Success Story: Sophie Yazdı

Sophie Yazdi took a 20-year break from her career to care for her children and a parent. She always wanted to restart her career and so was thrilled to be accepted into and to complete the return to work program at T. Rowe Price. She is now an associate vice president, senior sales consultant. In this engaging video, Sophie appears with Mary Helen Donovan, a regional sales manager – vice…

The Importance of Doing an Interview Post-Mortem

When it comes to job interviews, there are a lot of reasons why you might be out of practice. Some people are fortunate enough to have held a job for years, and haven’t had a need to interview. But for many returners, taking a career break to care for loved ones might mean it’s been a long while. Regardless of the circumstances for why you’ve been out of the interview…

How to Find Professional References If You Don’t Have Recent Work Experience

You’ve embarked on a job hunt armed with a personal arsenal of job application resources, like an updated resume, tailored cover letter, and stellar interview tactics. But there’s one crucial component of the job search process that returners often overlook: professional references. Companies rely on professional references to verify your skill set and to get an outsider’s opinion of how you perform in a workplace environment. These recommendations can also…

Success Story: Sandra Norris

Sandra Norris took a 17-year break from her career in program management when she realized that her busy, travel-filled job didn’t give her enough time to spend with her child. During her break, she supported her family through nine moves and volunteered extensively. When Sandra was ready to return to the workforce, she completed a returnship at Dell, where she now works full-time as a project manager. She talks about…

3 Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Hire a Career Coach

As you embark on your career restart, you may find yourself having trouble defining your goals for returning to the workforce. We call this “finding your why.” Or, you could be wondering how to apply or translate your skills and experiences to the current job market. If any of this is true for you, engaging with a career coach may be the way to go. But before you dive headfirst…

Success Story: Isabela Quitzau Conceicao

Isabela Quitzau Conceicao worked as a Product Engineer at a foundry in Brazil when she took a career break to support her family’s move to the United States, and to care for her newborn child. When she was ready to return, Isabela found a returnship role at PepsiCo that would be a perfect match for her skills, and jumped on the opportunity. She returned to work as a Process Improvement…

How Your Partner Can Be Your Partner in Your Career Restart Journey

Over the years I’ve met a lot of people looking to return to work. And a question that often comes up is how to engage spouses or partners to be supportive during the career restart journey. Some partners are naturally good and supportive and intuit what their partner needs from them. But most of us live in the real world where even the best and most loving partner may need…

Success Story: Sandy Goodwin

Sandy Goodwin took a 12 year break to spend more time with her children. When she was ready to return to work, Sandy completed a returnship at CDK Global, where she now works full-time as a Design Operations Lead. Sandy talks about her return to work experience, finding work-life balance in her post-break career, and how being a robotics coach for her kids helped boost her own technical skills.  What…

Top 10 Tips to Restart Your Career

Restarting your career can be a daunting journey. And like any journey, it’s best to take one step at a time. We’ve assembled the best advice from the Path Forward alumni community on how to restart your career. Whether you’ve taken time away to focus on caring for your kids, your family, or yourself, these tried and tested strategies will help you navigate the way back to work after a…

Doing Informational Interviews the Right Way

Informational interviews are casual meetings where you scope out potential jobs and learn activities in your industry. Depending on the connection, you may be able to get advice on your career path. The important thing about informational interviews is that you’re letting people know you’re on the job market and are looking for details to help you in your search. So you’ve scored an informational interview with an amazing person…