I'm afraid to return to work after a long break. How to get back to work after a long break

For almost a year I have been sitting at home, although I am actively looking for a job. In interviews at companies, more and more often they ask why I have such a long break from work. I explain this by the crisis and the lack of vacancies, but it seems to me that after the interview, the managers think that since I still haven’t got a job, it means that I’m not such a valuable specialist, and they also refuse me.

What to do in such cases, what to say to the HR? What reasons long break in work, they will not scare off a potential employer, but will they be perceived as respectful? I also think that for different terms has its own "excuses". Which ones work? For example, you can just relax for a month, but how to explain a year and a half so as not to fall in the eyes of a recruiter?

Olga Besedina, Moscow

Yuri Efrosinin, commercial director of the international recruitment agency Kelly Services:

- By itself, a break in work for six months during a crisis is not perceived by a professional recruiter as a candidate's problem. For a recruiter or HR specialist, it is much more important to understand what the specialist’s previous experience was and what are the reasons for changing jobs. Therefore, when preparing for an interview, it is better to focus on your achievements, successful projects and positive feedback leaders from previous jobs.

It is not worth thinking up reasons for the forced absence of work. An experienced recruiter will surely understand that your answer is insincere, and may simply not want to get to the bottom of the reasons. Not being confident in the candidate, the recruiter ceases to consider him as a potential applicant.

Yulia Lysenko, head of the personnel provision department of the Moscow branch of the ANCOR leasing company:

- It makes sense to slightly change the focus of the question. Recruiters are well aware of the situation in the labor market and know that a six-month job search is not uncommon these days. They understand just as well that with due perseverance and readiness to be flexible in relation to market conditions, a job can be found faster. The question they ask you first of all makes sense to ask yourself: why?

Once you figure out what exactly is standing in the way of getting an offer, you can give recruiters a more specific answer that will satisfy them. You may not be ready to lower your compensation requirements, or you may be missing a key skill that everyone in your profession needs. Perhaps you are considering offers only from a narrow circle of companies or somehow narrow the range of available options.

Answer questions from HR managers truthfully. Undoubtedly, you can come up with a lot of plausible and witty explanations for what you did for a month, three, six months, a year “out of production”. But, firstly, recruiters hear them every day and have long been successfully distinguishing fantasies from reality, and secondly, even the highest quality, but fictitious reason will not help you figure out what does not work when looking for a job, and also what to do to change it.

Galina Polunova, HR manager:

- A break of less than six months often does not raise questions at all, but I usually ask about the reasons in order to collect Additional information about the candidate. I am always impressed if the applicant simply lists his achievements and the deeds that he accomplished during his forced rest. I care if he filled this time with useful and meaningful activities. For example, quit smoking, passed the next language level completed repairs in new apartment and others. And even though these are quite everyday events, they say a lot about a person.

Any situation can be presented in a favorable light. Finish on the fact that you have already completed everything that your hands did not reach before and now fully devote yourself to work, without being distracted by the same repairs and without running to language courses in the evenings.

I often hear from job seekers that they were freelancing during their break. Unfortunately, when it comes to the details of which company, where you can see the result of the work, it turns out that the candidate essentially has nothing to say. Therefore, if you do not have real examples of your work, do not mislead HR. This is perceived as a lie and causes a negative reaction.

Much depends on how long a person has not worked: a month, six months or several years. In the latter case, fears that the candidate has lost the necessary skills are not unfounded. This is especially true for IT-specialists, accountants, lawyers - technologies are developing rapidly here, software, changes the legislative framework etc.

A long break in work always requires explanation. It's one thing if a person is actively looking for suitable job, negotiated with companies, maybe even agreed, but in last moment The employer has withdrawn the job. Other - if the candidate started own business. In this case, I find out why the person left his business, whether he can return from free bread, etc. At the same time, I always try to listen to the candidate and understand his reasons. By itself, a break in seniority cannot serve as an argument for refusing to hire, but it is important to understand what is behind it and how well the candidate meets the requirements of the position for which he is applying.

How to get a job if there was a big break in the experience? We answer the most popular questions.

1. I want to return to work after my parental leave. How to convince the employer of my professional suitability?

First of all, the employer will doubt not your professional suitability, but that you will regularly go to work. “You can say that in the event of a child's illness, the grandmother is ready to take care of him,” advises Alexander Tyulin, managing partner of Avtoritet LLC. “You can admit that there is no one to sit with the child, but you are already enrolled in kindergarten and that now you need a reliable and stable job for many years.”

Tell at the interview what during maternity leave you tracked everything related to your industry. “I personally encountered this issue 2 years ago, when I decided to return from parental leave to work,” Ekaterina Khachatryan, doctor at the Allergomed clinic, shares her experience. - In my specialty, as in almost all areas, constant self-education is necessary, so the first thing I told the future employer was that for almost the entire year I studied numerous literature in the specialty, went through training and know everything modern tendencies. During this year, a lot of strength has accumulated to achieve new goals, so I am ready to actively take up work and support the initiatives of the future boss.”

