Get Active in Your Career – Managing your career whilst on leave by networking!

Often the last thing on your mind when you go on leave is returning to work and least of all networking. However, effectively managing your career while on leave can significantly impact on your successful return to the workforce. One easy way to do this is to keep in contact with your employer and/or expand your networks whilst on leave.

I know from experience that when I went on parental leave, I thought I had done all the right things, I had the conversation with my manager around my expectations of returning to work in around a years’ time in a part time capacity. I mean I had written the parental leave toolkit for my organisation so I thought I had this one in the bag. So I wiped my hands of work and moved on to have the incredible experience of motherhood!

When I did return to work around a year later, I returned to a part time position, but it didn’t come with the same level of challenge or reward that I was used to and I started to feel underwhelmed at work. This was not due to my manager or organisation, it was due to the role I was in previously being a full time position and not one that could be performed part time, so I undertook tasks that could be done in my capacity of two days a week. If I had put in some time whilst on leave connecting with my manager and expanding my network in and outside of the organisation, I’m sure it would have proven to be a very different outcome. I wasn’t going to let this happen again.

Second time around, after my son was born, I made the decision to be more proactive in my own career. During my leave I had reflected on my situation and my career goals and decided that my current employer couldn’t offer me the type of work I wanted, which was to move from generalist HR to focusing solely on career management.

This time I made time to network while I was on leave to put myself in the best position possible, undertaking the following activities:

• I devised a plan and allocated 30 minutes twice a week to networking and connecting with people relevant to the industry I wanted to enter into and as I had continued to connect with my manager I also had his support.
• I was courageous and reached out to people, telling them of my intentions to come back to work, my skills and experience and that I was interested in their industry and joining their organisation meant that I was able to learn a huge amount about the industry that I was pursuing.
• I took people out for coffee and became curious about them, their experiences, their industry and any advice or referrals they could offer, all in the aid of creating my network and a career that was challenging, rewarding and utilised my skills and talents.
• The networking and time I allocated to my career allowed me to create my own path and having an honest relationship with my manager assisted as he was supportive and was able to provide relevant referees. These practices and relationships I developed paid off; I commenced my own career management business and secured a two day a week role with a major Australian university. This meant that I was able to balance my work life with my family life.

I didn’t spend the majority of my time networking whilst on leave, as my focus was on my babies. But I planned and made a concerted effort to ensure that I did something towards my career allowing me to established great contacts and secure a rewarding job that also worked in with my family. Whether it was to get on LinkedIn and read some of the articles posted into my groups or setting up a coffee catch up with a colleague, or dialling in or attending the monthly team meeting… I just kept in touch and connected with new people of interest. It’s not hard if you plan for it and can make the world of difference when you do return to work.

Whether you plan on returning to the same organisation in a capacity that challenges and rewards you or you want to make a change to another industry or organisation, use the time you put aside each month to research organisations and industries, relevant job postings and make contact with them to get the ball rolling. The saying is true, “it’s not what you know, but who knows you”.