How IT Professionals Can Go Back To Work After Career Break

Returning to work in an IT industry after an extended break is rarely easy. When your professional-self is a hazy memory, it’s hard to feel capable of picking up your career where you left off. Whatever your reason was for taking a break and whether it's been 12 months, or more than a decade. You start searching around web and don’t mind getting any job, be it flexible, less pay, etc. Returners usually undervalue what they can offer an employer.

Before you start getting ready to return to work, it's worth having a think about your situation. Potential employers will ask why you took the break. Consider the answers for these questions and don’t panic and start applying everywhere. Also think about what type of work you want to do. Be clear on your strengths and skills to increase your confidence and give you energy for your job search.

Following are the few measures to act on:

1. Ask friends and family for feedback on what you’re good at (with examples)

2. Write down at least 5 achievements and the skills you demonstrated

3. Update your skills and knowledge by taking refresher courses, reading about current industry issues and following professional networking sites.

Before you meet people in your chosen industry and start to network, it's important to structure your story, with your career break in the middle. Be prepared to:

1. Outline your pre-break work experience and qualifications

2. Give a brief explanation for your break. Don’t apologise or justify.

3. Describe what you want to do now (if you’re not sure yet, provide a few options)

If your career break was a significant amount of time, it will look odd if you don't include some information about what you got up to on your CV. Ensure that anything listed is tied in with a desirable characteristic for an employee. The experience and skills you gained before the break are important too, so ensure you highlight them. In IT sector, the biggest hurdle you have is convincing the interviewers that you aren't going to pack up and leave. You need to show lasting commitment. To research the company that you are interviewing for, is especially important when it comes to career breaks. You need to prove that you are as sharp as someone who has been doing the job continuously, and that you know all there is to know about the company and the sector they are in.

Gaps only become a problem if they aren't explained. Don't apologise about it – confidence is key. Above all, remember that you are the same capable person you were before your break - just a little out of practice.