How I Rejoined the Corporate Workforce After a 17-Year Career Break

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with 55-year-old Alice Peacock from Reading, England. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I fully intended to go back to work after having my first child.

I looked into nurseries near my workplace and tried to get increased flexibility to cut my hours at my company, but nothing seemed to be working out.

My first child, Michael, was born in 2001, and I fell in love. When my maternity leave was coming to an end, I questioned whether I wanted someone else to look after him.

I decided to give my one-month notice and take a break. Motherhood kept me busy, and I had my second child, Melissa, in 2005. I didn’t return to a full-time job until 2018.

My 17 years away from corporate made me a softer and kinder person. When I began looking for full-time jobs again, a career returners program helped me get back into the corporate world. I’m now working at the same level as I was when I left IT.

Leaving my job to look after the kids was like a permanent holiday

I really enjoyed being part of the corporate world. I’d been working in operations for an IT services company since 1998. I understood my work and felt good at it.

It was hard to leave my job in 2001. I’d built up a reputation and felt connected to my colleagues. I invited the whole global team to my wedding.

But looking after the children was like a permanent holiday. When you’ve got time to spend with your kids, you can instill lessons into them so they can be independent. My children can cook, and they know the value of money. I’d always make sure they finished a meal when we went out to eat, and not be wasteful.

At the back of my mind, I wanted to go back to work, but I didn’t think I could handle a corporate operations job alongside the children.

While I wasn’t working, we relied on my partner’s income

We had to cut back on expenses by having shorter holidays and not sending our kids to private school, but we were willing to make these sacrifices so I could stay home and look after them.

While my children were growing up, I did take on some part-time work and voluntary opportunities. My money wasn’t required to contribute to the household resources, but I missed adult conversation.

I considered going back to full-time work because of a comment my son made sometime in 2017

When my 16-year-old son got a job at a grocery store back in 2017, he made a cheeky joke that he was making more money than I did.

My eldest was a teenager, and my daughter was old enough to go to school by herself, so I started looking for operations jobs again.

I knew my résumé gap would be a barrier, so I was open to lower-level roles than I had when I left IT.

I attended employment workshops at a local community center, where we learned about résumés, LinkedIn, and interview techniques. Actively preparing for employment made me feel confident about the job search.

One hiring manager I spoke to told me they were looking for someone with more recent experience. Not long after that, I was accepted into a three-month employment program I heard about and applied to.

Getting into a career returner’s program helped me transition back into full-time work

The program was with O2, a British telecommunications company now known as Virgin Media O2. The program was designed specifically for people returning from career breaks, like me.

It was coincidental that the program was accepting applicants at the same time I started job searching. Without this kind of specialized scheme, it would’ve been a bigger challenge to get back into work because I lacked recent experience.

The program’s interviewers considered my transferable skills and asked me how things I did during my career break might apply to the role.

I started the program in October 2018 and settled easily. It felt like I’d never left the workforce. I received support from my line manager, a mentor, and my peers in the program.

At the end of the three months, I was offered a full-time position as a problem process manager. The role overlaps with my previous experience, and I’ve found the operations processes similar to when I was last in the workforce. Technology has changed, though, because now we have things like Teams for video calls, and there’s more virtual collaboration.

My career break has made me softer and kinder

I got promoted to senior problem manager in 2022. I’m probably on the same level now as I was before having kids. However, had I not stopped working in 2001, I think I would’ve been in a “head of” or director role by now, because I was very ambitious.

My career break made me a better employee. Having children brought out my nurturing side and made me a softer person. I listen more, am more personable, and kinder.

I’m grateful for the opportunity to get back into work. Without this career returner’s program, I think I would’ve had to lower my expectations and either work my way up from an admin role or apply for an apprenticeship.

The traditional hiring process unfairly penalizes career returners because of gaps in their résumés. Returners bring years of professional experience and industry knowledge, along with additional skills gained during their career breaks.

Do you have a story to share about taking a career break? Contact this reporter at ccheong@businessinsider.com.