Routes back to work stories: Changing from Law to CSR

Last week we outlined some of the many routes back to work after a multi-year break. One option we encourage you to consider is creating your own 'returnship'. Here is Stephanie's story of how she used an internship to get back to work after 6 years and to begin a career change from her previous career as a lawyer into the area of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). 

This is one of the first of our return-to-work stories, which we will be featuring on www.womenreturners.com. 

Stephanie: En route to a new career

"Prior to taking a 6 year family break I had worked as a City lawyer with a linear career path and clear promotion journey. During my 6 years out of paid employment I realised that working was part of me. I had never imagined not working before I had children and now was the time to return. Both my children were at school and I had time to think about what I wanted to do. Working that out was harder than I thought and it is still “work in progress”. I had a clear picture of what I didn’t want to do and with the help of Julianne Miles and the iRelaunch conference, understood my skillset and what I had enjoyed in my previous career. This reflection time also brought out my strong interest in the links between the corporate and the not-for-profit sector.

An opportunity presented itself, thanks to a good friend, to undertake a 3 month internship with a global organisation whose head office was in London. My self-confidence and self-belief were both low and just getting back to work and putting on work clothes again felt alien but exciting.  I knew this was what I wanted – to be working in a role that could accommodate me as the main carer of our children. The internship led to 2 short-term contracts within the HR department.  My role was project based and internal facing so accommodating a flexible working pattern was a little easier. Successfully completing the projects I was given led to a permanent position, again within HR. Due to the nature of the organisation, I have been given the chance to work on a wide variety of projects and can now see a long term direction.  Part of my role is to manage the company’s corporate and social responsibility agenda. I love it. It gives me the chance to work with colleagues around the world and shape how the company interacts with its stakeholders. Whilst I am not challenged academically, for now, this role is perfect.

While I have a long-term dream to become a CSR consultant for small to medium sized businesses looking to establish a CSR programme for the first time, I have a lot to learn. The company I work for at the moment is expanding rapidly and this gives me the chance to get involved in many new projects touching different parts of the business.  I am not discounting that I might experience another area of HR which I enjoy just as much as CSR. I am keeping an open mind.

It’s easy to forget how many working years you have left, even after a first career and then a family break, but not being part of the pack forging their careers in their 30s means you have the luxury of being able to take the meandering path to your long-term goal. This means you are able to accept opportunities even if they don’t appear to take you straight to the next step on the career ladder. This in itself can be empowering.

I am excited about where my journey will end and whether it will be as an employee or a consultant.  Watch this space – it is all work in progress."

Do you know of any other inspiring return-to-work stories we can feature on our website? 

Posted by Julianne

Creating your own returnship

Returnships are a fantastic way of building confidence, skills and current experience in a short-term role before applying for more permanent positions. It’s a new concept in the UK so if it appeals, you may well have to get creative and develop your own. Here are some tips on how best to create your own.

1. Think about what you’re looking for

• Are you looking to refresh skills and experience in an industry you previously worked in or to develop skills and experience in a new area?

2. Prepare

• Do as much research as you can before you make any formal approaches. Speak to old colleagues or people working in the industry you are keen to enter, sign up for relevant e-newsletters and look at professional body websites or magazines.

3. Be clear on what you can offer

• Remind yourself of your skills and achievements and update your CV.
• Be realistic about the hours & days that you can be available and the length of project you will accept.
• Can you afford to work free of charge? It is easier to gain opportunities if you aren’t a cost to the business. But if you are not charging for your time, you must be sure to clearly define the scope of the project to ensure it is valuable experience. You may be able to scale your offering – maybe begin with a couple of weeks of unpaid observation/shadowing, then offer to undertake a specific project review. If your proposal is well-received, you could negotiate to be paid to deliver it.

4. Identify your targets

• Concentrate on using your network, including friends, family, other school parents, contacts from volunteer/community organisations and local businesses you deal with as well as old colleagues and clients (use LinkedIn and alumni groups to renew connections). Avoid 'cold-call' approaches.
• Don't just think about large companies. Smaller &/or local organisations may have more flexibility to accommodate an intern and to value more highly your professional skills and experience. You can also potentially make more impact.
• Don’t rule out regular internships, particularly if you are looking to change career direction. Employers which use sites such as www.enternships.com may be open to mid-career interns as well. Some charities such as Cancer Research offer (unpaid) internships which they state are also open to career changers.

5. Develop your pitch

• Prepare your ‘pitch’. What are you asking for (a short-term consulting project, specific work experience)? What are you hoping to achieve? How could you benefit the organisation that you are contacting? Practise this with family and friends.

6. Be brave

• Often the hardest part is the initial approach. Remember that you have little to lose and a lot to gain.

7. Check the details

• If you get the go-ahead, be clear about the scope and timing of what you will be doing.
• Make sure that any work you do will look meaningful on your CV, with a specific outcome that you can talk about at future interviews. Aim for work at a professional level, using your skills and experience.
• Establish a ‘go-to’ person within the organisation with whom you can discuss your experience and ask for advice if you come up against unexpected challenges.

