Reboot Your Career

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It has always been challenging for women returning to the workforce after taking a career break to care for children or other family members. Luckily there are a growing number of resources to help women reboot their careers.

Almost half of all professional women in America take a break for family responsibilities during their career. If you’re among the 90 percent of these women who decide to return to work, you don’t need to do it alone. A new industry has emerged to provide training programs and placement services for women who are rebooting their careers. Most of them are run by women with families who have firsthand reboot experience.

Prepare to Launch U
Creating a return-to-work plan can be daunting, especially for professionals in dynamic fields in which there have been big changes during their hiatus. Prepare to Launch U is an online workforce reentry course designed by two women with deep experience in corporate leadership and career coaching. Previously successful as a live course, the self-paced online course consists of videos, downloadable activities and tools that help navigate the return to work. Course participants can also join LaunchPad, an online social network where students can meet, ask questions and find support. Subscription plans that provide access to the course and LaunchPad start at $399, with higher prices for plans that include group webinars and private coaching sessions with company founders Kelley Biskupiak and Susan Rietano Davey.

iRelaunch
Self-described as “Your Return to Work Experts,” iRelaunch is based on the vision that every company that offers an internship program for students should also have a “returnship” program for professionals returning to work mid-career. Established in 2007, the company has been a pioneer in career reentry training and support. Besides providing training materials and hosting conferences, iRelaunch works directly with companies to implement career reentry programs. The company also provides “relauncher” services for those returning to work, including resume writing and social media profile writing, advice articles and links to online resources. For $79, you can subscribe to the iRelaunch Roadmap, a structured strategy that includes a relaunch readiness assessment, membership to a private Facebook group and access to hundreds of career relaunching tips.

ReBoot Accel
In response to her own problems when trying to return to the workforce after a 16-year break, Diane Flynn co-founded ReBoot Accel, a company that provides online training, a job board and Silicon Valley workshops for women who want a reboot. Flynn likes to point out that staying home with kids for a few years can give moms a renewed passion for their careers. Moms who reboot their careers are often highly energized compared to co-workers who may be experiencing career burnout, according to Flynn. One of the services provided for moms by ReBoot Accel is ReBoot Kickstart, a free online training course with 23 modules covering all aspects of the reboot journey, with an emphasis on networking and developing your brand. The company also provides one-on-one career coaching services that have been used by more than 2,500 women to design a fulfilling career and create an action plan to make it a reality.

REvolveYOU
Julia Freeland founded REvolveYOU to help people in all kinds of situations reinvent themselves for new or relaunched careers. Recognizing that the majority of new jobs are found through connections rather than online job searches, Freeland encourages her clients to use networking during a career relaunch. Her Parent REvolution Program, or PREP, course is designed to help calm worries about not being able to catch up with technology and other issues faced by moms who return to work after a significant absence. Along with providing advice about planning, resume writing, interviewing, networking and social media, Freeland wants to help students “evolve again” (or “revolve”) to the next stage of their lives. The online self-directed PREP course and access to an online community is priced at $599. PREP Ultimate, which provides additional access to more than 50 hours of coaching and support, costs $2,999.

The Mom Project
Since its founding in 2016, this startup has become a leading career destination for moms returning to work. The company supports a community of over 125,000 professional women and works with more than 1,000 companies to find matching career opportunities for its members. The Mom Project also works to educate companies about the vast pool of potential talent in the form of parents who are returning to the workplace. The company recently received funding to expand services for both employers and employees, including childcare listings to help moms get to job interviews. In May 2019, it launched the Women’s Work Initiative with the goal of creating 1,000 career opportunities for moms returning to work in jobs in business, technology, healthcare, law and other professions. ■

Sources: preparetolaunchu.com, rebootaccel.com, irelaunch.com, revolveyou.com and themomproject.com.