after having my children. After such a long career break my confidence was low but I knew still had the skills and ability.

I applied for a part time job which was probably a couple of ranks below what I did before my career break and was successful. I asked at interview what additional support my employer felt I needed after such a long career break and they looked at me blankly as for them it just wasn't an issue.

After 2 years in that role I applied for a full time job at the same level as I had worked at before children and was successful. I asked the same question at interview and my manager said I had demonstrated in my answers that I had the capability to do the job and she had no concerns.

There is a lot of doom and gloom on Mumsnet that once you have taken time out that you will be lucky to get a national minimum wage job but my experience is the opposite and as long as you can demonstrate the skills and knowledge at interview employers are fairly open minded.

[greenlanes]

@mumsnet is anything happening on this? You started this post in late April?

[CoffeeAndCupcakes85]

Apologies in advance that this is such a depressing post.

I lost my job towards the end of my maternity leave with DC1 (there was discrimination and I had to take legal action, which is a whole other story, but the whole saga completely shattered my confidence). At this point I was already pregnant with DC2. This meant that I couldn't apply for new permanent positions (I know legally I could have, but it didn't sit well with me going for a job knowing that I was already 3 months pregnant). I temped for two months, which was good for helping improve my shattered confidence, but that ended abruptly when the project was suddenly caved. As they only needed to give me one week's notice, and I needed to give the nursery a month's notice, DH and I ended up paying for three weeks of full time nursery when I was bringing nothing in financially.

Recently I have been desperate to get back to work as I feel incredibly lonely and feel my confidence is dwindling more and more each day. I am also acutely aware that the longer I'm out of work in this industry, the less likely I will be to ever get back in. I have found that there are no part time jobs available in the area of the country I'm in and at the level I'm at. From the few full time positions available, they say that they only need you in the office 8am - 6pm (and some 9am - 5pm), but with the commute that just doesn't fit in with childcare (ignoring my concerns about the DC being in childcare too much, the most you can get around here is 7:30am - 6pm). Unfortunately DH is unable to help with getting the kids to childcare at the moment, as his current job means he is either out of the house 6:30am - 8pm daily, or he's away altogether. He is also unable to work part time in his role.

I have just had to turn down an interview for a job I really wanted that would have been possible to fit in with childcare, as I can't get childcare to attend the actual interview (they gave me a few dates that they could do, but everyone I can turn to for ad hoc childcare is out of the country). I just feel like screaming.

There's also the frustration that if I get back to work, any wage I bring home will be cancelled out entirely by childcare costs (2 under 2 at the moment, so no chance of any help for well over a year). Once you factor in commuting costs and parking, I would actually be paying to go back to work (which I'd be prepared to do for a short time, in order to "keep in". I would also be slowly chipping away at my student debt and pension obviously. That said, I don't feel great about the prospect of working full time and all the stress that involves, while not seeing DC, yet bringing nothing home financially).

I am very grateful that I have had two healthy children and I am grateful that I get to spend so much time with them and watch them grow up, but I feel pretty gutted that the career I worked so hard to get into (4 years of studying / training) may be over before it started.

[Pluckedpencil]

I left a solid mid managerial logistics job in a big company because it was full time or nothing and son was 1 year old and I felt guilty about the number of hours he was in childcare.
We used that as an opportunity to move to a different company in Europe where dh could earn the same wage but where his wage went a lot further.
After five years out and another child I have returned full time in this new country. It is a little daunting returning not only to a new industry and colleagues after a break, but also in a new language. However I have a great team around me. I sadly earn a lot less for the same 9-5 hours, but I am now in the country I want to be in, I had five lovely years with my babies and I love my translation job, it feels like going to work and playing sudoku all day (if you like sudoku! ). No stressy politics, no managing annoying people and appeasing directors. I also finally feel like I get to use my degree in Latin in a weird roundabout way. Who knows what the future holds but I bet 10 years will look different again. Life is interesting!

[FuelledByButter]

Kikidelivers
The initial part of the ECDL is quite basic but covers some stuff no one would need in a workplace. I'd say it's worth doing if the jobs you are going for would rate it.
As with any IT course if you don't have the opportunity to practise the skills afterwards they are easy to forget.

[yomellamoHelly]

Am a TA. My line manager was willing to take a punt on me basically. Feel like I hit lucky as other schools weren't and I don't have any specific qualifications. Both happy with how it's worked out. Have a PGCE place for 2019 and can't wait.

[Kikidelivers]

yomellamoHelly

May I ask what job you’re doing pls?

[yomellamoHelly]

14 years out. Really helped that I knew 4 months before starting, so was able to plan childcare / logistics. Has also really helped being in school hours job. 18 months in and I'm really ready for more (LOVE working), though need to wait another year when the worst of the childcare juggle will have settled and I'm able to commit to it properly.

[FatherMackenzie]

I’ve had a break of 3 years, after being made redundant while on maternity leave with dc1. I’ve jusy had dc2 and am now thinking about what to do to get back to work.

The problem for me is that dh and I immediately moved to the other end of the country with his job after we graduated university. He was on a graduate scheme, which involved moving about a lot in the first few years. So I just had to take whatever job I could find. With my slightly vague degree, (a European modern language and politics), all I seemed to be able to find were a variety of basic admin jobs.

Now I’ve been out of work so long, I actually am worried that I won’t even be considered for those anymore. I struggled to find a job after our last move, (to SE England, where we’ve now settled to be near dh’s company’s big office in west London). When I finally did, I did quite well and got promoted, but then was made redundant.

