BBC2 Working Lunch – Going back to work after a career break

How to return to work after a career break

BBC 2

Working Lunch Show

Managing Director of Personal Career Management Corinne Mills spoke on the BBC 2 Show ‘Working Lunch’ about how you might make the transition back into work after a career break. She gave her top tips on how to put yourself at the best advantages to tackle the challenges you may face.

See below transcript taken from the live show:

Male presenter: Welcome to working lunch, tackling your money problems every day. So, what can you do if you’ve been out of work for some time? Corinne Mills is a careers expert and she’s got some tips on getting you back into work.

Female presenter: Well Corinne Mills is head of a careers consultancy and is here with us now, Corinne if you’ve been out of work for quite a long time, it’s quite different I can imagine to motivate yourself if you want to start job hunting. What’s your tips for someone who’s getting out there for the first time in quite a while?

Corinne: Well I think you’re right, it is tough when you have been unemployed for quite a while, the things I’d suggest you do is one, get out the house, almost go and do anything. I would suggest you can do some training, some voluntary work, go and get some exercise. Again, without being patronising you need to be in really good shape psychologically and physically if you’re going to be going out there and job searching. So these are some of the things I’d suggest.

Female presenter: So, the idea is to form a daily routine in your life already?

Corinne: Yes, a routine. Get out and meet people, I think it can very much be ‘the four walls of the house are closing in on you’ but actually if you’re out there, you’re meeting new people, you’re hearing about jobs. I mean, don’t underestimate the jobs grapevine. I mean there are jobs out there, but actually,  people you know, will know about jobs coming up but you have to be out there, asking people in order to find them.

Male presenter: And that voluntary work that you mentioned that’s also useful is not just building up your confidence, but enhancing your skills because you may not have a CV that is as up to date as it could be.

Corinne: Absolutely, look if you haven’t worked for a while, it is unlikely you’re going to walk straight back into a job – you have to do something recent so you have something to talk about at an interview and the employer can see you’re up to the job. So voluntary work if it’s in a sector you’re in interested in, developing skills, meeting people – I’d highly recommend it.

Female presenter: I’m sure though, not wanting to be negative – there is a lot of competition out there so it’s difficult to make yourself stand out from the rest be it with your CV or just be your personality. Any tips?

Corinne: I have got some tips actually, you’re right it’s a tough old market, it certainly is. We recently did a survey at Personal Career Management and we found that 9/10 CV’s were likely to be binned. 8 out of those 10 had spelling errors in them. Now, we talk about standing out from the crowd but actually if you actually make sure your CV doesn’t have any errors in it you’re already ahead of 80% of the candidates. So certainly with your CV make sure it’s error free, make sure it’s relevant – there’s no point telling somebody about all the things you’ve done if it isn’t relevant to the job you are going for and make it look good. And actually some of those simple basics can give you a competitive edge when it comes to your CV.

Male presenter: And just going back to voluntary work, is there any particular voluntary work that is better than others or does it not matter?

Corinne: It almost doesn’t matter, I think you have to be going out there and doing something. But clearly, if you’re looking for office work then actually doing some volunteer work that is in an office is going to be very relevant and appropriate.

Female presenter: Ok, Corinne Mills. Useful advice there, thank you very much.

Male presenter: Very useful, thank you.

Contact us to find out more about how we help individuals who are considering returning back to work after a career break or those who are thinking about making career change to help them to ensure it’s a successful and fulfilling decision.

Call 0345 686 0745 or fill in our online contact form.

Article by:

Corinne Mills

Article by:

Corinne Mills

Corinne Mills is the Joint Managing Director of Personal Career Management, she is a career coach with 15 years career management experience.

View Articles by Corinne Mills