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> Are you ready?
> Consider flex time
> Education as a segue
> It’s All About Networking
> Prepare Now for the Next Move
> Sidebar: More Career Transitioning Resources

Whether it’s been a few months or a few years since you left the workplace, make sure you’re prepared before jumping back into the game.

It seems like only yesterday my spouse accepted a part-time teaching position and our family rejoined the 63 percent of American families where both parents work outside of the home. It was the ideal transition job back into the workforce and came at the right time.

Full-time parents mention an infinite number of reasons for returning to the workforce — finding that dream job, being offered a good salary or benefits package, keeping an active resume — but there are some recurrent themes. As a psychologist and president of Wise-Workplaces, a career development firm in Arlington, Va., Dr. Dory Hollander finds a number of her clients return to work out of a desire “to be defined as a person in their own right, as opposed to being defined as a spouse or parent.”

Additional reasons often cited for returning to the workforce include the need to be challenged; to restore confidence or self-esteem; to find intellectual stimulation; or to seek an opportunity for self-exploration. But in their new book Going Back to Work (St. Martin’s Press, 2004), authors Mary Quigley and Loretta Kaufman caution that returning to the work force will not solve all of your problems. “If you’re unhappy with yourself, your children, or your husband, don’t expect those troubles to simply go away when you walk out the door nicely dressed in the morning.”

Are you ready?

Important decisions — such as whether to re-enter the workforce — always demand critical thinking, and it’s appropriate to consider a range of factors before making any big decision. Foremost among these factors is prioritizing your schedule to determine whether you have the time to assume the added responsibility of a full- or part-time job.

For those couples with children, parenting responsibilities can seem to require an all-day, hands-on commitment. In addition, many Baby Boomers and Generation Xers have aging parents and other personal commitments. As children grow and develop a range of interests outside of their home, however, the demands of parenting seem less intense. If you’re intrigued by the possibility of working outside of your home, you first should determine whether you have the time to take on a new job.

Begin with a chart to identify the competing priorities for your time on a weekly basis. Remember to carve out some time to pursue personal priorities outside of your home. You might discover that your commitments and responsibilities do not allow enough hours to work in a traditional full-time position. But with the help of your spouse or older children, you might find five free hours each week that you could use to take a course, or 20 free hours you could use to take up a part-time job.

Carefully analyzing your time commitments and discussing your time-allocation decisions with your family will minimize the schedule conflicts you encounter. “We vote with our time and prioritizing causes us to identify what’s really important,” Hollander says. This includes time for your personal well being — Hollander reminds her clients that “prioritizing time for yourself is essential to feeling good about yourself.” She finds that women especially fail to give appropriate attention to their sleep, diet, and exercise requirements.

Consider flex time

After reviewing your time allocation, it’s important to focus on what attributes associated with working outside the home are most important to you. For many parents the No. 1 work-related issue is schedule flexibility, according to research recently reported in The Wall Street Journal. Schedule flexibility even takes precedence over income, commuting time, and job satisfaction concerns.

Quigley and Kaufman emphasize that, “flexible work arrangements make it easier for us to achieve balance between family and work, school and work, or even leisure and work.” Experts agree that managing the balance challenge — the tension between spending time on personal achievements and priorities versus providing support for and nurturing others — is essential for personal fulfillment.

Employers have recognized and responded to the growing demand for more flexible work arrangements. No longer a benefit enjoyed only by teachers, airline employees, nurses, and independent consultants, nearly 75 percent of businesses surveyed by Hewitt Associates, a workplace trends reporting firm, offer flexible work arrangements. Moreover, 59 percent of surveyed employers have flextime options, 48 percent have part-time workers, 30 percent have employees who work from home, and 28 percent allow job-sharing arrangements.

However, many firms remain “somewhat suspicious about flexible work arrangements” according to Lotte Bailyn, a professor of management in the organizational studies group at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Bailyn says that pro-rated benefits are common for less-than-full-time employees, and employers often will reserve flexible work arrangements for those who initially establish a track record with a firm as a full-timer.

Education as a segue

What if even the most flexible work arrangement you can imagine is still too overwhelming? What if you’re looking to return to your old career field, but not at the same level of intensity? Maybe you’re unable to handle extensive out-of-town travel or need time in the afternoons, evenings, weekends, or summers to handle family or personal priorities. In these instances, perhaps additional education would be the best segue back to your future.

Whether you select a non-credit continuing education course to reinforce a weak area in your resume, a computer class to refresh your technology skills, or a more formal graduate education program, going back to school is a wonderful opportunity for self-discovery and interaction with different people and ideas. Moreover, college professors are an excellent resource for letters of recommendation and resume references, and employers recognize that the student who completes assignments on time, sets and achieves realistic goals, and is committed to self-improvement is likely to make an excellent employee.

College counselors often suggest that adult students begin with one course, preferably in a field that sparks interest and imagination. Even if you felt constrained and bored in your last educational experience, you are likely to excel as an adult student. Your time-management skills have improved, you have a wealth of life experiences to share with your classmates, and completing the class will demonstrate your readiness to compete and achieve in the adult world. Hollander reminds her clients that “education is a great confidence builder.”

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