Whether you are feeling overwhelmed due to your daily responsibilities or wish to take a break to improve your skill set. Regardless of your reasons, taking a career break is not an easy decision. If you are planning to do so then, let me suggest 8 effective ways to make the most out of your career break so that you can discover new things and dive into other parts of life.
A career break is a period taken out from your employment. Either it can be a voluntary decision or because you’re left with no choice. These breaks mostly last from two months to two years. However, it’s up to you to decide the time.
While a career break may not seem like an ideal decision, it allows you to develop a healthy work-life balance. There are many reasons to take time off from your work. Including traveling, joining any training or course, and taking care of your family. You may also go for it to take care of your mental well-being.
Taking a career break was considered a stigma. A report by LinkedIn even showed that hiring managers usually reject one in five candidates with a career gap.
However, a career break has become popular in recent times. But it involves some risk. Make sure that taking a break actually makes sense to you. Otherwise, you may have to cope with your finances as well as your responsibilities and career.
A survey on working women even showed that the length of the career break plays an important role in your professional development. Plus, re-entry is quite difficult after the break.
As long as it’s genuine and reasonable, there is nothing wrong with taking a career break. Sometimes, it even becomes necessary to take a break to improve your skills or gain more experience and build a healthy mindset.
So, let’s go ahead and read when can you consider a career break and how can you make the most out of it.
A Career Break: 8 Important Ways To Make The Most of It
Taking a career break has been normalized over time. However, it still requires you to have valid reasons as hiring managers may ask you to justify it once you resume work.
Let’s learn all the conditions you need to take care of before planning a career break.
What is a Career Break?
A career break is the time when you leave your employment for a certain period. Generally, it’s due to personal responsibilities or pursuing other interests. Let’s take an example:
- You are taking a career break before applying to your first job
- Or you want to take a break to write a book or learn music
Often taking a career break from your work is a choice but in some situations, you might not have other options. If you left your previous job because of the toxic workplace environment, you need time to think of your next step.
You can go for a career break to take care of your family or to recover from anxiety and mental stress.
A career break is often a good choice considering the other aspects of your life. If you feel clueless about where you are headed in life or you want to learn more about yourself, then a career break could be very useful for you.
What are the Reasons for Taking a Career Break?
Taking a career break is mostly proven as a beneficial decision. You get time to work on yourself and upskill yourself. Let’s learn 6 justified reasons to take a break.
1. You Want To Spend Time With Your Family
It is significant to build a healthy relationship with your family. While everyone talks about maintaining the work-life balance, the truth is these two are interdependent. You cannot be peaceful in one space without having peace in the other.
Taking a career break to spend time with your family is mostly for the short term. If you have kept yourself busy with work and crave quality time with your family, then it’s the right time to step back and take a career break.
2. You Want To Improve Your Skillset
One of the right reasons to take a break is to learn new skills or join any training. Taking your time to expand your skills requires maximum focus and time.
You can take a career break and invest your time and energy in improving your skillset. There will be no pressure from your work as well and gaining new expertise will open doors to many new opportunities.
3. You Need Time To Evaluate Your Career Plans
At times, you may find yourself stuck and unmotivated in your life. You may experience a lack of engagement with your work. Therefore, you may start feeling like there is no positive change in your career.
All these feelings could be a sign to take a career break. Taking time off will help you to re-evaluate your career plans. Look for better opportunities to achieve your goal. It’s even more important to make better career choices to live a fulfilling life.
4. Taking Out Time To Travel
Life without fun and adventure is incomplete. Taking a break to travel is an exciting decision. You can visit the places you always wanted to.
Traveling helps you release stress, boost your confidence, and build new networks. You get to live real-life experiences and it helps you to widen your horizons.
5. You Want to Improve Your Mental Health
Taking a career break for your wellbeing is normal. Sometimes stress, burnout, and anxiety can take a toll on you. Thus, it is important to take care of your mental health to avoid any serious issues.
Your health should be your priority. A career break will help you to regain your motivation and get relief from stress.
6. You Get Involved In Your Hobby
Your hobbies bring you joy and satisfaction. Your hobbies and career might not align with each other.
You can take a career break and get more involved in your passion. This could be learning to sing, write a book, start a YouTube channel, record a podcast, or make animated videos.
By following your passion you will also feel self-fulfillment. If you can’t take out much time, consider doing it with your work responsibilities.
Now, here are a few tips to justify your career break and 7 tricks to get a job after a sabbatical.
Is it OK to Take Career Break?
Remember, that a career break is normal and you don’t need to hide them. Be open about your choices to your recruiters.
There is nothing wrong with taking a career break. The only trick is to be prepared and confident. You should be able to justify your career gap.
Here is how you can do that:
- List your career break as a sabbatical in your resume.
- Prepare your answers beforehand related to the career gap.
- List any new skills in your CV that you learned during the break.
- Be confident while speaking about your career break. Don’t be ashamed of your choices.
- Mention events, charity work, hobbies, or any volunteer work you did during your career break.
- During the job interview talk about the experience and soft skills you developed during the break.
This is how a career hiatus is beneficial to develop transferable skills. Besides this, there is no perfect time to take a break. If you sense the need then exert yourself to take some time off.
Is it Hard to Get a Job After a Career Break?
A career break has become a common trend. Your career gap might not affect your recruitment as it has no reflection on your capabilities.
Although, you should be prepared to validate your break. Recruiters hire you based on the value you add to their company.
Most of the time, recruiters test your confidence and self-awareness. Be prepared and sound confident during the interview.
Here are 7 tips that can help you to increase your chances of getting hired.
