by Carol Fishman Cohen
The highlight of our research for our career reentry strategy book Back on the Career Track: A Guide for Stay-at-Home Moms Who Want to Return to Work was interviewing Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor about her five years as a stay-at-home mom (she was still on the court when we met with her). Justice O’Connor was a master at staying connected to her field during her career break. Her contacts from one of her career break experiences, her volunteer work for the Republican Party, helped O’Connor relaunch her career in the Arizona Attorney General’s Office in 1965. And we all know what happened after that.
Vivian and I are regularly asked for ideas on how relaunchers can stay connected to their fields while on career break. Rather than just give suggestions, I thought it would be more useful to see a list of actual examples. Here they are, beginning with five from Justice O’Connor:
Examples from Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor
1) Graded bar exams for the Arizona Bar which kept her current in the law
2) Set up a lawyer referral network for the local bar association, which kept her contacts current
3) Was a juvenile court referee
4) Sat on the County Zoning and Planning Board
5) Became involved in the Republican Party
Medical
6) Nurse covered one shift every other week
7) Nurse did phone triage for pediatrician’s offices on occasional overnights – she answered the beeper from home while nursing her baby in the middle of the night!
8) Physician was camp doctor at her child’s summer camp for a month
9) Nurse/Lactation Consultant worked “mother’s hours” at breastfeeding education and product supply company while her child was in preschool
10) Medical social worker volunteered at a hospice
11) Doctor consults one day a week for home health care company, answering questions for and supervising nurses who make house calls
12) Doctor explains medical terms and diagnoses for medical reference website
Business
13) Manager was mentor for business school students trying to make career decisions
14) Private equity specialist joins angel investing group for women owned businesses
15) Recruiter founded and leads Career Club from home, except for weekly meetings
16) Marketing exec created and managed International Night at elementary school – largest community event in school’s history
17) Finance exec wrote elementary school grant proposal for a technologist in residence, resulting in largest single school grant ever awarded from her city’s local school foundation.
18) Marketing strategist arranged panel of speakers for software marketing industry association event – one became her first client when she started her consulting business
19) Former brand manager turned freelance writer wrote a semi-regular parenting column for her local paper
20) Management consultant focused on education reform applied for and received grant to create innovative science fair in a local school district
21) Financial analyst led strategy committee for her children’s school in messy school redistricting campaign
22) Accountant was PTO Treasurer and handled PTO’s application as 501c3 which had never been filed
23) A brand manager started a regional alumni group for her alma mater (actually we know two who did)
24) Marketing analyst was head of membership for a large women’s volunteer organization, essentially marketing the “brand” of the organization to potential members
Legal
25) Lawyer taught one legal brief writing course at a local law school
26) Lawyer worked as court appointed arbitrator on selected cases. Other lawyers have volunteered as arbitrators.
27) Lawyer represented abused women and children pro bono for DC Volunteer Lawyers Project
28) Lawyer volunteered writing legal briefs for State Appeals Bureau
Creative Fields: Writing/Arts
29) Novelist writes occasional book reviews for major metro paper
30) Graphic designer designed logo for an educational non-profit pro bono
Technical
31) Computer Scientist created and designed her children’s school website
32) Computer tech volunteered to set up and wire PTO funded computer lab in children’s school
33) Chemical Engineer developed and led science enrichment program at her child’s elementary school that brought higher level science to three grades
Education
34) Children’s librarian sat on national Children’s Book Award selection committee
35) Teacher ran “student-to-student” after-school tutoring program as a volunteer
36) PhD with a background in literature and art created a special program for her daughter’s 1st grade class based on the art they would see before field trip to an art museum.
Have you stayed connected to your field while on career break? Please share your experiences with us and we will keep adding to the list! It will be a great resource for other relaunchers. Please email me at info@iRelaunch.com with your ideas.
Carol Fishman Cohen Vivian Steir Rabin
Carol Fishman Cohen and Vivian Steir Rabin are the co-founders of iRelaunch “The Career Reentry Experts ® , ” a company producing career reentry programming, events, and content for employers, universities, organizations and individuals, and the co-authors of the acclaimed career reentry strategy book Back on the Career Track: A Guide for Stay-at-Home Moms Who Want to Return to Work.
iRelaunch’s signature products include the Career Relaunch ® Forum, a one day return to work conference offered around the country, Relaunch Circles™ , a four session, coach led, networking/learning/coaching/support program, with a curriculum based on Back on the Career Track, and Back on the Career Track ® Webinars.
Carol and Vivian can be reached at info@iRelaunch.com.
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