2. I was sick for a long time. I'm afraid that the employer will not want to accept the applicant who spent so much time on sick leave. What to do?

Convince the employer that you are now healthy. It is possible to show certificates and conclusions of doctors. However, if you have any health restrictions, it is better to warn about it right away.

It will be useful to tell the employer that during the illness you were interested in what is happening in your industry, and your competencies are enough for the position you are applying for. Appeal to your experience, be sure to say that you are ready to develop further.

3. Why do employers dislike job seekers with a long gap in seniority?

“The employer does not react to a break in work as such, but to the fact that this is a possible signal that the candidate has problems ( prolonged illness), insufficient level of adaptation to stressful situations(a long-term way out of a difficult life situation), - comments the head of the career development center Career-way.center Anna Belokhonova. - The reason for the break can also be a higher priority towards personal life, family, the desire to travel rather than devote oneself to a career, the lack of the need to earn money, which can affect the level of motivation, performance and, finally, simply the involvement of a future employee. In all these cases, the basis for making a positive decision will be the availability of relevant professional experience, the level of development of professional competencies, proven work results and the absence of stagnation in professional development. In addition, it must be taken into account that the employer asks large quantity questions before offering a job to such a candidate, so he will play it safe, carefully checking against former colleagues and employers."

4. I have a diploma, I want to work in my specialty. But the break in the experience is more than five years. Do I need to study something extra or is a diploma enough?

Yes, you need to study more. Changes are taking place very quickly in almost all areas of activity. Therefore, it is important to convince the employer that you are aware of all the innovations in your industry and own latest knowledge and tools.

5. And if I have a long break according to my documents, but in fact I worked unofficially. How will this affect the results of the interview?

Your employer may ask you why you chose informal employment. But if the level of your competencies is suitable for the proposed vacancy, there will most likely be no problems.

6. What are the reasons for long break in experience are considered the most suspicious by employers?

The greatest concern for HR is interruptions associated with the search for oneself - there are fears that the candidate is not sure what he wants to do, and at the first difficulty he will leave to look for a new vocation.

A break in work due to illness, of course, the employer understands as a human being. But such a break raises concerns: what if health problems will be repeated?

The most acceptable reasons for taking a break from work are parental leave and training. If your break is related to receiving additional education or internships (especially in large foreign companies), this characterizes you as a career-oriented and passionate employee. And such a break in the experience is already considered a plus.

7. What should I say to the employer to convince him that I am ready to work well after such a long break?

The most compelling is your motivation. Tell the employer why you are interested in this job. What can you offer the company, what competencies will allow you to cope with the tasks. Young mothers are usually well aware of what multitasking is. Long term treatment gives the skill of patience, consistency and attention to detail.

But most importantly, you need to convey to the employer the idea that you are a professional in your field and are ready to develop further.

The reasons for a break in the experience may be different, but sooner or later there is a need for employment.

Starting a search after a long break is not easy: you have long fallen out of the “working” daily routine, you are afraid of unpleasant failures, you have lost confidence in your abilities, you are afraid of competition from other applicants with experience. One has only to think about how to get a job after a long break, as hands fall! Returning to the harmonious ranks of workers is not easy, but do not rush to give up!

Effective job search tools

It is important to properly prepare for the search, and early rises, corporate holidays and overtime work will soon return - all the delights of working life.

First of all - compose good resume. The employer will certainly notice a "failure" in track record, and will assume that you have lost professional skills, useful contacts and are not familiar with the latest trends in your field.

You need to prove that this is not the case: include in your resume all advanced training courses, language schools, master classes in the profession, everything that demonstrates that you did not sit idly by, but developed as a person and specialist.

But do not try to invent anything, it would be nice to confirm these data with the appropriate "crust". A portfolio, if you were a freelancer, and references will also come in handy.

Important: do not enter non-existent enterprises in the resume, trying to shorten the break: if the fraud is revealed, you can forget about working in the chosen company.

Please include a cover letter with your resume that includes a short "story" about why you are for a long time didn't work. And be sure to make sure that this moment problems are solved (children are arranged in Kindergarten, the global repair is over, the relatives have recovered), and you are rushing into battle and eager to work.

When sending out a resume, expand the boundaries of the search: even if the vacancy does not seem ideal, apply to it. At the moment, it is useful to moderate your ambitions and stop hoping that you will be immediately accepted with open arms to a leadership position.

This also applies to financial expectations: often a break in work for several years equates to total loss qualifications, you will be perceived as a specialist without experience, and the salary will be offered appropriate.