1. Updated Your Knowledge
You need to do the homework and update yourself with the current trends. Stay connected with the information of the domain that you are applying for. Time has changed and more preference is given to skills rather than the degree alone. Hence, carefully identify the skills required for the desired position and then prepare yourself.
If you are rejoining the workplace after your career break. Then, revive old relationships with the staff and understand the changes that have taken place.
2. Strong Resume
The stigma regarding career breaks is not completely eliminated. You might face difficulty even being called for the interviews. The solution to overcoming this barrier is to prepare a strong resume.
Highlight your skills, experience, and knowledge in your resume. Make sure to mention your achievements, progress, and outcomes delivered. Customize your resume based on each job application requirements.
3. Updated LinkedIn Profile
Optimise and update your LinkedIn profile and be active on the platform. Build your connections and contribute to relevant discussions. Become a member of relevant groups. Connect with your prospects or potential recruiters.
An updated LinkedIn profile will help you to build a strong network and create a positive impression.
4. Practice Interview Questions Beforehand
The hiring manager will surely ask you these questions so practice it beforehand.
- Why did you take a break?
- What were you doing during your career break?
- How do we know you are not looking at this job position as a short-term career move?
5. Show Your Enthusiasm
You need to express your excitement during the interview. Make them believe that you are attracted to the company’s values. Show confidence to contribute your best and apply all your knowledge and skills.
Your low energy, lack of confidence, and bad body language can leave a bad impression on the recruiters. Hence, work on your communication skills and research about the company you are applying to.
6. Certificates And Testimonials
You can make a positive impact with your certificates and testimonials. If possible, collect testimonies from your ex-boss or team leaders.
These certifications will add to your credibility. Make sure to highlight them in your CV.
7. Being Confident
Confidence can be the biggest game changer in your professional life. Be confident about your abilities and the decisions you make.
Justify your career break with valid reasons. Never be ashamed or regret the decisions that you made in the past.
Follow these 7 tips and increase your chances to make the most out of your career break. Read further about 8 things you can try during a career break.
What to do During a Career Break?
A career break may seem intimidating but it can end up being a fruitful decision for you. Use this time to advance your skills. Take good care of your mental and physical health.
A career break can even help you to switch your profession for good. Moreover, some employers even grant leave to develop skills. Taking a break allows you to live a life-changing experience.
Thus, plan a proper career break to reboot your life. Here are 8 ways to make the most out of your career break.
1. Follow Your Dreams
As cliche, as it sounds, utilize your career break to work on your dreams. Dreams here are not restricted to traveling the world, your dreams could be anything you wish and like. Maybe it is to work on your passion project or maybe it is to just stay at home and do nothing. Choose what suits you and live your life according to your decisions.
Even if things don’t work out in your favor you can return to your work. Take it easy and live your dream.
2. Get A Fresh Perspective
Take a break and try to understand different perspectives in life. Evaluate your values and beliefs to achieve what you truly want out of your life. Make new relationships, try new activities, and explore different environments. A career break can provide you with the space and time to improve your work-life balance.
3. Learn A New Language
One of the great ways to invest your time is to learn new things. Speaking different languages can be beneficial for you professionally. You can also immerse yourself in learning different cultures.
Either be friends with native speakers and practice the language. Or take online classes, interact with a professional, and practice the dialect.
4. Experiment With A New Career
A career break is a golden chance to test new things. It would be difficult for you to leave your job and try a new career. Neither it’s advisable.
However, you can use the period of a career break to put a new career to the test. Take about a three to six-month break and gain experience. Remember not to take stress and worry about performance pressure.
You can consider working as a writer, blogger ;), vlogger, graphic designer, or anything you always wanted to do.
5. Acknowledge Your Identity
There is no compulsion to change yourself completely. A career break will allow you to discover new things about yourself. You get to prioritize more important things you love.
You will rediscover your love for your profession. Cherish the moments spent with your loved ones.
This career break can help you to acknowledge your identity and return to your work with more excitement and a fresh perspective.
6. Improve Your Health
The sedentary lifestyle has made laptop screens an inseparable part of your life. Spending too much time on screens affects your health. It can create concerns like neck strain, poor vision, and back pain. If you slump over your screen too much, then a career break is a great decision.
Consider taking a short professional break and adopting healthy habits. Either join yoga training or travel around the world. You will notice the change and see the health benefits start to take effect.
7. Expand Your Network
Take a short career break to build new connections. Research the people you admire and contact them. Invest your time in building a professional network. Connect with successful people as they will share valuable talks with you. Expanding your network and meeting new people may bring new opportunities to you.
8. Develop New Skills
If and only if you want, you can utilize your career break productively as well. Build new skills and update your knowledge. For instance, try any volunteer work, manage an excursion, or learn a technical skill.
This will help you in your promotions or enter into a new job position. Gain real-life experience and develop fresh skills. Use this career break as an opportunity to pursue your passion.
Consider These Risks Involved In The Career Break
A career break can be beneficial for your physical, mental, and emotional well-being. But, consider these risks before taking a career hiatus.
- You will have to explain yourself to future recruiters.
- Career break will impact your finances so do take care of it.
- You will not be in touch with the Trends and practices related to your industry.
- If you are away from work you will not know about the changes and important opportunities.
Take time off only if you’re able to tackle these risks. Later, you can return to your work with a healthy mindset.
Conclusion
To conclude, a career break is the best way to pursue your passion and dreams. This is an opportunity for you to build a healthy and fulfilling life. Whether your leave is by choice or not, use it mindfully. This is your time to acknowledge yourself and your abilities.
I hope that everything you have read today will help you accomplish your career break and use it wisely for your desires.
With that, do let me know, if you have ever taken a career break. If yes, how did you spend it?
