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.
離開職場一段時間後 再重返職場的人 我稱他們為: 「重新出發者」。 這些人因為一些原因 必須長期離職, 例如,照顧長輩、照顧小孩、 追求個人興趣 或個人健康因素。 還有各式各樣類似 相關的轉職者: 老兵、軍人配偶、 退休返聘的人、 或遣送回國人士。 離開職場後,再回來工作 會相當困難, 因為再出發者與雇主之間, 會有一種無法銜接的感覺。 雇主在應徵者的履歷表上 看到一段空窗期, 會認為他們是高風險的族群, 而且一個人離開職場太久, 可能會對自己重返職場的 工作能力產生懷疑, 特別是,如果他們已經 離開職場好一段時間。 這種無法銜接的問題就是 我正在嘗試幫忙解決的事情。
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.
如今,我們在各行各業 都能見到成功的再從業者。 這是薩米.科法拉, 他是一位英國的 核子物理學家, 因為要在家照顧五個孩子, 他離職了五年。 新加坡媒體最近在報導 一位護士離職後 重返職場的故事。 提到長時間離職, 這位米米.卡恩女士, 她是一位加州橘郡 的一位社工, 在離職25年後, 她現在已經回到 社會服務機構工作。 這是我所知道的 最長離職時間。 最高法院法官 桑德拉.戴.奧康納, 從她的前一個 工作離職了五年,
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.
這是崔西.莎碧羅, 她離職了13年。 崔西在 Today Show 的節目中, (一個談話性節目) 回答了一個重新找工作, 卻困難重重的問題。 崔西寫信說,她是五個孩子的媽, 也很享受居家的時間, 但她剛經歷一場離婚 必需回去工作賺錢, 加上她真的很想把工作 帶回她的生命中, 因為她熱愛工作。 崔西當時也做了我們 大多數人曾經做過的事, 每天不停的 搜尋合適的工作。 她在尋找一個財經 或會計領域的職位, 她在那之前已經 花掉了九個月時間, 很努力地調查 網路上的公司, 然後遞履歷, 但都沒效果。
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."
我在2011年6月遇上崔西, 當時Today Show 節目 問我可否與她合作, 看看我是否可以 幫她扭轉局勢。 我告訴崔西的第一件事, 就是她必須走出家門。 我告訴她,她必須 公開自己求職的想法, 然後告訴她認識的所有人, 說自己很有興趣再重回職場。 我也告訴她, 「你將會有很多的對話 對你是完全沒有幫助的。 你要做好心理準備, 別因此而灰心喪志。 找到工作機會之前, 會有很多棘手的事。」
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.
我稍後再跟各位說明 崔西後來發生的事。 但我想先跟各位分享, 在我離開全職工作後的11年, 當我再回去工作後的一個發現。 就是,人們對你的印象 是停留在以前的狀況。 我的意思是, 當你再次開始與人打交道, 並與過去這些人連絡上後, 像是,在你離職前的 工作夥伴、上學的同學 他們對你的印象 就是停留在 你離職前的狀況。 就算你的自信心 隨著時間已經消失了, 我們很多人都會有 一樣的狀況, 時間越久遠,我們對我們的 專業認同會越沒信心。 舉例,你可能會認為你自己 像是這樣的一個人。 這就是我,開了一天小麵包車, 整個人感覺很瘋狂。 或者,這是我在廚房裡的樣子。 但這些過去的朋友, 他們對這些一無所知。 他們只記得你以前的樣子, 當你重新與這些人接觸後, 就會大大地增加了自信心, 而且他們對你有再從業的興趣 感到非常的開心。
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.
從我離職後, 有一件事,我印象很深刻。 我當時幾乎跟不上 財經新聞的腳步。 我的背景雖然是財經, 但當我在家裡 照顧四個孩子時, 我卻幾乎 跟不上任何新聞。 所以我很害怕, 自己去參加面試的時候, 會講到一個 已經不存在的公司。 所以,我必須重新 訂閱華爾街日報, 然後每一本從頭到尾好好地 連續看了六個月, 之後我才覺得自己 對財經又有點解了。
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.
我相信重新出發者 是職場上的一顆鑽石。 原因如下。 想一下我們的人生階段: 我們這些因為要照顧 小孩子而離職的人, 大都沒有產假, 或是產假很短。 我們也是這樣度過了。 我們也經歷過一些 配偶或夥伴的調職。 我們在生命中 已經處理安置過很多事。 我們有很好的工作經驗。 我們有更成熟的眼光。 我們不用再花雇主的成本 來嘗試尋找自我的定位。 加上因為我們 已經離開一陣子, 我們對重返職場 充滿著一股熱情的能量。
On the flip side, I speak with employers, and here are two concerns that employers have about hiring relaunchers.
另一方面, 我跟雇主談話時, 雇主對聘雇重新出發者 有兩個主要考量點。
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.
