Advice from Employers for Returners - Recognising your Value

At our 2019 Women Returners 'Back to Your Future' Conference, Claire Cohen, Women's Editor of The Telegraph, interviewed five of our employer sponsors who have experience of running successful returner programmes: Bloomberg, Credit Suisse, FDM Group, Fidelity International and O2. 

Read some of the highlights from the panel's responses below (more to come in our next blog).

Why do employers run returner programmes?

"We were thinking about this talent pool that’s incredibly talented and has amazing skills and we thought we’re going to tap into this to help us solve one of our business problems. So we launched in 2014 and it’s been brilliant for us. We’re now in our sixth cohort and we have a fantastic group of alumni who’ve been through the programme and are active participants in our day to day work."

"The proof is in the pudding. The more returnships we run and the more the hiring managers see the quality of the candidates coming into those programmes and what they can bring over and above another hire from another bank, or similar institution, is really valuable and I can only see that growing."

What benefits do returners bring to the workplace?

"[Returners] come in with a really fresh pair of eyes. They can look at our processes and our systems and the way that we work quite differently and it’s a real breath of fresh air - that’s what we hear from our managers."

"Another thing that I’ve seen is the enthusiasm when they come back and the fact that they bring so much - they want to give back to the organisation. I can cite several examples of our returners acting as mentors to some of the more junior women. They are active participants in key elements of our organisation."

What are employers looking for in a returner candidate? 

“I want flexibility of mind. You’re not the same person as before your career break. You want us to see this a positive so you’ve got to see that as a positive as well. Be flexible, be open! Your time out has taught you a lot."

“We’re constantly looking at ways to improve things so any type of improvement or process improvement [including during your career break] that you’ve done will be really valuable to organisations."

“Flexibility - we want to move people around the organisation so I'd really encourage people to be really open-minded about what they initially start to do because it could lead on to so many other things once you’re there."

What have they have been surprised by when running returner programmes?

“I knew the talent was going to be good but it's far surpassed what I thought. For me its been really eye-opening. We get to see these amazing resumes coming in all the time. The talent pool is truly outstanding and it's very much untapped."

“I never expected how much of an integral part of the community [returners] would be in terms of giving back to the organisation several years in. They’re really involved and engaged and willing to support those coming after them."

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Make your CV stand out: Use Action Verbs

If you’ve taken a long career break it could be many years, and possibly even decades, since you last wrote a CV. Don't just redo an old version, as CVs are now written in a very different way (see How to Write Your Post-Break CV).

One of the major changes is the shift from talking about your past responsibilities to highlighting your achievements. Gone are the days when simply describing your previous roles was enough to secure an interview. Now you need to explain what you achieved in previous jobs which made you stand out. 

We suggest you aim for 3-5 bullet points for each of your previous roles (and for your career break if you have done any work/volunteering/studying or developed skills in other ways such as relocation). 

Beginning your bullet point with an action verb is a great way to start off.


What are action verbs?

These are some examples:

achieved     completed     conducted     implemented    improved     negotiated

produced     secured        created         established       launched     developed

organised    revitalised     evaluated      restructured     simplified    drove

Why are action verbs important in your CV?

• Action verbs describe your past achievements in a compelling way that highlights your strengths and suitability for the role you’re applying for. 
• Action verbs keep bullet points short - particularly important if you have lots of past experience and are trying to keep your CV to the recommended maximum two sides of A4. For example, ‘Delivered XYZ project on time and within budget’, reads better than ‘I was responsible for delivering XYZ project on time and within budget.’
• Action verbs have more impact. They are specific, strong and powerful. If a recruiter has lots of CVs to sift through, action verbs make your achievements stand out. They also help if employers use applicant tracking software programmed to look for specific words to describe the experience needed for a role. 
• Action verbs help you to be specific in describing what the results of your actions were and how you achieved them.
• Action verbs can highlight your relevant skills/competencies (see below)

Which action verbs should you use? 

• Scan the job advert and job description, similar job ads in the same industry, and the company's website to see which verbs they use. Describing your past experiences using these words will give you the best chance of making your CV fit the bill. 
• Look at this action verb list which groups action words by skills group. Think about which skills you want to demonstrate - again, matching this back to the skills/competencies asked for on the job advert
• Don't use the same action verb more than twice. Use an online thesaurus or the action verb list to avoid repetition and keep the recruiter's interest.

