If you have a career break of a decade or more, you might be wondering how to present your skills and experience as relevant to hiring managers. Will employers accept that your professional experience is 10+ years old? Do your volunteer and caregiving experiences count for anything? First, you should take some inspiration from the many Path Forward alumni who’ve successfully restarted their careers after a break of more than…
At Path Forward, we get a lot of questions about which specific technical skills are now in demand — but very rarely does anyone ask about soft skills. And guess what — a lot of times what stands in the way of success at work can be put into the category of soft skills! Now only that, but soft skills are generally the elements that differentiate us from robots (!). …
One of the biggest challenges of returning to the workforce is making sense of what skills are currently sought-after in your chosen field. This is especially true for tech careers, because technology can change so quickly. So what’s the best way to figure out which technical skills are relevant to your industry? There are a few steps you can take: 1. Study job descriptions. Read through the “skills required” section…
Asking for recommendations on LinkedIn, especially when you’re reaching out to someone for the first time in a while, can feel awkward. The best way to open the conversation is to re-establish a connection by asking them for a call to reconnect and get advice. People you’ve worked with – even if it was a while ago – are usually very willing to give a few minutes to offer advice.…
Company: Walmart Labs Role: UX Designer Shruti Katyal took a five year break from her QA engineering job, during which she had two children and relocated with her family to California. When she felt ready to return to work, Shruti decided to make a pivot into UX. She completed a returnship at Walmart Labs, which prepared her for her current role as a UX Designer at Adobe. Shruti talks about…
It can be hard to stay upbeat when you don’t get a job after many attempts and applications submitted. One problem people run into is hoping it will be easy to return to work, which actually creates a bit of an expectation that it will be easy. When it isn’t, the disappointment you feel at not meeting that expectation — no matter how unrealistic it was — can be really…
Red Ventures Recruiting Manager Caroline Adams was getting ready to launch the company’s first-ever returnship program when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and the company went fully remote. Caroline talks about the challenges and successes of adapting the program to a remote environment, what surprised her and hiring managers most about returning talent, and best practices for companies considering running a future virtual returnship program. Company: Red Ventures Role: Recruiting Manager…
Fall is typically a time of back-to-school and new beginnings, but as with every facet of daily life, the pandemic has turned that upside down. While this has been a challenging year for everyone, we know that it has been especially difficult for working moms trying to maintain their careers while caring for their children, and for caregivers looking to return to work in an unstable economy. While there is…
Company: Uber Position: Customer Success After over a decade working in sales, Melissa Evans took a 10 year break to raise her daughter. When she was ready to return to full-time work, she completed a returnship in Customer Success at Uber. Melissa talks about her returnship experience, how she kept her business skills sharp during her break, and offers advice on what truly makes a returnship successful. Tell me a…
Company: Netflix Role: Senior Back-End Software Engineer Swati Sapar took a two-year break from her software engineering career to take care of her kids. She always planned to return to work, and felt ready when her youngest child started elementary school. Swati completed a returnship at Netflix, and now works there full-time as a Senior Back-End Software Engineer. She talks about her return-to-work experience at Netflix, how she slowly ramped…
