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Originally established for times when I needed more than 140 characters to finish a thought on marketing or media.

HBR on re-entry after a career break

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Harvard Business Review has an interesting but flawed article on “relaunchers” — people who take a break from their careers and then return to the workforce.

And I have a couple of issues with the piece.Harvard Business Review

No male “relaunchers” were interviewed and the women who were interviewed didn’t explain their career breaks, with the exception of one who noted that she had taken time off to be with her family. First of all, there’s nothing wrong with acknowledging her decision to leave a high-powered job to raise her children. It gives the reader a more insight into her decision to take a career break. Second, noting the reason why she took a break doesn’t diminish her return to the workforce or her subsequent achievements. So why not tell us why the others took their breaks?

As for the omission of a male perspective, the article seems to exclude anyone who took a career break that was unrelated to family. Although I understand that a lot of “relaunchers” are returning after raising a family, surely these programs also have participants who took breaks for other reasons. It would have been good to include those points of view as well.

 

#careers #careerbreaks

Author: Jacqui Barrineau

Jacqui Barrineau is a writer and editor who lives in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., with husband Trey, a Shetland Sheepdog and two unhelpful-but-funny cats. Her work has appeared in "So to Speak" and "Calliope," and she's a regular contributor to the flash-fiction sites Paragraph Planet and Doorknobs & Bodypaint. Once upon a time, she was the audience engagement editor at USA Today. Now she does other fun things that involve advertising, marketing and social media. The views expressed here and in other outlets are hers, not her clients'. Outside of work, she's proud to serve on the Northern Virginia Community College Marketing Advisory Committee. As a committee member, she joins industry leaders in lending their knowledge and expertise to ensure the college's Marketing curriculum is relevant and responsive to the needs of the students and the surrounding business communities.

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