A well-worded skills-based CV can sell you to an employer so that he/she will be more interested in you as a person and what you can bring to the organisation, rather than where you have worked before, which is always problematic for women returners.
If you are serious about returning to work you will also need to think about work-life balance so that you are able to manage the demands of your new job as well as all the other things going on in your life at the moment.
At the planning stage is the time to discuss with your partner and children, or other people likely to be affected by your decision, that you are making a change in your life which may well impact on them, and tell them how important it is to you to have their support.
This may be the time to jettison some things which you are doing to make time for your new job – the chances are that you have been leading a full life while you have not been working and you will need to make time for your new life.
The good news is that there is a skills shortage in the workplace and you may just be the person a prospective employer is looking for – it’s just a question of believing that you can do it.
Diana Wolfin works as a coach and trainer for women returning to work. She has written a book co-authored with her colleague Susan Foreman entitled “Back to Work – A Guide for Women Returners” published in February 2004 by Robson Books.
Success is about who you are, not what you have. Successful people work to discover their talents, to develop those talents, and then to use those talents to benefit others as well as themselves. - Tom Morris
