Over the past four months, I’ve spent hours interviewing people who were brave enough to take a career break.
I wanted to know if and how they overcame the many obstacles career returners face when trying to crack the job market. It all built up to the series My Big Break, which told a diverse range of stories, from stepping away to care for a child with autism, caring for parents until their final breaths, and moving to another country with family and leaving a job behind.
As someone who isn’t planning a career break any time soon, one thing I didn’t expect was to learn so much from the people who shared their stories with me. Although their journeys weren’t always smooth, I took comfort in seeing how they adapted, found ways to move forward in their careers, and learned lessons that shaped their character.
Here are three lessons I learned.
1. Your network can help your career comeback
In my fantasy career break, I’d be offline and unplugged as much as possible. But the more interviews I did, the more I noticed how big a difference staying in touch with one’s network can make in a comeback.
When Nicki Schroeder, a UK-based media lawyer, tried to re-enter her industry after 10 years, her contacts helped her get back up to speed, meaning she was prepared for her successful job interview. The same contacts then equipped her with a list of key precedents decided while she was out of the workforce.
Talking to Schroeder made me reflect on how significant help from people you know and trust can be, especially when you feel a bit rusty after taking time off.
In the case of Ramya Ramesh, a semiconductor professional who worried she’d never get another job after a six-year career break, her former colleagues encouraged her to apply for an opportunity in her old department. Meanwhile, Adam Stewart, an ex-Googler who took an eight-month break, said that he turned to former colleagues for advice about his next steps, while also making new connections.
2. A career break is an opportunity to open yourself up to new things
Not all of the people I spoke to returned to their original industry. Mounika Chinnam and Natasya Pawanteh both felt reentering their industries would be challenging after long absences.
The tech industry had transformed significantly during Chinnam’s seven-year break, so she was open to non-technical jobs. Becoming an intern for a digital marketing company at 31 with colleagues who were younger than her felt a little strange, but it enabled her to land a full-time role in a new industry.
Pawanteh thought it would be an uphill battle getting anyone in geology to give her a chance after a seven-year break. She tried volunteering, leading to her transition into nonprofit work.
Seeing how happy Pawanteh and Chinnam seemed in their new industries, which they may not have landed in had they not taken a career break, made me consider the value of trying new things and keeping an open mind.
I felt similarly inspired when I met Glenn Stephenson, who took a break from his “safe” career at PwC to experiment with his own business. I like to think of myself as open to new things, but seeing someone take such a big leap made me question how far I’d go to explore an idea or passion.
3. Sacrifice can be character-building
I’m still at a relatively early stage in my career, and my friends and I often discuss whether we’d want to pause work when we have kids. I’ve never been sure how to answer, partly because my parents worked while I was growing up.
Meeting people like Schroeder and Pawanteh, who stepped back to become carers, gave me an insight into the costs and sacrifices that come with pausing a fruitful career to invest in someone else.
Hearing about the energy and effort they expended, I felt challenged by how, as good as having a fulfilling job is, our collective focus on climbing corporate ladders, getting promoted, and garnering likes on LinkedIn can make us quite self-centered. It’s something Pawanteh captured well when she talked about why she decided not to return to her geology career.
To quote from her as-told-to essay: “I’d loved geology since I was 16, but I realized I had a selfish outlook on life, all about me, me, me. Caring for my parents made me realize what it’s like to be present for another human being.”
Her story in particular made me hope that, if there came a time when a loved one needed me, I’d have the love and selflessness required to put my career aside for them.
As Pawanteh said of her parents in her as-told-to essay: “It was a privilege to look after them until the end of their days, and I think that will be the greatest achievement of my life.”
You can read all the stories mentioned here in Business Insider’s series, My Big Break.
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