第一,雇主擔心重新出發者, 有技術上的銜接問題。 現在,我可以告訴你, 因為這方面 我已經經歷過了, 這只是暫時性的。 很久以前我做財務分析時 用的是Lotus 1-2-3。 我不知道還有沒有人記得 這個很久以前的軟體。 所以,我必須重新學習Excel, 它實際上沒這麼難, 因為很多指令都是相同的。 我發現Power Point 比較有挑戰性, 但現在我對PowerPoint 駕輕就熟。 我告訴重新出發者, 雇主希望他們 要有基本的辦公室管理軟體的知識, 好應付每天的工作。 如果他們沒有趕上速度, 那他們有責任要趕上。 而他們做到了,
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.
第二個雇主 對重新出發者的考量點是: 雇主擔心他們 不知道他們想做甚麼。 我告訴重新出發者 他們必須仔細研究, 了解自己的興趣與能力 在離職長假的過程中 是否發生了變化。 這不是雇主的職責。 這個是重新出發者的責任, 把自己展現給雇主, 來證明自己 可以創造的價值。
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.
回到2010年, 我開始注意到一些事。 我從2008年就開始追蹤 重回職場工作的方案。 在2010年,我開始注意到, 一種短期、帶薪的 工作機會開始出現, 不論它是不是名叫「實習」。 但總之有一個 很像實習的經歷, 對專業人士而言, 是重返職場的方式。 我看到高盛和莎莉集團, 已經開始找人合作 二次從業的實習項目。 我看到一個重返職場的工程師 算是不太傳統的再從業人士, 申請了一個軍中初級的 實習工作項目。 之後也得到了 一個正式的工作。 我看到兩所大學,把實習工作與 在職管理教育課程合併在一起
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."
所以,我把我看到的 寫成了一篇報告。 它後來被刊登在 哈佛商業評論中。 名稱叫「40歲的實習生」。 我必須感謝主編 幫我取的文章標題。 還有這張美工圖, 你可以看到那個40歲的實習生 站在全部是大學實習生的中間。 然後,還要感謝福斯 商業新聞的好意, 他們取名新聞內容是 「50歲的實習生」。
(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.
所以,5個最大的財經服務公司, 已經有提供重返實習生計畫 給準備重回職場的財經專業人士。 截至目前,已經有數百人參加了。 這些實習工作是有支薪的, 而當他們 轉正式員工後, 老闆給的薪資都還不錯。 現在,七家最大的工程公司, 也開始導入重返實習的項目, 提供給重回職場的工程師。 這也是女性工程師協會 新方案的一部分。 現在,為什麼公司會開始 大力支持重返職場的實習項目呢? 因為這種實習可以讓雇主 以實習生實際工作的成效 做出聘僱決策, 而非一系列的面試。 而且雇主也不用在實習期間 做出雇用正式員工的決策。 這種測試期,可以移除 少數經理人對重新出發者 的認知風險, 而且他們還可以吸引到 準備重回職場 的優秀人士。
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.
各位,想一想我們 已經走多遠了。 在這之前,多數的雇主 完全對重新出發者沒興趣。 但現在,不僅那些 特別為重新出發者 發展出來的專案大受歡迎。 如果你簡歷上沒有一段空檔期, 你還不能申請這些項目呢!
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.
這是改變的指標, 一種制度上實質的變革, 因為如果我們可以解決 重新出發者的問題, 我們也可以為其他的職業轉型者 解決同樣的問題。 事實上,有一位雇主 剛剛告訴我, 他們的「退伍軍人再從業項目」 就是參考他們自己的 重返實習項目的。 我們再也沒有理由, 沒有退休實習的聘僱計畫。 不同的對象,相同的概念。
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.
所以,讓我告訴各位 後來崔西.莎碧羅怎麼了。 還記得她必須 告訴每個她認識的人 有關於她有興趣 重返職場的事嗎? 是的,她與社區裡的長輩 進行的一次關鍵談話中, 為崔西帶來了 一個工作機會。 那是一個在 財務部門的會計工作。 但那是暫時性的工作。 公司告訴她, 有機會可以轉成某個 正式的職位,但不保證。 當時是2011年的秋天。 崔西很愛這家公司 也很愛她的同事, 而且公司離她家 距離不到10分鐘。 所以即使她在另一家公司 有一個資深工作的機會, 可以給她一個 永久、全職的保證。 她還是決定要接受 這個實習工作的機會。 並期望可以達到最佳狀態。 最後,她跌破大家的眼鏡, 那一家公司在2012年初, 不僅給她一個正式員工的職位, 甚至讓她的工作變的 更有趣、更具挑戰性, 因為他們知道 崔西可以辦得到。
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.
時間快進到2015年, 崔西被晉升了。 公司付費讓她 晚上去上MBA課程。 她甚至雇用了另一個 重新出發者替她工作。 崔西的短期工作 只是一個嘗試。 雖然像是一個實習生, 但最後證明,那份短期工作是 她和雇主雙贏的開始。
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.
我的目標是將這種 再從業實習的概念, 推薦給更多更多的雇主。 但是與此同時, 如果你離職一段時間後 想重返職場, 別猶豫向雇主提議設立實習項目, 或者類似實習項目的安排, 特別是那些沒有正式的 再從業實習項目的公司。 當他們的第一個成功故事, 而你會成為更多重新出發者 再度重返職場的楷模。
Thank you.
謝謝各位!
(Applause)
(掌聲)