A Relauncher’s Guide to Acing the
Interview
If you’ve been out of the workforce raising a family or for other personal reasons, how much should you talk about your career break during an interview? Do you have to talk about it at all? What’s worth touting from your stay-at-home experience and what isn’t? Also, how do you impress someone in a job interview when you haven’t held a “real job” in years? Here are the answers to these questions and more.
- Do I have to tell interviewers that I took X years off to be with my family if they don’t ask about it? Absolutely not. Some interviewers focus on whether you have the skills and personality to fit in their department. Depending upon how they found you, they may or may not be aware of your career break and they may or may not be concerned about it. A lot of relaunchers make a bigger deal out of their break than potential employers. So don’t be defensive or feel you “have to get this off your chest.” If your time off doesn’t come up, don’t feel you have to talk about it.
- If the interviewer asks about my time at home, what should I say? Should I say that I had to manage all household duties because my husband traveled constantly? How about if I managed a house remodeling? Should I talk about volunteer work I did? Although managing a household with children without a husband’s involvement requires a lot of skills, this won’t be a great selling point in your interviews. First of all, if you’re conversing with a working mother, she may well have been managing the same load AND have held down a job at the same time, so she may be either unimpressed or jealous. And if you’re interviewing with a man, he may be skeptical that you’ll be able to handle all those household tasks AND a job, especially if he has a stay-at-home wife. So, bottom line, don’t spend time talking about your role as CEO of the home. Ditto for managing a remodeling, unless you’re applying for a job with a vendor in that field. Substantive volunteer work, however, is another matter. Absolutely talk about what you did as head of the PTO or any other major pro bono role. But describe your volunteer accomplishments, both on your resume and in interviews, in business terms. For example, “I managed a 10-person team in organizing a carnival that raised 30% more money than in prior years.” Then describe the innovations that made your campaign so successful. A number of the women we interviewed for Back on the Career Track reported that their accomplishments as a volunteer were meaningful to the employers who hired them.
- What if the interviewer says, “Why did you take time off?” What should I say? It can be touchy depending on who is interviewing you. Yes, it can be touchy. And you can’t predict what someone’s reaction is going to be. Don’t assume that a woman will be more understanding than a man, or vice versa. The key to remember here is that you don’t have to justify your choices. Just say, “I decided to stay home for a while with my children (or to take care of my elderly mother or to recover from back surgery or whatever the reason), but now I’m eager to get back to work. Don’t say “I decided to stay home so I could be a good mother.” That is simplistic and not a good message to convey. I actually heard someone say that at a roundtable discussion and another mother, who has worked all her life, was extremely offended. “Do you mean to say that I’m not a good mother?” she snapped. Spend the rest of the interview talking about the opportunity and how your prior experience, skills and passion make you a fit.
- How can I sound impressive on a job interview
when I haven’t held a real job in
years? Take the time to
prepare yourself for an interview, ideally undergoing mock
interviews with friends. Be sure you’ve
completely reviewed your past work history so you can talk about
relevant career experiences as if they happened
yesterday. If you remember an experience, and
learned from it, then it’s worth talking about in an interview, no
matter how old it is. If you read biographies of
business leaders, you’ll note that they often expound on important
lessons learned early in their careers. And you
don’t have to call attention to the fact that the incident you’re
describing took place 15 years ago. Also, take
the time to research the company, and even the executives, if
possible, with whom you’ll be interviewing, so you can speak
knowledgeably about why you’re interested in the organization and
can ask intelligent questions about their
business. Finally, see http://bhuvans.wordpress.com/2006/08/19/50-common-interview-qa/
for some common interview questions and suggested responses.
Carol Fishman Cohen and Vivian Steir Rabin are the co-authors of the acclaimed career reentry book Back on the Career Track: A Guide for Stay-at-Home Moms Who Want to Return to Work, and the co-founders of iRelaunch , a company providing career reentry programming, events, and information to employers, universities, organizations and to mid-career professionals in all stages of career break.
For more information on Relaunching, see iRelaunch and check out Back on the Career Track. Carol and Vivian can be reached at info@iRelaunch.com.
Sign up for iRelaunch's live webinar on Getting Back on the Career Track Using Linked In by Saturday at 5pm, The webinar will be held on Monday, February 23rd at 11 a.m. ET.
