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Someone close to me left her career to raise her children. Now her kids are in their mid-20's. She feels she should get back to work, ideally part-time.
She is well-educated (Harvard MBA) and had a short, but very strong career in marketing.
The problem is she doesn't know what to do (how to find roles etc.), and has inertia/trepidation.
Someone close to me left her career to raise her children. Now they're in mid-20's. She feels she should get back to work, ideally part-time.
She is well-educated (Harvard MBA) and had a short, but very strong career in marketing.
The problem is she doesn't know what to do (how to find roles etc/), and has inertia/trepidation.
Any advice? Thanks.
How long has she been out of work? She's pretty young in her mid 20s, to already have an MBA from Harvard and worked for some years before leaving to raise the kids that she already has. That makes her somewhat different from the norm so perhaps she can figure out how to sell that.
I would suggest really digging through her network especially the Harvard connections since she went there.
work the connections and network. I wouldn't be so fearful - we often hire people with strong backgrounds who have taken a break to raise kids. I'd rather have someone who has some life expereince and know-how than a fresh out of school grad. There are lots of programs. Join the local Harvard alumni club in town. And hopefully, she did some things that are more "business" while she was raising her kids. I'd look favorably upon someone who participated in a political campaign, ran a school fundraiser, etc.
Might sound obvious but the best way to start IMO is to apply to jobs that sound interesting based on the descriptions.
I assume she's been out of work for at least 20 yrs. That's a heck of a long time. Who's she going to network with? I think that'll only prolong the trepidation.
Unless she somehow managed to keep up while raising her kids, technology will be her biggest challenge, even in administrative jobs.
Different offices use different programs, and having to learn them from scratch hinders a lot of applicants who last worked when Word was new or on an Apple Macintosh.
I'd consider a detour away from a business career and into some different type of career, or even consider becoming self-employed. The business world can be very harsh about employment gaps of even six months, let alone many years. In fact, I once got rejected for a job based on a gap of just a few weeks.
is she working to make money or because she's bored? First, she will need to figure that out. Also, expect the pay to be minimal, even with a Harvard MBA. She basically hasn't worked in decades.. I'm not sure what work experience she would have that would really be relevant. Can you shed more light?
Volunteering may be something she could get involved in.
1. She doesn't need the money. So any other ideas about how a woman in her 50s, currently in an out-of-the-way suburb, can get a more interesting lifestyle and discover passions, that would be helpful.
2.
Biggest challenge is inertia. She is afriad of failure, so isn't doing the obvious stuff (creating a resume etc.). Instead, she's sitting through long motivational webinar's about how "yes, you can do it. you can get back to your career". but she's not taking action. i can't get her to.
The only value that Harvard MBA is offering at this time is that she was sharp enough to get it. At this point the world has changed to much for her to directly apply it.
She needs to be realistic in her expectations, entry level is where she'll be re-starting from.
Her alumni association is her best resource, get out there and network.
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