Keep yourself updated on what’s happening around.
This is important. Most of the time when you proceed on a sabbatical, it’s like an endless holiday with a professional life perspective. You may never realise that you are loosing connect with the industry, and it may be a couple of years before it dawns on you that you are absolutely out of touch with the industry. Normally its women executives who end up with long sabbaticals considering their well deserved focus on family priorities, kids etc. These sabbaticals may range from 1 or 2 years and may go up to 5 – 10 years. If you want to get back to main stream corporate in either a full time job or as a freelancer or a consultant, it makes sense that you appreciate and realise the importance of keeping yourself updated in your area of work and your area of interest.
Before returning you need to understand and mentally condition yourself to the demands of a workplace and of a full time job.
Having been on a sabbatical for a few years gets you out of the habit of a 9 – 5 job. You might have worked harder during your sabbatical, looking after your kids and family, but still the grilling you undergo in a every day 9 – 5 job is some thing that may upset your supposedly relaxed, and at your own pace lifestyle. If you want to get back to a 9 – 5 job, you need to be mentally prepared, you need to be sure of your time commitments for your family, so that one fine day when you take up an assignment you are able to cope up well. The thought that – “i used to work for 12 hours once upon a time” may sound inspiring but may not actually be practical. Your life before proceeding on sabbatical was different. Sabbatical changed it, and now it will take some time and lot of mental conditioning before you are able to get back to your old self – in terms of workplace productivity and your engagement with your workplace etc.
Start networking with people from the field you want to get into.
Networking is always important. In the first pointer when we said – Update yourself on what’s happening around, networking may also be considered to be an important ingredient to that idea. You need to meet people regularly, old colleagues, ex bosses, friends etc. And when you actually decide to get back, you need to re-start meeting people with the objective in mind. As a part of your networking agenda’s you can also attend some conferences, and hear what industry experts are talking about.
Area of work.
Identifying your area of work is important, and before you pitch yourself to companies and old contacts, it is important that you are able to project a focussed thought on what you would like to do. This has to come from your past experience and your newer learning’s. Take some time to introspect and find out your niche areas and are of interest, expertise etc. Subsequently, you can also match your interest and intended profile to jobs and employers companies that align with your interest, and expertise.
What about other commitments ?
When family and friends see you on a sabbatical for a long time, their expectations from you is different. If you decide to get back to work there may be a void and therefore issues. You need to plan and manage your personal time commitments well to stay focussed and to maintain balance. It will take some time before you can get back to mainstream working, meanwhile you need to plan well so as your personal life aligns well with your professional life.
Once you are back at work.
Depending on your place of work, you may see weird behaviour from various quarters. Some people might judge you on your capability or seriousness as a career person. You may feel low at times if you see previous colleague in senior roles or your juniors as peers. Once again acceptance of reality is important, you need to focus on learning and stability in your role to start with. You need to catch on lots of learning’s, and lost years of work. Make work your focus and learn – learn – learn. Learn like a beginner, and be prepared to learn from any one. Sharpen the saw, and wait for the right time for right rewards.
Cheers ! All the best for a great re-start to your career.
Praveen is the Founder & Principal Consultant of KHEdge, a boutique HR & Business Process Advisory firm. Over last 15 years he has advised & worked with promoters, founders, business leaders, HR leaders in areas of - Business Strategy, HR Strategy, Organisation Design etc.