Less than 12% of women in Indian cities are part of the workforce. This is even though 48% of college students are women. How does this affect the Indian economy? Approximately 75% of companies responded to a survey that they couldn’t find the skilled talent that they need. Naturally! Because despite the number of graduates (and post-graduates) increasing year-on-year, the talent pool available for employment is shrinking, as women drop out of the workforce. Companies are beginning to realise this and almost every progressive company, has a second career programme that welcomes qualified women to rebegin their professional journey.
Let us analyse what this means:
Rebegin – is defined in the dictionary as ‘begin again’ – this means that you are restarting.
If you had many years of experience before your break, and you had a short break, you may be restarting from Step 3, instead of at Step 1. But you will begin a few steps below where you left off.
This is hard to accept. But it is the first and hardest truth to accept.
Once you do accept it, the next word to internalize is, ‘again’. Does it feel hard and unfair that you have to go through the whole journey of learning, skill-building, getting the necessary hands-on experience all over again – like you did in college and just after that?
We get it – it’s tough!
The good thing is there is a roadmap that you can follow. indePenn offers a systematic approach – we help women rebegin through our 4-step ABCD process.
Assess – Identify your interests. Whichever area of work you were in, it is certain to have changed. Do you want to do what you did before or world you like to explore a different area? Since you are investing in upskilling, choose an area that interests you and is a skill / job of the future – something that is likely to have plenty of scope for the next 5 years.
Bolster your Confidence – every woman we have spoken with feels the need to rebuild self-confidence in herself as a professional – we facilitate this through multiple webinars and workshops and one-on-one coaching.
Build Competency – upskill yourself through the right courses and certifications with mentoring from a Subject Matter Expert.
Develop a plan – a career rebegin is only the first step in becoming a respected professional with a long tenure.
A Successful Rebegin
Ellen joined indePenn when she heard about us from a former colleague. She had worked for 2 years before she packed her bags and her 1-year-old daughter to follow her husband overseas. Over the next six years, she had her hands full – raising a child and running a home, with no house-help. In her mind, her professional life was a nice memory, much like her college days.
But once they relocated back to India, and she met up with classmates and former colleagues, she began wondering, “is it possible to rebegin? How long would it take? Would it be worth the disruption to the entire family?” Her husband was supportive of her decision to try and the opinion of a close friend, “Apply yourself for a year – if it works out, great. If it doesn’t, at least you won’t have regrets”, finally convinced her.
Once Ellen decided that she would give it a sincere shot, she followed the indePenn ABCD programme meticulously. She was committed and patient.
When we said, “make Google your best friend and explore subjects that interest you”, she jumped in and did just that. A couple of weeks later, she had decided on data science and machine learning (ML). We connected her to a Subject Matter Expert (SME) and she realized that it would take her a year to complete the learning programme and certification. She was a bit worried about whether she would be able to maintain the level of discipline it would take, but decided to take the plunge. We connected her to a couple of other members who had chosen the same track and they were happy to provide her with moral support.
Over the course of the next year, she diligently completed her upskilling. She attended every single webinar that we offered and made full use of the coaching sessions. At one of the webinars, she spoke up and said that gradually she had realised that she no longer thought of her career as a thing of the past. She had rebuilt her confidence that she was looking forward eagerly to rebegin!
And she did just that! She sailed through her very first interview and was offered a position on the team that builds ML models. She was apprehensive when she joined work but has integrated excellently with the team – most of them are a few years younger than her, including her boss – and on coffee breaks and at lunch, she is their go-to person for emotional advice!
She has developed her Continuing Education Plan and plans to lead a team within 2 years.
Ellen is one of our early members and we’re so proud of her ‘Rebegin’ journey. She helped us to understand the various elements that hold women back from taking this bold step.
If you’re already a reader of our blog or follow us on social media, you know that indePenn coaches and prepares women on a career break to rebegin their professional journey and build a second career. We bring women back to work!
Visit us at indePenn.com and Sign Up – we’ll handhold you through the process of returning to work.
Tags – women in workforce, Indian economy, skilled talent shortage, gender pay gap, diversity and inclusion, second career program, rebeginning careers, upskilling, career development, work-life balance, return to work, career break, professional journey.
