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Home > HerMoney with Jean Chatzky > Ep 196: How To Successfully Take A Career Break 
Podcast: HerMoney with Jean Chatzky
Episode:

Ep 196: How To Successfully Take A Career Break 
Category: Business
Duration: 00:35:53
Publish Date: 2020-01-15 00:10:37
Description:

While care-taking for those we love most can be a beautiful, wouldn’t-have-it-any-other-way experience, we often pay a substantial price. Our time out of the workforce reduces our earning power by an average of 18%, and that number goes up to 37% when our breaks last three years or longer. While those numbers are sobering, they don’t change the realities of life. According to the Harvard Business Review, 43% of women with children leave their careers or take a career break, and 24% of women duck out of the workforce at some point to care for an aging parent.

In other words, sometimes we have to take a step back, or step out, but there are ways to do it that can lessen the blow to our careers, according to Stacey Delo and Jennifer Gefsky, co-authors of “Your Turn: Careers, Kids and Comebacks — A Working Mother’s Guide. Together, they run Apres, a digital career platform for women who are returning to the workforce, or who may be pivoting within the workforce.

Jean, Stacey and Jennifer dive into a discussion around what it means to step out of the workforce completely, transition to part-time, or simply ask for more flexibility in your schedule. The trio break down the cost of stepping out, how to weigh the expense of daycare against your salary, and how to determine what you might be losing out on in terms of salary and retirement savings if you do take a break.

Stacey and Jennifer break down some of their favorite strategies for returning to the workforce, and how to move past the guilt that may go along with decisions to either stay in a job or leave it. They also discuss the disturbing trend of women rejecting promotions for fear of what it may mean for their home life, and what we can all do to change that conversation.

We also discuss what you can say to prospective employers when you’re ready to get back to work, and how to tell your “gap story.” Hint: Explain it quickly and concisely, because employers just want to know that you’re ready, and that you’ll be a committed employee. Then we explore how to maintain your network while you’re out of the workforce so that when you’re ready to ignite your job search, you won’t feel out of touch.

Lastly, in mailbag, Jean answers a question from a listener wondering if she should be paying her financial advisor $3,000 a year to manage her IRA. She also tackles a question about HSA contributions and income level, and reviews some of the best investment options for Gen-Y. In Thrive, we look at the trend of companies enabling employees to save for retirement at the same time they’re paying down student loans.
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