Women & Work: Why a return isn't as easy as you might think

We're in the closing stages of the recruitment phase of a returners programme sponsored by 6 city law firms, the Reignite Academy. The aim: to enable women (and men) who have taken breaks or stepped by, to get their careers back on track.

Why a programme? Why can't these women simply return to work? They're well trained, have years of experience, a wealth of social & intellectual capital. What's the problem? Where do we start ...

1. Traditional recruitment channels do not work for these women.

Let's start with CVs. CVs are the current lynchpin of the recruitment industry - worth, by the way - around £28 billion to the UK economy. Dead important.

Despite years of professional experience prior to their break, women who’ve taken a career break probably last wrote a CV fresh out of college.  CVs need to get through sophisticated applicant tracking systems - they have to include key words, adhere to a specific format and, ideally, be complete and gapless. And that’s before they are assessed by a human.

Which is why our current research is showing something like this ...

Moving to the human, the first pair of eyes are likely to belong to a relatively junior individual, who is incentivised to place as many people as possible as quickly as possible. Faced with a mountain of CVs that have made it through the applicant tracking system, they are highly skilled at discarding any that look problematic. And guess what? A career break is problematic.

2. There’s an over dependency on detailed job descriptions and interviews that focus on the lat 12 months. 

Understandably - when you’re recruiting thousands you need to keep things simple. A job description is a pragmatic tool - you are describing a square hole in order for some other person to find a square peg to fit in it. 

Job descriptions tend to define a list of tasks and responsibilities that the applicant has to fulfil as opposed to a breadth of competencies, attitudes and behaviours that you are more likely to need in the future. Arguably, far more useful. 

Multitudinous research proves time and time again if women feel they can't fulfil 90% of your job criteria, they don't bother applying in the first place. And if you have been out of the workforce for a few years, that lengthy list of "must haves" can read more like "don't apply for this in a million years."

This might be over simplistic but you get the drift

3. The F word

Our research shows that the number one thing these women need is a level of flexibility. Dynamic arrangements that accommodate real life, that recognise these women will work damned hard and deliver, brilliantly. Flexibility isn't second tier. It should be - and is in many companies - a modern way of fulfilling your 24/7 client commitments.

But jobs are rarely advertised like this. They are either “full time” or “part time”. And usually adhere to a fixed working pattern. This needn't be the way. Time for a rethink.

So no. It's not that simple when women want to return. And it's not straightforward if you really do believe what you say about diversity and want to recruit them and hit those challenging targets.

You need a bespoke approach, that recognises not only the barriers these women face but also their potential and just what they have to offer. 5 tips:

1. Word of mouth works. Keep in contact with the people who leave you for a while Offer them something useful. And find new channels to connect with other women who are ready to return.
2. Design a bespoke recruitment process. Advertise, interview, select, train differently. You can't interview and assess a 40 year old woman with 18 years' experience and a two year career gap using the same methodology and processes used for a 30 year old who's been doing the same job down the road.
3. Ditch job specs and CVs in favour of profiles and competencies. And be prepared to interview for potential, ambition and resilience. There are recruiters out there who specialise in this demographic. They are recruiting in a different way. Rather than taking job profiles and finding people who fit, they begin by finding people who fit.
4. Put yourselves out there. Be creative about how you let these women know you want them. (Hint: they are unlikely to be signed up to those big recruiters who have rejected them so many times in the past)
5. Recognise re-entry can be wobbly. Work out what support people need and make sure they are set up to win. We like to use the analogy of an an astronaut returning from space - it's not just the atmosphere that's takes some adjustment

This is not about equality. Or fairness. It's about building a workforce for the future. It's about closing the UK's productivity gap. It's an economic imperative.

We're thrilled that 6 firms - CMS, Macfarlanes, Orrick, Reed Smith, Sidley and White & Case were prepared to collaborate with us to make the Reignite programme a reality. They have helped us prove that the talent is out there. Women's careers rarely follow straight lines. You need a creative approach to help them back. Find it and you will reap the benefits.