R-Returning to Work after a Break

Returning to work after a break or a maternity leave after the baby is one of the most intimidating, scary and sad part of mom’s life.  While I was on maternity leave for both my girls, I always thought of the day I will have to return to work and it gave me shivers of anxiousness. During the maternity leave, I have had the most amazing times with my girls, looking after them and spending time at home that I was getting so used to it. Second time, even more because my maternity leave was longer. However, I also always knew that this is not how I want my career to be. I always knew I wanted to return to work.

Or you might be in a situation where you decided to take a break from work and then realize that it was time that you start taking steps towards Returning to Work and take your next career move.

Returning to work is off course a daunting experience, however, today’s post would help you get to the job you want to and how you can be prepared to make this complicated transition easy for yourself and your family.

Returning to Work after a Break

Envision what you want

The first step towards what you want to achieve in life is reflect on it and write down your wishes. Envision your role in the office, the people in the office. No matter if you are joining the same office, people may have changed.

When I returned after my materity leaves I knew that the most important things for me now are flexibility of work timings and stability of my job. With that vision in my mind I envisioned how things will be for me at work after the maternity leave.

Write down how your day will look like once you join your work. Plan and calculate your commute time, your breaks, how will you utilize all the time you get during the day apart from your regular work  timings.

Tell people

If you are returning to work after a maternity leave, talk to your colleagues at office to find out about how things are going at the workplace. Speak to your manager once in a while and discuss with him your planned date of joining.

If you are returning to work after a break and hence looking for a job, post your resume and career details on job search sites and other social media. LinkedIn is the best place these days for building professional connections.

You can post an article about what you are looking for. Interact with people who you think may help you get the job role you are looking for.

Practice

I thankfully dint have to give any interview as I was joining after maternity leave. However, I have to represent a technical presentation after I joined and it got me all my interview memories. I feel extremely thankful for that opportunity to be representing the team as for that I had to brush up my technical skills and get updated. It helped me come back to the game faster and better. 

It is always good to have a few mock interviews before you go ahead and give a formal interview. Even if your first interview did crack you a job, do not go harsh on yourself. Take that as a learning experience and work towards what went wrong or what could have been better. After each interview go ahead and write all your questions and find out answers to them.

When you are applying for a job ( after a break or not) there are a few questions which are standard and asked a lot. You may use the following for your preparation :

• Your strengths
• Your Weaknesses
• Your professional
• What are you looking for in your job?

Returning to work emotions

Returning to work is an emotional roller coaster for moms. Let your emotions out. It is ok to sob and cry because you feel anxious about what the future will be like.

Keep reminding yourself of the vision you had for yourself and your career. Take positivity from the point that you would be contributing to the finances of the family now.

Returning to work is not the only emotional time for motherhood. There are a lot of things which keep coming and going and the mom guilt strikes you multiple times.

Read here : How to deal with Mom Guilt

Prepare

Once you are sure on when you are joining work, start your planning for how will life shape when you get to work.

Finding a caretaker or a daycare facility, setting up schedules,Making arrangements for kids school pickups and drops.

Prepare your kids about your new role. Separation anxiety can hit the kids hard. Make sure you make the kids comfortable with the new setting and new routine well in advance. Talk to them about your new role and how your kids can be of help in your transition to the new role.  Make sure you plan for good quality time with your kids after work hours.

The second thing you need to prepare for is your workwear. For 6 months of maternity leave, I was mostly in home pajamas and all the clothes I wore before the leave were nowhere close to “wearable” at work.  I tried digging some old clothes and bought some new pieces, just enough to manage my 5 day work week.

Next you will have to do is make plans for meals and otherwise how would you spend your days as family. Read about meal planning and some quality time spending here

Be Proud

Be proud of what you are and what you are doing. I know this is going to be hard as we moms are full of Mom Guilt. For me, my career is my pride and I am sure I can manage and maintain my work life balance.

Make sure while you are taking care of your career, you are taking care of yourself too. Listen to your body and check for any stress or anxiety. Give time to yourself too. When you return after a break your body needs time to get used to the new way of life.

This post is written as part of the BlogchatterA2Z challenge.

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