1
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
People returning to work after a career break

2
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I call them "Relunchers"

3
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Those are people who have taking career breaks

4
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
for elder care or child care reasons

5
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
pursuing a personal interest or a personal health issue

6
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Closely related are career transitions of all kinds

7
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Veterans, military spouses, retirees

8
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
coming out of a retirement or repatriating expats

9
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Returning to work after a break is hard

10
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
because it's disconnected between the employers and the relunchers

11
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Employers can view hiring people with a gap on the resume

12
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
as a high risk proposition

13
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
And individuals on career break can have doubts about

14
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
their abilities to relunch their careers

15
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
especially if they have been out for a long time

16
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
This disconnect is the problem

17
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
that I am trying to help solve

18
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Now successful relunchers are everywhere and did every field

19
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
This is Sami Kafala

20
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
he is a nuclear physicist in UK

21
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
who took a five-year break to be home with his five children

22
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
The Singapore Press recently wrote about

23
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Nurse returning to work after long career breaks

24
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
And speaking of long career breaks

25
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
This is Mimi Kahn

26
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
She is a social worker at Orange County California

27
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
who return to work in a social services organision

28
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
after a 25 year career break

29
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
That's the longest career break that I am aware of

30
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Prominent people take career breaks

31
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor

32
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
took a 5 year career break early in her career

33
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
And then there are the fictional relunchers

34
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
probably the most famous is Alicia Florrick

35
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
The character played by Julianna Margulies

36
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
in the TV show - "The Good Wife"

37
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
She is a lawyer who return to work

38
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
after a 13 year career break

39
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Here is a really person who take a 13 year career break

40
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
This is Tracy and her family

41
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Tracy answered the call for .... by the ...

42
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
from people who were trying to returning to work

43
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
but having a difficult time of that

44
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Tracy root in a mom of five

45
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
who love the time at home

46
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
But she had gone through divorce

47
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and need to return to work

48
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Plus she really want to bring work back into her life

49
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
because she loved working

50
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Tracy was doing with so many of us do

51
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
when we feel like we put in a good day in the job search

52
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
She was looking for a financial or accounting role

53
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and she has just spend last 9 months

54
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
very diligently researching companies online

55
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and applying for jobs with no results

56
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I met Tracy in June of 2011

57
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
when the Today Show asked me

58
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
if I could work with her to see

59
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
if I could help her turn things around

60
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
The first thing I told Tracy was

61
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
she has to get out of the house

62
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I told her she had to public with her job search

63
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and tell everyone she knew about her interest to returning to work

64
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I also told her

65
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
You are going to have a lot of conversations

66
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
don't go anywhere

67
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
expect that and don't be discouraged by it

68
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
There will be a handphone

69
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
that automatically lead to a job opportunity

70
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I will tell you what happened with Tracy a little bit

71
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
but I want to share with you a discovery

72
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
that I made when I was returning to work

73
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
after my own career break of 11 years out of full time workforce

74
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
And that is

75
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
people's view of you is frozen in time

76
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
What I mean by this is

77
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
when you start to get in touch with people

78
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and you get back in touch with those people from the past

79
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
the people .... worked or went to school

80
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
They are going to remember you as you were

81
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
before your career break

82
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
And that's even if your sense of yourself has diminished over time

83
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
as happened with so many of us

84
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
the far we move away from our professional identities

85
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
So, for example

86
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
you might think of yourself for someone who looked like this

87
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
This is me!

88
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Crazy day after driving around my mini Van

89
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
or here I'm in the kitchen

90
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
But those people from the past

91
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
they don't know about any of this

92
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
they only remember you as you were

93
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and it's a great confidence.... to be back in touch with those people

94
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
hear their enthusiasm about your interest of returning to work