People returning to work after a career break: I call them relaunchers. These are people who have taken career breaks for elder care, for childcare reasons, pursuing a personal interest or a personal health issue. Closely related are career transitioners of all kinds: veterans, military spouses, retirees coming out of retirement or repatriating expats. Returning to work after a career break is hard because of a disconnect between the employers and the relaunchers. Employers can view hiring people with a gap on their resume as a high-risk proposition, and individuals on career break can have doubts about their abilities to relaunch their careers, especially if they've been out for a long time. This disconnect is a problem that I'm trying to help solve.
無做嘢一排、又再出返嚟工作嘅人 我叫佢哋做重新工作嘅人 佢哋暫時無做嘢 係為咗要照顧老人家 照顧小孩、追求自己嘅興趣 又或者係健康問題 呢啲重新工作嘅人唔同行業都有: 老兵、軍人嘅家眷、剛剛退休嘅人士 又或者係旅居完返國嘅僑胞 佢哋冇做嘢咁耐,要重新工作好難 因為僱主同重新工作者 嘅關係已經斷咗 僱主會見到佢哋嘅 履歷有一欄空白 認為請佢哋係好大風險 呢啲求職者都懷疑自己 重返職場嘅能力 尤其佢哋已經好耐無做嘢 我就係想幫佢哋解決 僱主同前員工關係冇咗嘅問題
Now, successful relaunchers are everywhere and in every field. This is Sami Kafala. He's a nuclear physicist in the UK who took a five-year career break to be home with his five children. The Singapore press recently wrote about nurses returning to work after long career breaks. And speaking of long career breaks, this is Mimi Kahn. She's a social worker in Orange County, California, who returned to work in a social services organization after a 25-year career break. That's the longest career break that I'm aware of. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor took a five-year career break early in her career.
宜家各行各業都有人 成功重返職場 呢個係 Sami Kafala 佢係英國核子物理學家 佢無做嘢五年,返咗屋企湊五個細路 新加坡新聞最近講 一啲護士離開職場好耐之後再度工作 講起長期離膱 呢個係 Mimi Kahn 佢喺加州橘郡做社工 佢冇做嘢 25 年之後 返返去社會服務機構工作 以我所知,呢個係最長嘅離職期 高等法院法官 Sandra Day O'Connor 佢工作生涯早期曾經離職五年
And this is Tracy Shapiro, who took a 13-year career break. Tracy answered a call for essays by the Today Show from people who were trying to return to work but having a difficult time of it. Tracy wrote in that she was a mom of five who loved her time at home, but she had gone through a divorce and needed to return to work, plus she really wanted to bring work back into her life because she loved working. Tracy was doing what so many of us do when we feel like we've put in a good day in the job search. She was looking for a finance or accounting role, and she had just spent the last nine months very diligently researching companies online and applying for jobs with no results.
呢個係 Tracy Shapiro 佢離職 13 年 Tracy 回應 Today Show 觀眾寄嚟嘅信 觀眾話想出嚟工作 但覺得困難重重 Tracy 回信話佢係一個媽媽 有五個細路,熱愛家庭生活 但佢離咗婚,需要返返職場 而且佢想生活裏邊有返工作 因為佢鍾意做嘢 Tracy 以前就好似我哋好多人咁 覺得用咗一日時間搵工就係好好 佢想搵一份金融或者會計嘅工作 佢好努力花咗九個月上網搵工 但都係無結果
I met Tracy in June of 2011, when the Today Show asked me if I could work with her to see if I could help her turn things around. The first thing I told Tracy was she had to get out of the house. I told her she had to go public with her job search and tell everyone she knew about her interest in returning to work. I also told her, "You are going to have a lot of conversations that don't go anywhere. Expect that, and don't be discouraged by it. There will be a handful that ultimately lead to a job opportunity."
