Whether to take a career break to bring up your children is a decision many people, usually women, are faced with at some point in their career. Having a family is an incredible experience but if achieving success in your chosen career field is also important to you what are the choices.
Achieving success in one used to mean sacrificing success in the other. Striving for success in both was typically characterised by the old adage ‘wanting to have your cake and eat it’.
Today, although never easy, if you want to take a career break to bring up a family without jeopardising your future career prospects there are options.
Planning
Every successful outcome in life is often proceeded by some form of planning and your career break should be no different.
You will need to keep your industry knowledge and skills up to date and if possible your experience. So how do you go about achieving that?
Industry knowledge
After the leaving party you will have had with your colleagues you may, understandably, want to focus on the birth of your child and your changing responsibilities. At this point this is exactly where your focus should be.
That said, staying in touch with colleagues from work will keep you in the loop with any changes. It’s worth nurturing relationships with at least one or two of your colleagues from the outset. It would also keep your name relevant and remind people you are still around.
Keep up with industry knowledge, and company specific news, by making use of social media. LinkedIn is a great platform for networking. Most companies now use social media and many have Twitter accounts which can be used to follow updates and announcements. You may also want to consider setting up Google Alerts for keywords relating to your job – this will send you an email whenever new content is published on the web, which can save you time trawling through websites yourself.
Other ways to stay abreast of what’s happening in your industry and field of work might be to read relevant trade publications or blogs, or listen to podcasts related to your work. You could also attend industry events or conferences. These can be a great way of networking and picking up new ideas.
Continual Professional Development
Keeping your skills up to date is crucial if you want to be taken seriously after a lengthy career break. This shouldn’t be too difficult with the range of training options available in the market.
If you are a member of a professional body you may find training courses offered specific to your industry and role. For instance, the CIPD (The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) is the professional body for human resource professionals in the UK. They offer a range of training from interviewing skills to employment law.
If you are looking for more generic training, such as IT skills, there are a range of online training platforms to choose from. Udemy or Coursera are two you might want to look at. Just make sure you fully understand the credibility of the course creator if using these platforms. There is no point taking a course that holds no credibility if you want to illustrate your skills development to an employer.
If you are taking a career break for a length of time agreed with your current employer you will likely still have employed status. If this is the case there may be some ‘in house’ training you could participate in or free external training offered by your employer. For instance statutory maternity leave will be for a defined length of time during which you should receive pay and will remain an employee.
Of course, it’s not always possible to find the time to commit to formal learning opportunities. However, there are other ways to stay up-to-date with changes in your industry.
Keeping your hand in
Depending on the kind of work and the time you have available while juggling your new role as mother, you might want to consider freelance assignments. Even voluntary work in your professional field would be a great way to keep your skills current.
The beauty of this kind of commitment is that you are very much in charge of how much time you give to it. This allows you to continue to prioritise your family. It’s also a good way to maintain relationships with others in your field and build up a network of contacts that can help you when you are ready to return to work.
And finally…
It might seem unrealistic at first to find the time to do anything other than care for your new baby, but if you incorporate activities in to your daily life you might find it easier that you first thought.
For instance, you could listen to training videos or podcasts in the bath or while you’re cooking or doing the housework. You could plan your time for networking online, perhaps when the baby is asleep, or arrange child care with your family members to enable you to attend any networking opportunities.
If you decide that freelance work would suit you better than returning to full time employment, nurturing contacts through networking will provide the contacts to make this option a success.
Whatever choices you make, remember your career does not have to be the casualty in that decision. It’s your life. If your career is important to you be proactive and get planning.