The slides talk about how women can get back to a full time job after a career break. We discuss how career breaks can be leveraged and how resumes can be structured in detail. We also show examples of 2 resumes written for women joining back after a break.

1. Writing Résumés after a Career Break

2. Agenda
• Introduction
• Some facts
• How to get back to the workforce
• How to write your resume
• Importance of a Cover Letter
• Things to keep in mind
• What Get Set Resumes does
• Help

3. Introduction
• Women go on a career break for a variety of reasons. Majority being:
• Maternity
• Travelling with or posted to a different location with husband
• Taking care of a family member
• Recuperating from a loss
• Studies / courses
• A lot of these women face issues while joining back employment because this break
leaves a void in their career timelines
• To avoid this, it is essential for women to structure their resumes professionally and
transparently. And most importantly, without guilt! Career Break is not a crime.
• If done properly, the break period can be shown as a period of self-reflection, skill
enhancement and one that made you become a better individual who is now ready to
contribute more to any job, than before

4. Facts
• According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), India ranks among the bottom 20
countries in a list of 131 in in female labour force participation (FLFP)
• According to WEF, there are only 24% women in India's workforce, 117 million out of 478
million people
• The percentage of senior level female employees in India is a poor 5%. The global average is
about 20 %.
• Almost 48 percent women in India drop out of the workforce before they reach the middle of
their careers. The Asia regional average is 29%.
• "43% of highly qualified women with children are leaving careers or off-ramping for a period of
time.“ ~ an Indian Blogger’s stat (unverified)
• Global Gender Gap Report 2011 released by the World Economic Forum suggests that among
the women in India, the ability of women to rise to positions of enterprise leadership is strong,
with a score of 4.45 with the responses scale being 1=worst and 7 the best.

5. How to get back into the workforce
• Get a Resume Ready
• Flaunt your parenting skills
• Talk about the core skills you gained in your last job
• Write a strong cover note / email
• Lookout for female HRs on the panel of top companies; connect on
LinkedIn
• Update yourself with current trends
• Start polishing your core skills once again and get ready for the
interview

6. How to write your resume
• Elaborate Previous Experience
• Talk about your present role as a Full Time experience
• Highlight the skills that you want to leverage
• Parenting skills
• Skills that you leant in the last job
• Prepare your opening based on these skills
• Write down some achievements
• Select a good format to put this all into
• Tip: get some LinkedIn recommendations from your Ex-Bosses

7. Before
After
Consulted the
client and added
a new section
for the break

8. A brand new summary talking about what you did in your past and following up with why
you took the break and how you utilized your time. Sending out a clear message to the
employer that you are not ashamed of the break, but are transparent and confident; ready to
join back the workforce with full steam.

9. Notice how we have recreated the entire break period as if it was a Full Time job. Well, it
really was, isn’t it! In addition, we have also shown that during the break the candidate
utilized time to enhance skills and took some courses online – so she didn’t just sat passively;
instead went ahead and took a few extra steps towards improving her knowledge.

10. Cover Letter
• Very important to write a
Cover Letter
• Describe your past and
leverage the skills to position
yourself for the new job
• Mention why you took a
break and what skills you
developed while you were
away
Career Break Cover Letter Sample
Dear Hiring Manager,
In response to the advertisement on ABCJobs on date, I am writing to express my
interest for the role of [job title or job reference number]. You can notice from my
attached CV that I bring XX years of experience as a successful [job role].
I am looking to return to work after a carrier break while I [was on maternity
break/raised a child/travelled/cared for a family member/studied/valid reason] and
now wish to take up a role that fits my aspirations. With a strong work history and my
recently updated skillset, I believe I would bring justice to this opportunity that
[Company Name] is offering.
In my previous employments as [Job Roles], I worked on [describe major
responsibilities] and achieved numerous accolades and honors, including [talk about
any awards, customer ratings, etc.]
During my time away from the workplace I have kept abreast of [Sector/ professional]
developments and have undertaken various courses and trainings, include [mention].
I am confident that I have attributes that [Company Name] is looking for and would
very much welcome the opportunity to discuss my application in person.
Yours sincerely,
Your name
Your phone number

11. Things to keep in mind
• Be absolutely sure that you want to rejoin
• Rethink on where you want to go
• Same job? Different role? Different industry?
• How you frame your resume and how you polish yourself will depend on this
• Leverage your parenting skills and the time spent
• Don’t beg. Stay confident
• Employers need you more than you need them
• Stay honest in the resume / email
• Being transparent will put you across as a confident candidate

12. How we help
• As your resume writing partner, we help you build a strategy for job
hunting, centered around your resume
• Understand your requirements and provide suggestions
• Build a profile that gets you attraction from employers
• Help you onboard on LinkedIn with a new LinkedIn profile
• Support you till you land a job interview. And even after that!

13. About Us
• Since 2011, getsetResumes.com has been providing Career
Consultation to clients from over 25 countries in the world, through its
document writing and editing services
• Written over 20,000 resumes for clients across horizontals and
verticals – from students to CEOs of multi-billion dollar corporations
• Work with some of the most reputed companies and job boards in
India and abroad as Resume Writing Partners

14. Help / Contact
www.getsetResumes.com
• info@getsetResumes.com
• +91-9953776253
• +91-120-4238377
We are a Red
Herring Top 100
Asia Finalist (2016),
covered in the media