First meeting with the employer

But here's a well-written resume "shot" - you are invited for an interview. Don't get lost and stay confident own forces- Now you have the opportunity to act as a "mythbuster" and prove that a pause in a career does not always mean dequalification.

Prepare for the meeting, study up-to-date information, decide how you will present yourself as a professional: you must know current trends, authoritative names, changes in legislation - everything that, one way or another, will show you as a person interested in your business.

Of course, the question of the reasons for the break will again arise, for which it is also worth preparing. good reasons are considered:

• decree;
• caring for relatives;
• study (if you can confirm);
• moving;
• trying to find yourself in another profession.

HR specialists say: if at an interview a person enthusiastically talks about his past activities, shows a desire to develop, work and reach the top, a “gap” in a resume will not become an obstacle to employment.

The most unfortunate“Excuses” that prevent you from getting a job after a long break:

• passive recreation (did not travel, did not study new things, were not in search - they simply did nothing);
• disease (this the serious reason, but you have to prove that in a month or two you will not
• forced to stop work due to illness);
• own business (you worked independently, managed, lost the habit of being a performer and now, perhaps, you will not get along in a team).

You won’t be able to clearly explain why you haven’t worked for several years and what you have been doing all this time - the recruiter will see you as a person who does not have enough desire and motivation to continue his career. It is easy to guess how the interview will end in this case. But if you're accepted, it's too early to relax, you have yet to join in new team and workflow.

How to quickly adapt in a team

Preparation should begin even during the search. Most likely, for a long time you lived according to the principle “I’ll get up when I wake up”, you forgot to think about the alarm clock and went to bed in the morning. The body will need time to adjust, so change your daily routine in advance: wake up and go to bed early, get used to the schedule.

Study the company's website, perhaps the pages of future colleagues in social networks will also come in handy - you can first assess the atmosphere in the team, find out if there is a dress code. Then the first working day will not be like diving headlong into the water.

Be friendly and reserved - until you're sure you can show your full professionalism, it's good to stay in the background for a bit. But do not be afraid to seek help from new colleagues - adequate people will get into position and will never refuse; the main thing - do not overdo it, otherwise you will seem annoying and helpless.

You can avoid infusion into a new team only by getting a job at the old place of work. How to do it right.

Returning to work after a long break can be compared to the very first job: you already went through this when you just finished your studies and had no experience. And they did it! Now all the more on the shoulder of any obstacles.

More helpful tips on this topic, look in our article for "", and if the search is unsuccessful, think about.

06/15/2015 07:00:00 You decided to have a baby
Before you go on maternity leave, you should find yourself a permanent job with a “white salary” in advance. It may not be the highest on the market, but after working for three or four months, you can safely go on vacation for a couple of years without interrupting your work experience. Do not forget that the "decree" is not marked in any way in your work book. Alas, sadly, but the employer does not treat women very well who come to work for him immediately after maternity leave. It seems to him (and not without reason) that a woman after childbirth is completely absorbed in thoughts about household chores. And everything that interested her in recent times, are pots, ladles and diapers, so she completely dropped out of life. Concrete advice: during maternity leave, do everything to keep your finger on the pulse of the latest developments regarding your specialty. It is advisable to get the Internet at home in order to have all necessary information. This will not only help you to be more confident in the interview, but also deprive you of many purely psychological problems.

Before you go to the interview, find a way to find out about the intricacies of the corporate ethics of this enterprise. If there are welcome family values, then the future employee - a young mother - will be treated friendly. But if you know for sure that corporate bosses require a 24-hour vigil in the workplace and are not ready to pay for sick leave, vacation, a trip to the camp, then you still won’t pull such a job, so it’s better to bypass this company. Be that as it may, at the interview, prepare for the question of how often your baby is sick and who stays with him in your absence. Recommended answers: "the child is not sickly, there is a nanny (or grandmother)". Also show remarkable zeal for work, say that the family will not affect the quality of the performance of duties. Try to explain that during your maternity leave you drove active image life, met with colleagues, read special literature, etc.

Did you take care of a sick relative or were you sick yourself?
At interviews, people who cared for sick relatives are often treated much more loyally than women after maternity leave. Especially if the corporate ethics of this enterprise welcomes such personal qualities as dedication and devotion to duty. It happens when a candidate with such a break in work is preferred to a candidate who does not have “white spots” in her resume. But at the interview you will definitely be asked about how your relative feels now and whether his health is expected to deteriorate. If you have come to work seriously and for a long time, then do everything to convince the employer that other caregivers of the patient are open, that he was sent to the hospital for hospital treatment or that you, in case of an aggravation, will hire a nurse.