8. Create a good ending

• At the end of the project, leave the door open for future opportunities or projects. Connect with everyone you worked with via LinkedIn.
• Arrange a review with the person who managed you for feedback about what you did particularly well and gaps they saw in your skills. Develop an action plan for any additional work or learning you need to do before you start looking for permanent roles.

You can read a few real-life examples of how UK returners have successfully created their own internships on our website: Stephanie and Fiona.

We would be really interested to hear from you if you have experience of a returnship. Did it work well for you? Did it help you to find a permanent role? Maybe you work for an organisation that has hosted such a programme – was it valuable for the business? Please get in touch with your stories… 

Guest Blog by Tamsin Crook from Making Careers Work

Returnships: what are they & where can you find them?

We're glad to see that the debate on UK gender equality is filtering down from board-level to mid-career, recognising the broader issues facing women in the corporate world ... including the difficulties for women returners of getting back into a corporate role after many years out. Last week Newton Investment CEO Helena Morrissey called for employers to develop 'returnships' to give women routes back into work after a career break.

So what is a returnship?

A returnship is a professional internship designed specifically for people (usually women) returning after an extended career break. It's a short-term position drawing on existing skills and experience, and may be supplemented with relevant training courses. It gives a chance for the returner to build their confidence and gain recent CV experience, while practically testing out the role and whether they want to return to a demanding corporate job. From the employer's side, they have access to the skills of an experienced professional and a low-risk way of assessing the returner as a potential longer-term employee. 

Are they worth doing?

It seems like a great idea - does it work in practice? Many programmes have successful track records. Goldman Sachs in the US (which trademarked the term 'returnship') has been running a programme since 2008, initially in New York and also in India in 2014. It's for professionals looking to restart their careers after 2+ years out (average 6 years). The paid 10 week programme offers work experience in a variety of departments, with real business issues to work on, together with an induction and a range of courses such as self-promotion, influence and industry trends. Goldman state that around 50% of participants have gone on to full-time roles.

There is strong evidence of success in the UK, with the majority of participants taken on into ongoing mid to senior level roles at the end of the programmes run to date.

Where can I find one? Any in the UK?

We are proud to have led the growth and development of returnships and other returner programmes since 2014, across sectors and across the UK. We have partnered with many leading organisations such as EY, Tideway, Man Group, Skanska, Macquarie Bank and O2 to develop and run successful programmes. Programmes have grown in number rapidly: from 3 in 2014, to 9 in 2015 and 23 in 2016 (source: Women Returners research).  To see the latest returnships on offer please see our constantly updated list here.

Of course you could always apply for a regular internship, particularly if you're considering a new career (eg.Cancer Research UK state their unpaid 12 week internships are also aimed at mid-career changers). And we know a number of women who have set up their own informal returnships - we'll talk more about creating your own returnship in a future post.

Posted by Julianne

Am I too old to be employable?

I’ve spoken at a number of conferences directed towards women returners and one of the common questions, especially from those who’ve taken a long career gap, is ‘Am I too old to be employable?’

When I returned to work after my career break, I chose to become self-employed, but it is a common view among women hoping to return to employment that organisations are only looking for younger people or those who have worked their way up a career ladder.  It is easy for us to fear that we are too old and too out of touch, to be considered employable.  We worry that we won’t fit in to the office environment and that our prior experience, expertise and qualifications are no longer relevant. 

Instead of looking at what is missing from our CVs, it is much more helpful to notice what our years of experience, both in and out of the workforce, have given us.  As Michele (who found full-time work in her 50s, following a divorce) says:

‘I was attractive to my new employer because at my age I was reliable, I brought a wealth of different experiences which meant I could talk to anybody and I was serious about my work.  At the same time, I wasn’t going to take his clients and set up on my own.  And, I wasn’t going to get pregnant which made a big difference in a small company’

A recent Harvard Business Review article, which highlighted the concept of internships for returners mention that such internships ‘… allow [companies] to hire people who have a level of maturity and experience not found in younger recruits and who are at a life stage where parental leaves and spousal relocations are most likely behind them.  In short, these applicants are an excellent investment’.  (HBR November 2012 ‘The 40-year-old intern’). 

It is not just in the US that internships exist for returning mid-career women.  In the UK, the financial services industry was one of the first to offer these types of opportunities and since 2010 Red Magazine has arranged month long paid internships at a number of UK companies and with an MP

http://www.redonline.co.uk/red-women/internships

The internship route is only one of many ways to return to work and we will discuss other ways in later articles.  However we plan to return, we can help ourselves by remembering all the qualities mentioned and we also know that we offer future employers commitment and stability.  We will stay a long time if we enjoy our work and are valued for what we bring to the organisation.

Posted by Katerina