Check out 16 Return-To-Work Programs In India For Ambitious Women Like You!
Want to return to work after a career break for motherhood? Stay updated and plan your return to work while you’re home.
Are you a comeback mom returning to work after a career break? Stay updated and plan your return to work while you’re home.
Companies lose a big talent pool each year when women employees take a career break after having a child. According to industry data, there is a sharp drop in the proportion of women employees in India Inc. from the entry level (50%) to the middle (30%) and senior management (8%). While some women never return to work, others are determined to get back into the work force after a few years’ career break.
A Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) study in 2005 found that although they make up about half of the Indian population, women comprise only 6% of the workforce. In addition, at the senior management level at domestic Indian companies, women only constitute about 4% of the total workforce.
According to Priyanka Chaturvedi, Director, Mpower Consultants, an executive search firm, “Women wanting to get back to a full time career in India after a few years of break are very few…which personally I feel at times is due to biased company mindsets and at times warped HR policies. I have had companies categorically telling me it will not work… There is a huge potential of women out there who are eager to get back but can’t due to lack of opportunities/flexi hours work policy.”
Says Anurag Shrivastava of HRNext, an executive search consultancy, “… It is important that one does not cut oneself off completely during these child rearing years from the field. The areas where I have seen women return successfully are in HR and Marketing.”
Other fields where it is easier for women to return to full time work after a break include media (print), creative (advertising, designing, writing), retailing (buying/merchandising), accounting and teaching. Fields like Technology and Electronic media can be difficult to break into without adequate skill refreshing, because the rate of change is so fast that a year can make skills outdated.
If you are planning to take a few years off to raise a child (or for other reasons), here is what you should keep in mind for a smooth re-entry into a professional career.
Plan for your break financially. Before planning a child, see if you can have X amount stashed away as a contingency fund. Financial stability will improve your family’s stability until you find the right job when you are ready to make a comeback. Not having financial solvency will force you to accept the first job offer that comes along, which might not always be the best one.
Network, network. Motherhood and networking for career are not exclusive. Ensure that you stay connected by reading up on the happenings through industry newsletters and the internet. Stay in touch with colleagues and contacts. They will be your best sources for getting leads into what positions are opening up when you are ready to apply. Keep yourself in the loop about movements of senior personnel and company mergers and buy outs.
Says Chaturvedi, “I highly recommend that women though on a break should keep themselves absolutely updated about their industry, people movement, takeovers, mergers and more importantly, keep in touch with colleagues from their place of work. They are a huge source of information and guidance.”
Find mentors at work. Don’t underestimate the value of having a mentor. Have a mentor through your career and find one who will stay with you through a break and advise you on the best way to make a foray back into the workforce at a suitable level. A mentor could be your boss, a senior person in your industry or even someone you’ve met through a women’s network in your city. (Find out if there are such groups you can join.)
Update skills. Just because you are on a break doesn’t mean your skills have to rust. (Before you decide to go on a break, ask yourself whether you have achieved a certain amount of expertise and authority in your field. If what you can offer is unique, then a career break shouldn’t matter as much.)
If you plan to move to an alternate career, research the industry you want to get into and invest in training yourself for the skills you need in your new career. This could also be a reason for a career break. But do focus on skills in your previous job which can be transferred to your new profession.
Keep your resume updated by participating in activities which could be relevant to skill development or work experience – for instance, volunteering with an NGO, or taking weekend classes for a six month diploma course certification in new skills. This will also help in keeping your confidence levels high, an issue many women face when they begin the job hunting rounds.
According to Srivastava, some measures women on a break can take to smoothen their return to a career are:
– Working on project based assignments which have time deadlines but do not require presence in the office. For e.g. an HR person can work on developing performance plans for an SME.
– Taking up additional professional certifications, as this helps to explain breaks even if the value in terms of new skills/learning is limited.
– Being visible in social media and blogging on professional topics.
At a personal level, mothers need to ensure that their children start thinking independently and are not too clingy. This is the toughest part as they get used to mother at home. In that sense, women who return to work after a short maternity break find it easier.
Some companies are looking at means to reintegrate professionally qualified and experienced women who have taken career breaks for child rearing. Talking about the Tata Group’s Second Career program, Chaturvedi says, “It is good to see companies like the Tata group who have taken a lead in tapping this workforce and after a small training period, they have a chance to work on short term projects in the various Tata companies. This is good news for women who want to get back but don’t get the opportunity… small steps and initiatives like these could see changes in the way employers look at women wanting to get back.”
With growing awareness about a manpower resource which is often sidelined, it is to be hoped that more companies will introduce policies and initiatives making it easier for women who go on a break to return to work.
Kiran Manral is an Indian author, columnist and mentor. She has published books across genres in both fiction and non-fiction. She lives in Mumbai. read more...
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People say that women are the greatest enemies of women. I vehemently disagree. It is the patriarchal mindset that makes women believe in the wrong ideology.
The entire world celebrates International Women’s Day on March 8, 2024. It should be a joyful day, but unfortunately, not all women are entitled to this privilege, as violence against women is at its peak. The experience of oppression pushes many women to choose freedom. As far as patriotism is concerned, feminism is not a cup of tea in this society.
What happens when a woman decides to stand up for herself? Does this world easily accept the decisions of women in this society? What inspires them to be free of the clutches of the oppression that women have faced for ages? Most of the time, women do not get the chance to decide for themselves. Their lives are always at the mercy of someone, which can be their parents, siblings, husband, or children.
In some cases, women do not feel the need to make any decisions. They are taught to obey the patriarchal system, which makes them believe that they are right. In my family, I was never taught to make decisions on my own. It was always my parents who bought dresses and all that I needed.
14 years after her last feature film Dhobi Ghat, storyteller extraordinaire comes up with her new film, Laapataa Ladies, a must watch.
*Some spoilers alert*
Every religion around the world dictates terms to women. The onus is always on women to be ‘modest’ and cover their faces and bodies so men can’t be “tempted”, rather than on men to keep their eyes where they belong and behave like civilized beings. So much so that even rape has been excused on the grounds of women eating chowmein or ‘men will be men’. I think the best Hindi movie retort to this unwanted advice on ‘akeli ladki khuli tijori ki tarah hoti hai’ (an alone woman is like an open jewellery box) came from Geet in Jab We Met – Kya aap gyan dene ke paise lete hain kyonki chillar nahin hain mere paas.
The premise of Laapataa Ladies is beautifully simple – two brides clad in the ghunghat that covers their identity get mixed up on a train. Within this Russian Doll, you get a comedy of errors, a story of getting lost, a commentary on patriarchy’s attitude towards women, a mystery, and a tale of finding oneself, all in one. Done with a mostly light touch that has you laughing and nodding along.
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