我係 2011 年 6 月認識 Tracy 嗰時 Today Show 問我 可唔可以同佢一齊幫佢扭轉劣勢 我第一件事就叫佢行出屋企 講畀大家知佢要揾工 同埋話自己有興趣再做嘢 我又話畀佢聽: 「你要同好多人講你搵工, 但人哋多數都唔會幫你轉達。 你要預咗咁樣,但唔好氣餒 可能就係有幾個幫你轉達, 令你有工做。」
I'll tell you what happened with Tracy in a little bit, but I want to share with you a discovery that I made when I was returning to work after my own career break of 11 years out of the full-time workforce. And that is, that people's view of you is frozen in time. What I mean by this is, when you start to get in touch with people and you get back in touch with those people from the past, the people with whom you worked or went to school, they are going to remember you as you were before your career break. And that's even if your sense of self has diminished over time, as happens with so many of us the farther removed we are from our professional identities. So for example, you might think of yourself as someone who looks like this. This is me, crazy after a day of driving around in my minivan. Or here I am in the kitchen. But those people from the past, they don't know about any of this. They only remember you as you were, and it's a great confidence boost to be back in touch with these people and hear their enthusiasm about your interest in returning to work.
我會講少少 Tracy 後來發生嘅事 但我想先同你哋講下 我經過 11 年離開全職工作 返到工作崗位嘅發現 就係人哋對你嘅印象會停留喺舊時 即係話你再聯絡返啲人 聯絡返以前認識嘅人 嗰啲同你工作過或者一齊返學嘅人 佢哋只會記得你離職前嘅嘢 就算你隨著時間而覺得自己冇咗意義 就好似我哋好多專業人士咁 太耐唔做嘢都會咁樣 例如你或者會諗自己 好似咁樣嘅人 呢個係我嚟,揸咗成日車 人都儍咗 或者我喺廚房入面 但係以前識得嘅人完全唔知我呢啲嘢 佢哋只會記得以前嘅你 當你再同返佢哋聯絡 同埋當佢哋好想聽你返嚟嘅故仔 你嘅信心就會返曬嚟
There's one more thing I remember vividly from my own career break. And that was that I hardly kept up with the business news. My background is in finance, and I hardly kept up with any news when I was home caring for my four young children. So I was afraid I'd go into an interview and start talking about a company that didn't exist anymore. So I had to resubscribe to the Wall Street Journal and read it for a good six months cover to cover before I felt like I had a handle on what was going on in the business world again.
仲有一樣嘢 我離職期間好記得 就係我好難追返財經新聞 我擁有金融背景 但係當我喺屋企睇住四個細路時 好難跟得上任何新聞 所以我好驚面試嗰陣 講咗間已經唔存在嘅公司 於是我重新訂閱華爾街日報 我每份報紙每個報導都有睇 一睇就睇咗六個月 直至我覺得可以掌握返市場脈搏
I believe relaunchers are a gem of the workforce, and here's why. Think about our life stage: for those of us who took career breaks for childcare reasons, we have fewer or no maternity leaves. We did that already. We have fewer spousal or partner job relocations. We're in a more settled time of life. We have great work experience. We have a more mature perspective. We're not trying to find ourselves at an employer's expense. Plus we have an energy, an enthusiasm about returning to work precisely because we've been away from it for a while.
我相信重新工作者都係優秀人才 原因係咁樣 諗一諗我哋嘅人生階段: 嗰啲因為照顧小孩而離職嘅人 佢哋會少啲或者冇得放產假 因為我哋以前已經放咗產假 而且我哋伴侶轉工冇咁多 我哋生活比較安定 我哋有豐富工作經驗 思想比較成熟 我哋唔會有咗份工,先嚟尋找真我 再加上因為我哋已經好耐無做嘢 我哋充滿幹勁,熱衷於返返崗位
On the flip side, I speak with employers, and here are two concerns that employers have about hiring relaunchers.
我想講講僱主嗰方面 僱主想招請重新工作者時 有兩樣憂慮 第一樣係擔心重新工作者 嘅科技知識落伍
The first one is, employers are worried that relaunchers are technologically obsolete. Now, I can tell you, having been technologically obsolete myself at one point, that it's a temporary condition. I had done my financial analysis so long ago that I used Lotus 1-2-3. I don't know if anyone can even remember back that far, but I had to relearn it on Excel. It actually wasn't that hard. A lot of the commands are the same. I found PowerPoint much more challenging, but now I use PowerPoint all the time. I tell relaunchers that employers expect them to come to the table with a working knowledge of basic office management software. And if they're not up to speed, then it's their responsibility to get there. And they do.