Resume Tricks
It is dangerous if your work biography contains more than one " White spot”, but several at once, this will definitely begin to lead the employer to certain thoughts. For example, you worked for a month, then looked for a new job for three months, found it, worked for four months, quit again, and again looked for a new job for six months.
Such a resume will be noted at the pre-selection stage. Try this trick: Just don't write a chronological resume! Write it in narrative form. This is not very common with us, but this is your win! Such a resume will stand out from others, and you are more likely to be invited for an interview. And if you're writing a chronological summary, try to avoid specific dates or months. It is enough to indicate simply the year of employment, the year of termination of activity at this enterprise, and this will smooth out possible sharp corners.

In any case, be prepared to start from a lower start than competitors for a vacancy with a similar work experience.
No matter how good the reason for interrupting the length of service may be, in the eyes of the employer, your rating will be automatically lowered - you can’t get away from this, put up with it.

There is another effective technique that brightens up the shortcomings of the resume - bold type. This is what our women love about beauty and order in documentation: headings in bold, subparagraphs in italics, etc. But in a resume, the font structure is not the main thing! It is important to highlight the main theses about yourself, the most positive qualities. Here, do it! Highlight not the dates in bold, but your “pluses”. "Thick" letters always attract attention.
Look, no one noticed your breaks!

Interview
Now for the worst. About the interview. You can't get away with visual scams here. You will be asked a specific question, which you will have to answer: what have you been doing all this time?
In fact, even if you have nothing to hide, there can be a lot of options here. Say you were involved in scientific work, engaged in self-improvement, attended courses, trainings, seminars. In addition, today there is such a wonderful thing as freelancing! Tell your employer that you worked remotely and it's not on your work book. Never say that your husband forbade you to go to work. The employer will not want to contact a troubled employee who may have difficulties in the family, or, even worse, a dilemma: home-work. Do not give as an argument the desire to take a break from the old job for several months. Better put it this way: I was gaining strength for a new business. The meaning is preserved, but the message is completely different. Do not complain that the former place of work exhausted you greatly. Not a single boss will take on a team a person who is so dissatisfied with his previous job. He may decide that dissatisfaction with everything is a constant feature of your character. Get ready for the question of how you lived while you weren’t working, and don’t rush to answer that your husband paid for everything. Try to give examples of freelancing facts during this period.

First about appearance at the interview. If you left, and no one can remember what you were wearing, it means that you were dressed correctly. It is necessary to pay attention to everything: both the cleanliness of shoes and the freshness of breath. Given that different organizations have different approaches to dressing employees, it is almost impossible to describe one that would suit everyone. You can offer a simple rule: dress as it is customary in this business and according to the type of company. If the company's office is located in an elite business center, you can't do without a business suit. If you have an interview at an advertising agency, it would be more appropriate to change the suit for jeans and a sporty blouse. The cost of clothing also plays a role. Interviewers are able to tell the difference between an expensive fabric and a stylish cut and a budget option. And if an applicant applying for a high salary comes to an interview in a cheap, worn-out suit, this will cause a potential employer to best case astonishment.

What are your ambitions based on? After you have answered the questions of the leader or manager, you will be able to ask your own questions, and it is very good if you have prepared them in advance.
Whether we like it or not, each of us is constantly in the labor market. And to meet its requirements is an objective necessity. The main thing is not to lose faith in yourself, even if the previous work will no longer become part of your life. Maybe it's time to try something new?

Psychologist's opinion
A break in work is not a gap in life and development. During the break, there may be major changes in the structure of values, worldview, attitude. Sometimes it makes sense to reflect on the topic: do I want to do the same thing as before the break. Sometimes you need a retraining or a change of activity. Returning to work after a break is a change in life rhythms, time planning, interactions in the family, in everyday life. First of all, it is a change in attitude towards yourself. It's like switching to the new kind“fuel”: for work, energy of a different quality is needed than for taking care of a child, household and home.

HR consultant, training center
The main mistake of most job seekers who come to work after a long break is excessive obsession, dictated by self-doubt. You can’t ask the employer to take you on a job or put pressure on pity by talking about the child. It won't work. It is better to try to present yourself more favorably. Remember that in the labor market, not only you are chosen, but also you choose. You, as an employer, have the right to take time to think, look at whether this company is right for you, and decide whether you need a job here. Be that as it may, the feeling that at this firm “the light has not converged like a wedge” will give you an additional moral bonus even during the interview. The employer must intuitively smell in you not a “beggar”, but a “prey”

Only in this way will the hunting instinct wake up in him, and he himself will begin to persuade him to join his team. This position neutralizes negative effect even if the interview result is negative. However, here you need to clearly share self-confidence with! arrogance, which obviously will not help you in the interview.

1. At the interview, prepare for the question of how often your baby gets sick and who stays with him in your absence
2. Tell the employer that you were involved in scientific work, attended courses ...
3. Do not say that the husband forbade going to work. The employer will not want to contact an employee who may have a dilemma: home-work
New job after a long break