How to Go Back to Work After a Long Absence

While you took time off to raise a family, care for elderly parents, go back to school or travel around the world, chances are there were major changes in your field's trends and technology as well as at your former workplace. Get up to speed first before you to return to work.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Keep up with your field while you're away. Stay in contact with co-workers and bosses, and meet for lunch or cocktails occasionally. Subscribe to professional journals and keep licenses or credentials up to date. As you get ready to return to work, use the Internet to read up on changes in your profession and discuss them with your colleagues.
2. Start networking at least a year before you're ready to go back to work. (See 201 Make a Networking Plan.) Join a professional organization or a networking group. Talk to friends, family and former work associates who can help you develop contacts.
3. Invest in a career counselor. You'll get the latest information on your industry and the job market in general, work on strategies to maximize what you have to offer and learn how to get the word out about you and your skills.
4. Decide whether you want to go back to the same kind of work or whether you're ready for something new. Your interests and needs may have changed, your capabilities may have expanded or the job you enjoyed years ago may no longer exist due to changing technologies.
5. Sign up for refresher courses and additional training to become more attractive to potential employers. You can study online or enroll in classes at a nearby college to brush up your skills.
6. Create a functional re'sume' rather than a chronological one that focuses on your skills and not the dates you held previous jobs. Include the skills you have developed goals accomplished-- became president of the PTA, for instance, or organized a food drive (see 383 Plan a Toy Drive).
7. Develop a transferable skill, such as sales and accounting, that you can pick up easily after a long absence. Or use your old skills in a new job. If you taught math in your past life but want more flexible hours now, look into private tutoring.
8. Be open to taking a lower position than the one you left long ago. You may consider it a blow to your ego, but you can use it to take advantage of new opportunities in the work place, develop your skill set and get back on track.
9. Hang your own shingle if a 9 to 5 job seems unbearable after all these years away. Become a consultant or start your own business, but be prepared for hard work, long hours and an unpredictable income and benefits. See 204 Set Up a New Business.

Tips & Warnings

• Talk to other people who have gone back to work after an extended period of time off. They may offer practical advice on job hunting, writing re'sume's and readjusting to the workplace.
• Ask yourself whether you want to embark on a demanding career or just get a job you can leave behind at 5 p.m. See 167 Prepare for a Career Change.
• Try temping if you don't know exactly what kind of job you want. You'll get exposure to different work environments while bringing your skills up to date.

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