Advice back to work - confidence shrunk and need to regain

[Pickofthepops]

In summary I left a 15 yr professional career when vol redundancy came up. Am not a terribly confident person. But that sort of finished me off. Two other roles since but am getting progressively worse at interview skills. Eye contact, answering questions, selling myself. I get the interviews okay.

Can anyone recommend what am best to do. I need to get back to work for various reasons and I really want to.

Help!

Try a bit of voluntary work if poss too build up your confidence

To not too! Also just try to imagine how great you'd be at the job and what an asset you'd be to them!

What about looking into Confidence Building & Assertiveness workshops? Or even looking into get a coaching relationship going with someone. There are consultants who specialise in coaching women who are looking to return to work.

Are you trying to get work in the same career as you had before? It sounds like the redundancy - even though it was voluntary - knocked your confidence but I'm wondering how your confidence was before that? And whether you loved your career or if perhaps it was your way of finding an alternative. If you're getting very nervous at interviews, is it because you're unsure of what you want? Or what you're good at? When I work with women who are unclear about what they want to do next, I do a Hell Yes, Hell No exercise. Get a blank piece of paper, and divide into 3 columns. At the top of column one write Hell Yes; column two - Hell No, column 3 - Maybe. Then in the Hell Yes column write down all the things you love about work or career - you love doing e.g. organising or analysing or being part of a team. Hell No - all the things you really dislike, Maybe is the stuff you're so-so.

Sometimes it can help to ask a few friends former work colleagues for feedback - a brief email asking them for the words they'd use to describe you or asking them for their thoughts on your skills and talents. Often we're surprised at what others see in us.

Hope that helps.
Sherry