The woman returner--getting back to work. (Checklist 094).

This checklist is for those women preparing to re-enter employment. Many women leave paid employment due to family responsibilities, but once these have changed or been resolved, they find that their confidence to return to work has been eroded or their skills are now out of date. This checklist forms a step-by-step guide to help address these problems.

Management Standards

This checklist has relevance to the MSC National Occupational Standards for Management: Key Role C--Manage People.

Definition

Woman returner is a broad term used to describe any woman returning to paid employment, whether full or part-time, after a substantial period away from work, usually taken to care for children or elderly relatives.

Returners are the norm amongst the female workforce: the full-time life-long career woman with a family is still the exception.

Action checklist

1. List your skills

If you are returning to work after a long absence, be imaginative in identifying skills you have already acquired: define the tasks you perform on a daily basis and the skills used. Running a home demands good time, project and financial management skills and the ability to organise and negotiate. Many people in work will not have this breadth of experience. Take into account any voluntary or unpaid work, for example with schools or local committees.

2. Translate your skills into areas of strength

Classify the skills you have identified into different groups, for example, people management or financial planning. This can be used to demonstrate your strengths to potential employers. Consider which skills you most enjoy applying: this will give you pointers to possible areas of work.

3. Look at areas of weakness

When--and only when--you have built up your confidence by identifying your strengths, consider your weaknesses and limitations, for example those imposed by family commitments. Be honest but positive. For every weakness you identify, think about ways of remedying it--through practice or training. Remember that no one in employment is perfect.

4. Identify opportunities

Relate your strengths to areas of job opportunity. e creative in identifying options. Have new companies moved into the area or are they likely to? Use local sources of information such as libraries, directories and job centres.

5. Be honest about the barriers

Once you are clear about the opportunities, be honest at this stage about the potential barriers. These could include: travel, childcare, family resistance, lack of qualifications. Work through the list and be creative in thinking how each could be overcome, or be prepared to acknowledge that some will be insuperable. Enlist the help of family and friends at this stage.

6. Set goals and priorities that are right for you

Set clear goals for what you want to achieve from returning to work and take account of your own priorities rather than those of others. These could relate to finances, hours of work or type of employment. Be realistic with your targets: set ones that are achievable in the short to medium term rather than aiming too high initially.

7. Draw up an action plan which identifies simple steps

Take your goals and list the actions ou need to take to achieve each one. Set yourself a realistic but stretching timetable and include dates against each action and a cost. Work out your overall timetable and budget and make any adjustments you need to.

8. Consider whether you need training to achieve your goals and identify the options

Will you need, or benefit from, training to achieve your goals* Consider all options, including:

* a returner's course: a short course to give you some preparation for work, probably including interview techniques and CV writing--this may be useful if you are returning to the same type of employment but need some confidence building

* an updating course: this is a longer version of the above, which may include the updating of skills such as word processing

* further education or training leading to a qualification: this will be more time-consuming, but will enable you to apply for a wider range of jobs

* a course to help you acquire new skills: so you can change career direction

* a course to enable you to set up your own business.

You can seek guidance on any of these options from:

* Learning Direct, a free telephone helpline set up under the University for Industry initiative, to help adults with learning and career queries. Tel: 0800 100 900; 9am to 9pm Monday to Friday, 9am to 12 noon Saturday.

* the local Job Centre, which will provide advice on government training schemes and other retraining schemes in areas of skill shortage

* the local Careers Office.

9. Prepare yourself

If you have been away from work a long time, prepare yourself for returning by doing voluntary or committee work. Treat it as you would paid employment; learn from mistakes and experiences, and get used to working within time constraints.

10. Build your own networks

Consider joining a women returners' network or other local group of women in work. You will be able to share experience and develop new contacts--particularly useful if you are setting up your own business.

11. Begin searching for a job

Begin looking at advertised and non-advertised sources of employment: the local job centre, newspapers and free magazines, the Yellow Pages. Send your CV and a covering letter to all appropriate employers--research shows that using this approach got 85% of people a job.

12. Draw up a CV

Draft a CV listing your education and qualifications, jobs to date and relevant skills and experience. Seek help from family, friends or the local careers adviser in refining the draft. Have the final version typed up.

13. Draw up a list of questions to ask employers

Focus on what is important to you, for example:

* subsidised childcare

* flexible leave arrangements to care for elderly or disabled relatives

* training to help you develop

* opportunities for promotion.

Dos and don'ts for an effective return to work

Do

* Be positive: take small steps initially to build your confidence.

* Get the support of your partner, family and relatives.

Don't

* Undertake extensive re-training or re-skilling before researching the local employment situation thoroughly: even training in an area of skill shortage may not guarantee you a job.

Useful reading

Books Returning to work: a directory of education and training for women, Women Returners Network London: Paul Chapman, 1996 Women mean business: a practical guide for women returners, Caroline Bamford and Catherine McCarthy London: BBC Books, 1991 Women returners employment potential: an agenda for action, Women's National Commission London: Cabinet Office, 1991 Good practices in the employment of women returners, Amin Rajan and Penny Van Eupen Brighton: Institute of Manpower Studies, 1990 Getting there: job hunting for women, 2nd ed, Margaret Wallis London: Kogan Page, 1990 Returning to work: a practical guide for women, Alec Reed London: Kogan Page, 1989

Useful addresses Women Returners Network, 344-354 Gray's Inn Road, London, WC1X 8BP Tel: 020 7278 2900 Women in Management Special Interest Group, Institute of Management, Management House, Cottingham Road, Corby, Northants NN17 1TT Tel: 01536 207331 (contact Kate Huntingdon). Industrial Society, Robert Hyde House, 48 Bryanston Square, London, W1H 7LN Tel: 020 7479 2000 Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs) and Local Enterprise Councils (LECs) Contact your local TEC or LEC for information about their training services and other re-training opportunities in your area

Related checklists

* Writing your CV

* How to succeed at interviews

* Personal development planning

Thought starters

* Where would you like to see yourself in 10 years' time* Will the goals you have set allow you to get there?

* What is your real priority in returning to work* Will your chosen route deliver this?

* What barriers are in your way* List them.

* How can you overcome these barriers*

* What would you do if you knew you could not fail?

Further information

Checklists are available in the following formats:

* Individual checklists.

* A complete set of 175 on CD-ROM or in hard copy.

* Checklists with permission to photocopy.

Full details of the range of checklists that are available can be obtained from:

Lavis Marketing, 73, Lime Walk, Headington, Oxford, OX3 7AD Tel: 0845 702 3736 (local call rate) Fax: +44 1865 750079 or from Checkpoint on the Chartered Management Institute's website at www.managers.org.uk