Do read our other blogs How to Write Your Post-Break CV and Return to Work CV Tips for other advice on writing your back-to-work CV.


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You’ll find much more help and advice on our website.

How to Write your Post-Break CV

When you're launching yourself back into the job market after a long career break, updating your CV can feel daunting. However, this is your chance to convince a prospective employer that you would be a good investment for their company and so it's worth taking the time and effort to get it right. Bear in mind that employers can receive hundreds of CVs for every advertised job, so you need to make sure that yours stands out (for all the right reasons!)

Some returners think that a skills-based CV would be a good idea to try to 'hide' the career break. However, we wouldn’t advise this approach as we find that recruiters usually find it irritating to have to piece together your work history. It’s also worth noting that if you’re applying to a returner programmes, your application may be passed over if you cover up your career break.

We recommend sticking with a clear structure, such as this:

• Heading: personal & contact details 
• Profile 
• Key skills (optional) 
• Career history 
• Education / training
• Languages (if fluent) 
• Interests (optional) 

Heading

• Don’t use the heading “Curriculum Vitae”, as the sifting software typically used in recruitment these days may think that this is your name!
• Instead put your name as the central heading, with your contact details (email/phone) underneath. 
• Don’t include a photo or your date of birth, age, gender, marital status or details about your children as these have become inappropriate on CVs following discrimination legislation.

Profile

• Open with a profile statement, describing in 2-3 sentences the highlights from your background and qualifications, adapting this to the job opportunity as much as possible. 
• State you are returning to work after a career break. 
• If you are shifting sector/role, you can also state that you are looking for opportunities in [target sector]. Otherwise you don't need an objective. 

Key Skills (optional)

• For each job application, tailor your skills to fit the requirements set out in the job description. Try to use their key criteria words, as the first CV screen may be performed automatically by keyword sifting software. It also means that the recruiter does not have to work as hard to understand why you would be right for the role. 
• Avoid a laundry list of generic skills (strong team player, highly-motivated, etc.) as this won't impress anyone! Use specific skills such as strategic planning & implementation, procurement, digital media marketing, etc.

Career History

• In this section, list your experience in reverse date order
• For each job, give 3-5 bullet points for specific achievements and contributions, not just your responsibilities. Quantify achievements if possible.
• If you have a long career history, it's fine just to list early career role titles.
• Include your "Career Break" as a section with dates. You can include a reason for your break (e.g. parental career break; career break for caring responsibilities) but you don't have to. 
• Include any work you have done during your career break, including running a business (no matter how small!) and freelance projects. Also include any skilled volunteering roles you held during that time (e.g. School Governor, Charity Treasurer). A LinkedIn study from 2011 found that 41% of hiring managers consider volunteer work to be equally as valuable as paid work, so don’t hide this experience in a voluntary work section at the end.

Education / training

• In addition to your highest-level qualifications, include any relevant training you have completed during your career break, even where this was a short and/or online course.
• If you don't have recent work experience, but your break has included significant further education or professional qualifications, you may like to put this section before your career history.
• There is no need to include your A-Levels, GCSEs (or O-levels) or school (unless specifically requested to do so)

Interests

• Don’t list bland interests (e.g. reading, cinema, etc.). Only include those that are relevant, unusual or impressive (e.g. society memberships, triathlons, etc.), otherwise there’s no need to include an interests section at all.

Final words of advice

• Appearance: Use font size 10-12 and write in the third person with no pronouns, for example: “Reduced the month-end accounting timetable by 3 days”.
• Length: Keep your CV to 2 sides and aim for about 1,000 words. This means you need to include only the most important pieces of information, so prioritise and leave the rest out.
• Format: Make sure the CV looks good on the page and that the formatting is perfect. When emailing your CV, it is best practice to send it as a pdf to avoid any ‘format jumps’ that can result from viewing an editable document (such as a Word document) on a different device.
• References: It’s no longer necessary to give details of references or to say "references available on request", so leave this out.
• Grammar / spelling: Check that there are no spelling or grammatical mistakes and that you have been consistent in tense with all your verbs. When you are happy, ask a friend to look over it for you with a fresh pair of eyes for any errors you may have missed.

Once you’ve perfected your CV, it’s time to think about your cover letter. Read our how-to guide to get started!

For further advice and support in your return-to-work journey, you can sign up to our free network here. 

Note: Original post from 2014; updated in May 2018