Company: Campbell Soup Company Position: IT Project and Portfolio Management Analyst Carrie Kirk took a 13-year break from her career as an athletics director and lacrosse coach, a job that involved long schedules and weekend travel, when she had her first child. When she was ready to return to work, Carrie decided to pivot into a corporate role, and realized that her skills made her a great fit for a…
One of the things that makes a returnship program a great way to restart your career is the support you get during your transition – from your company, from Path Forward and from your cohort – a group of fellow returners who are on the same journey that you are. We talked about the experience with six returners who completed returnships at VMware at the same time. This cohort –…
Payal took a break from her decade-long and varied tech career to raise her son. When she was ready to return to work, Payal signed up for Path Forward’s newsletter, where she learned about the Wells Fargo Glide – Relaunch Program. After getting motivated by reading returner success stories, Payal jumped on the opportunity and was accepted. In this success story, she talks about her return to work experience, how…
Company: Meta Position: Technical Program Manager “Taking a break to focus on raising my kids was a decision that was well worth it over the sacrifice of my quitting my professional job,” states Zandra O, a Technical Program Manager at Meta. However, after 3 years away from her professional career, Zandra experienced feeling “like I was not maximizing my potential to its fullest – I had a feeling I needed…
Company: Allstate Position: Software Engineer Aarthi Karnawat took a break from her software engineering career to care for her newborn daughter and her own health. After 5 years, she felt ready to return to work. While completing a Master’s degree, she returned to work at Allstate, where she now works as a software engineer. Aarthi talks about how Allstate’s work-life balance and supportive, learning-oriented culture helped her transition more easily…
Heidi McAllister took a break from her 20-year career in software development to spend more time with her young children. After seven years, she was ready to return to her career, and had just begun a returnship at Amazon when her team went virtual due to the pandemic. She completed her returnship remotely, and now works at Amazon full-time as a software development engineer. Heidi talks about her extensive preparation…
Bridget Kelly was ready to restart her career after taking an eight-year break from her sales operations career to raise her children. She found a job posting for one of Path Forward’s first-ever returnships, a customer success role at SendGrid. Intrigued by the concept, Bridget applied and completed her returnship in 2015. Below, Bridget discusses the ways her team at SendGrid, now a subsidiary of Twilio, supported her return to…
Company: Walmart Labs Role: UX Designer Shruti Katyal took a five year break from her QA engineering job, during which she had two children and relocated with her family to California. When she felt ready to return to work, Shruti decided to make a pivot into UX. She completed a returnship at Walmart Labs, which prepared her for her current role as a UX Designer at Adobe. Shruti talks about…
Red Ventures Recruiting Manager Caroline Adams was getting ready to launch the company’s first-ever returnship program when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and the company went fully remote. Caroline talks about the challenges and successes of adapting the program to a remote environment, what surprised her and hiring managers most about returning talent, and best practices for companies considering running a future virtual returnship program. Company: Red Ventures Role: Recruiting Manager…
Company: Uber Position: Customer Success After over a decade working in sales, Melissa Evans took a 10 year break to raise her daughter. When she was ready to return to full-time work, she completed a returnship in Customer Success at Uber. Melissa talks about her returnship experience, how she kept her business skills sharp during her break, and offers advice on what truly makes a returnship successful. Tell me a…