宜家我可以話俾你聼 我曾經有一段時間 科技知識落後 但係只係嗰個時候 我好耐以前係用 Lotus 1-2-3 做財務分析 唔知道仲有無人記得 但後來我要學用 Excel 做財務分析 其實唔係好難 因為好多指令都係一樣 我嗰陣覺得 PowerPoint 比較難學 但而家已經冇問題 我仲成日用 PowerPoint 我話畀再做嘢嘅人知 僱主期望佢哋 有基本嘅電腦文書知識 如果佢哋仲未跟得上 佢哋就有責任學識佢 佢哋做到喎
The second area of concern that employers have about relaunchers is they're worried that relaunchers don't know what they want to do. I tell relaunchers that they need to do the hard work to figure out whether their interests and skills have changed or have not changed while they have been on career break. That's not the employer's job. It's the relauncher's responsibility to demonstrate to the employer where they can add the most value.
第二樣令僱主擔心嘅嘢 係重新工作者唔知道自己想做乜 我叫佢哋一定要 睇清楚究竟喺離職期間 自己嘅興趣同技術有無改到 所以呢樣唔係僱主嘅工作 而係重回工作者嘅責任 佢哋要證明畀僱主睇 佢哋可以為公司貢獻最多價值
Back in 2010 I started noticing something. I had been tracking return to work programs since 2008, and in 2010, I started noticing the use of a short-term paid work opportunity, whether it was called an internship or not, but an internship-like experience, as a way for professionals to return to work. I saw Goldman Sachs and Sara Lee start corporate reentry internship programs. I saw a returning engineer, a nontraditional reentry candidate, apply for an entry-level internship program in the military, and then get a permanent job afterward. I saw two universities integrate internships into mid-career executive education programs.
早喺 2010 年,我發覺一啲嘢 由 2008 年開始 我不斷跟進重回工作嘅計劃 喺 2010年,我注意到 市場有短期有薪工作嘅機會 無論係咪叫實習都好 但係呢啲類似實習嘅嘢 可以係專業人士返去職場嘅一個方法 我見到高盛同 Sara Lee 開始咗再次實習計劃 我見過一位重投工作嘅工程師 佢係一個突破傳統嘅人嚟 佢申請軍方嘅入門實習計劃 跟住得到一份長工 我見過兩間大學將實習 加入到業界行政人員職業教育計劃
So I wrote a report about what I was seeing, and it became this article for Harvard Business Review called "The 40-Year-Old Intern." I have to thank the editors there for that title, and also for this artwork where you can see the 40-year-old intern in the midst of all the college interns. And then, courtesy of Fox Business News, they called the concept "The 50-Year-Old Intern."
於是我寫咗一篇報告 記錄我見到嘅嘢 咁就變成咗哈佛商業評論嘅文章 叫做「40 歲的實習生」 我要多謝嗰度嘅編輯度呢個標題 仲有呢個插圖 見到有個 40 歲嘅實習生 企喺一班大專實習生裡面 霍士財經新聞叫呢個概念做 「50 歲嘅實習生」
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
So five of the biggest financial services companies have reentry internship programs for returning finance professionals. And at this point, hundreds of people have participated. These internships are paid, and the people who move on to permanent roles are commanding competitive salaries. And now, seven of the biggest engineering companies are piloting reentry internship programs for returning engineers as part of an initiative with the Society of Women Engineers. Now, why are companies embracing the reentry internship? Because the internship allows the employer to base their hiring decision on an actual work sample instead of a series of interviews, and the employer does not have to make that permanent hiring decision until the internship period is over. This testing out period removes the perceived risk that some managers attach to hiring relaunchers, and they are attracting excellent candidates who are turning into great hires.
又有五間大型財務公司 舉辦咗呢啲再入行實習計劃 畀嗰啲想重回職場嘅金融專業人士 有數以百計嘅人參加咗呢啲計劃 個計劃係有薪實習 呢啲人後來得到長工 仲有唔錯嘅薪酬 而家有七間大型工程公司 由婦女工程師協會牽頭 試行同類實習計劃 畀重返職場嘅工程師 點解啲公司支持再實習呢? 因為實習可以畀僱主 根據實際嘅工作表現決定請人 而唔係靠一連串面試 僱主可以等到佢哋實習期完畢 先決定請唔請佢哋做長工 試用期可以避免 經理誤判受聘嘅人會為公司帶嚟風險 而且仲可以吸引優秀嘅求職者 呢班人最後仲變成公司出色嘅員工!
