Switched ON Living is passionate about fighting the scourge of ageism in all its forms. Employment is one of the settings where ageism is most prevalent.

Carol Fishman Cohen faced the problem of re-entering the workforce after she had been out of it for 11 years to raise her four children. Now she helps other people to do as she did and relaunch their careers after taking a break.

Carol calls her clients ‘relaunchers’. Many are women who want to resume their careers after raising their children. It’s notorious how hard it can be for mothers to re-enter the workforce at anywhere near the level of seniority they achieved before they left.

As Carol says in this TEDTalk from 2015, there are all sorts of reasons why people in the past had to leave the workforce and now want to rejoin.

In her presentation, Carol talks about Tracy, a divorced mother who relaunched her career after 13 years at home. As we learn at the end of the video, Tracy’s return to work proved very successful.

Tracy and the other relaunchers we learn about are an inspiration, but before anyone starts to check job ads after years out-of-the-workforce, Carol has important advice.

Based on her conversations with employers, Carol says they have two concerns about hiring relaunchers:
•    relaunchers are technologically obsolete
•    relaunchers don’t know what they want to do.

In both of these instances, the onus is on the relauncher to demonstrate to employers they can value to the organisation and have sufficient skills to function in the modern office. That includes proficiency with the Office suite of programs and a current understanding of the industry they are targeting.

Recounting her own return-to-work preparation, Carol read the Wall Street Journal every day for months to get up to speed on the finance industry, and also spent time learning Excel.

In 2010, Carol says she identified a trend where relaunchers were being offered short-term internships. That trend has continued, and in 2015 Carol wrote an article in the Harvard Business Review about corporate return-to-work programs.

Carol is a strong advocate for return-to work programs and it’s easy to understand why they are becoming much more common. For employers, it gives them the chance to assess the relauncher in the actual work environment.

For the relauncher, the programs offer a structured, paid internship with the chance of permanent employment at its end.

Carol calls relaunchers gems in the workforce and that’s an attitude everyone at Switched ON Living will applaud.

Of all the reasons she lists why relaunchers might be an organisation’s best new hires – fewer maternity or relocation leave breaks, more settled lifestyles, great work experience, more mature perspectives–its’s the extra energy and determination to make a success of their return-to-work that distinguishes them from others.

Relaunching your career– it even sounds very Switched ON.