I don’t actually think confidence in my own abilities is a particular issue for me. I know I can do basic admin. The problems now are;

1. getting a job in such a competitive market - pretty much everyone is qualified for basic admin, so that means the market for candidates is flooded
   
2. practical issues, like finding time to update cv, brush up on skills and attend interviews or meetings with recruitment agencies. We have NO family support and dh works full time
   
3. do I really want to start again in a basic admin job? I don’t know that I do, although I’d be happy enough if I got one.
   
   I’m thinking now about retraining for a job in something like IT. But I obviously don’t want to waste time and money doing this, unless I’m going to be able to find a job at the end of it all. I’ve looked into conversion masters courses in IT, but (hilariously) some of the TRAINING COURSES require previous work experience. Fucks sake. If I had a job in IT, I wouldn’t need to train for a career move to IT. I’ve found a few which don’t require this, but I’d need to travel to attend those courses, which would mean leaving the dcs in nursery while I went to university. So expensive.

[FlukeSkyeRunner]

I've had a break of 9 years. I'm hoping to start part time work in a few months in an entirely different field. I only have this opportunity because I know someone who has offered me the job - there is no way anyone else would employ me to do the job as I have no relevant experience. But it suits me, will fit around the school run etc and is something I am passionate about. I am very well blessed - DH earns a good salary so I can follow my heart on this instead of having to maximise my income. After so long out of the workplace I really feel I need to do something now before I lose confidence, and as this chance had fallen into my lap without me going looking for it I would be daft not to take it! There is the potential for it to develop into full time of I want it to.

[Kikidelivers]

FuelledByButter

The ECDL course you did... did you rate it highly? Useful? I’m considering. TIA

[bigbadwolvesnextdoor]

Just read the whole thread as I've seen a job that I'd love to do (via a linked in email)

The job sounds like a previous role I had that I loved ( I was made redundant when my old company went abroad )

It just makes me sad that I won't get given a chance, as I have had 2 years off with my DC. Also job requires travel and so I know they are unlikely to consider me.

My DH works in an industry with very long irregular hours and therefore would not be able to do childcare drop offs or collections. My parents are 2 hrs away, but would do 1 day childcare, although I think they would struggle to cope ( very old fashioned) . DHs mum is still working. DHs Dad is not about.

I feel like I want to apply and I know I can do the job. Would be a good salary. But how can I convince them I'd be dedicated and then say I need flexible hours / need to come in late / leave early to collect my child. Plus with no DH support at home how would I make up the time? I just see it being so stressful and I would truly miss out on my little boy ( although I love working) I would want my home time to be concentrated on my DC not checking emails.

I've been interviewed for 3 jobs good jobs since having my timeout for DC. Funnily I am always in the last 2 but no offer. I can't ask about the other applicant, they may have been better than me but I expect they don't want to risk taking someone on having a gap and a young child. I am prob being negative, I feel a bit jaded but I'm stuck as I want to work but I feel like I don't have the opportunity.

My career job would mean travel to London and local admin type jobs don't pay enough to cover childcare (plus they are like gold dust here in the shires)

[Wishmeluck2018]

It is so awful to be stuck at forty and fifty something, too old to be employable but far from retirement, still got mortgage and bills to pay. Worrying for not having enough pension because you are not earning or not earn enough to save.

[JanetJacket77]

The types of jobs in my level are on a shift basis which is a nightmare as i need to arrange childcare.

I need to pay childcare fees in advance and zero hours or temp or bank/casual positions are a nightmare.

The jobs id like ask for experience but even voluntary roles for what id like to do ask for experience!! Chicken or the egg?!

Jobs not stating days and hours of job.

Employers dont want to bother training or offer a good employment contract. Its all very vague when i need security and predictability to afford and arrange childcare.

[FuelledByButter]

I taught primary before having children. When youngest was 1-2 I did a bit of seasonal cover in supermarkets for a bit of money of my own and to help with household costs.
Later I got a 12hr permanent job in supermarket at the weekend as this fitted well with DPs weekday hours.
Then we split. I carried on a a bit more hours doing Friday Saturday Sunday's when he had the kids. I thought that when we were more settled I'd get some office job with the possibility of working my way up. Ha!
I looked at going back to teaching but by then I'd been out of the profession for 15 years and felt I'd have to get some updating or volunteer in a school for a while. The training would cost money, be full time and therefore I'd have to leave my permanent job with the chance of not getting a teaching job at the end of it. I hadn't wanted to go back to teaching anyway as I found it very stressful and heard really bad things about the droves leaving. I thought having youngish children and going back to teaching full time would be extremely stressful. I was scared. I decided against going back to teaching.
I looked for other jobs and went to a careers advice person who advised me to go on an IT course. Because I worked I had to pay for this. £300 for the initial introductory ECDL course. The next part would have been around £600. I didn't think I could afford the second part, it would also require me to buy a laptop to do the homework on. I didn't think I could afford all of that.
I got a few interviews but no job offers.
ExDP got made redundant and I suddenly had full parental and financial responsibility and went full time at the supermarket.
I feel completely stuck now. I am educated to a post graduate level but nobody wants a 50something who isn't a dab hand on a computer. I try to comfort myself with thinking there's dignity in labour and I do enjoy some aspects of my job but I'm dying slowly inside there. It's also quite hard physically and the thought of working there until I'm 67 is worrying.

[nicslackey]

I was out of work for 11 years as a single mum and could only see the obstacles to going to work. I went on a 2 week work experience through Gingerbread set up through the job centre which was a huge confidence boost. I got help with my cv from them as well and am loving being in full time employment in the civil service for almost 10 years now. It is is good to know that my dc saw me at home when he needed me but then had a good example of a work ethic when it mattered. I was so lucky with the timing.