Think about how far we have come. Before this, most employers were not interested in engaging with relaunchers at all. But now, not only are programs being developed specifically with relaunchers in mind, but you can't even apply for these programs unless you have a gap on your résumé.
諗下我哋推動咗幾多! 實行呢啲計劃前 多數僱主都無興趣招聘重新工作者 但係而家呢啲計劃已經發展到係 好重視重新求職者 而且佢哋要求你嘅覆歷有空白 否則你就申請唔到呢個計劃
This is the mark of real change, of true institutional shift, because if we can solve this problem for relaunchers, we can solve it for other career transitioners too. In fact, an employer just told me that their veterans return to work program is based on their reentry internship program. And there's no reason why there can't be a retiree internship program. Different pool, same concept.
咁樣見到機構已經唔同咗 標誌住真正嘅改變 因為如果我哋可以解決職場者嘅問題 亦都可以解決其他職業過渡嘅問題 有僱主啱啱同我講 佢有啲經驗豐富嘅人 因為再次實習計劃 返到工作崗位 所以我會話無理由 唔搞退休人士實習計劃 雖然類型唔同,但係概念一樣
So let me tell you what happened with Tracy Shapiro. Remember that she had to tell everyone she knew about her interest in returning to work. Well, one critical conversation with another parent in her community led to a job offer for Tracy, and it was an accounting job in a finance department. But it was a temp job. The company told her there was a possibility it could turn into something more, but no guarantees. This was in the fall of 2011. Tracy loved this company, and she loved the people and the office was less than 10 minutes from her house. So even though she had a second job offer at another company for a permanent full-time role, she decided to take her chances with this internship and hope for the best. Well, she ended up blowing away all of their expectations, and the company not only made her a permanent offer at the beginning of 2012, but they made it even more interesting and challenging, because they knew what Tracy could handle.
跟住等我話俾你哋聽 Tracy Shapiro 發生咗咩事 仲記得佢講畀每個認識嘅人 佢有興趣出返嚟做工作 就係有一次同同區家長傾計 帶咗 Tracy 一個工作機會 嗰份係財政部門嘅會計工作 但只係臨時工 公司同佢講佢可能有機會 轉到更好嘅工作 但唔擔保一定有 去到 2011 年秋天 Tracy 好鍾意佢間公司同埋同事 而且公司離佢屋企只係十分鐘 雖然第二間公司開出一份長工協議 但佢決定揀呢次實習嘅機會 並希望一切順利 最後佢超乎公司嘅預期 喺 2012 年頭 公司不但請佢做長工 仲畀 Tracy 做 更有趣味同有挑戰嘅工作 因為公司知道佢應付得到
Fast forward to 2015, Tracy's been promoted. They've paid for her to get her MBA at night. She's even hired another relauncher to work for her. Tracy's temp job was a tryout, just like an internship, and it ended up being a win for both Tracy and her employer.
去到 2015 年 Tracy 已經升職 公司仲畀錢佢夜晚讀工商管理 Tracy 佢自己仲請咗 第二個重回工作者為佢做嘢 Tracy 開頭嘅臨時工係試用嚟 就好似實習咁 咁最後對 Tracy 同僱主嚟講都係雙贏
Now, my goal is to bring the reentry internship concept to more and more employers. But in the meantime, if you are returning to work after a career break, don't hesitate to suggest an internship or an internship-like arrangement to an employer that does not have a formal reentry internship program. Be their first success story, and you can be the example for more relaunchers to come.
宜家我嘅目標係 向更多僱主推銷呢個實習概念 但係呢段時間 如果你離職後,想出返嚟工作 唔好猶豫向嗰啲 無呢啲實習計劃嘅公司 提議佢哋安排一個咁嘅實習計劃 你可以成為佢哋第一個成功故事 你可以係鼓勵更多人 重回職場嘅最佳例子
Thank you.
多謝
(Applause)
(掌聲)