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How to Relaunch Yourself After a Career Break, with Heather Black

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Whether you’ve been away from the workforce for a few months or a few years, it can feel challenging to find your way back. But you can relaunch with confidence, says Find Your Dream Job guest Heather Black. Heather states it isn’t uncommon to have times away from working a job, and being unemployed is a great time to level up your skillset. Before you apply for a new position, consider what you can bring to the table. Heather suggests learning about various options and deciding which skills you have that would apply to those positions. Volunteering is a great way to experience new places and cultures, and can help you decide which field to explore further, as well as give you the needed experience. 

About Our Guest:

Heather Black is the founder and CEO of Supermums. 

Resources in This Episode:

Transcript

Find Your Dream Job, Episode 506:

How to Relaunch Yourself After a Career Break, with Heather Black

Airdate: June 18, 2025

Mac Prichard:

This is Find Your Dream Job, the podcast that helps you get hired, have the career you want, and make a difference in life.

I’m your host, Mac Prichard. I’m also the founder of Mac’s List. It’s a job board in the Pacific Northwest that helps you find a fulfilling career.

Every Wednesday, I talk to a different expert about the tools you need to get the work you want.

One day, you likely will take a career break.

And when you’re ready to return to work, you may have new goals, and employers may have questions about your time away.

Heather Black is here to talk about how to relaunch yourself after a career break.

She’s the founder and CEO of Supermums.

Her company helps parents achieve flexible, well-paid tech careers after parenthood.

Heather joins us from East Sussex in the United Kingdom.

Well, let’s get right into it, Heather. Why do people take career breaks?

Heather Black:

I think there’s many different backgrounds about why people take a break from work, and certainly at Super Mums, we have many people coming through our programs that have had to do just that.

Some of the situations that we’ve found people are in are that they’re having to travel with their partner for work. So they will be the one managing the relocation. If they have kids, managing them settling in and sort of just traveling with them. They might be part of the military or part of a job role that takes them around the world.

But the reality is that it can be difficult for them to find a flexible, well-paid role as part of that they can sort of maintain as they go.

For some others, it’s because they’ve had to look after elderly parents or family members. So they’ve been carers for people, which has taken them out of work for a while.

And the more obvious one is for people who’ve had children, who, you know, have taken maternity break and then decided to take longer off. Now it might be because they are on a lower paid salary, so it doesn’t make sense financially for them to return to work if they’re paying out for childcare, and they are looking for more flexible well-paid opportunity that makes it financially viable for them to have a career again, rather than look after their children or just stay at home.

But we certainly have people who have been stay-at-home parents for 12 years, 13 years, before relaunching their career because they’ve wanted to spend that time with their family as well. And nobody should feel bad about that. They shouldn’t feel like it’s going to disadvantage them, and we’ll talk through, certainly, some of the strategies to get, you know, to relaunch your career as part of the podcast today.

Mac Prichard:

So, people take the career break, and what motivates them to want to return to the workplace? Do you see some common situations where people say, okay I’m ready to go back and work outside the home?

Heather Black:

Absolutely. I think, you know, the motivation is sometimes that their kids have flown the nest. You know, have gone through sort of going off to university and scholarship, and that’s when they’re ready to come back to work. And they’re looking to rekindle those skills and that motivation.

For others, you know, their child has, they’ve done the maternity leave, but what they’re finding is that the job that they originally had isn’t paying them enough or doesn’t offer them the flexibility. So, for them, they’re looking for something else that’s going to offer that flexibility and salary that they can fit around looking after a child now as well.

As for others, who have been out of work for a while, you know, they might have lost their confidence and self-esteem because they’ve, when you have a child, things can be very all-encompassing around looking after the child. And parents who are at home might feel that they’ve lost their sense of identity through not having a career and job anymore.

So that can have various impacts on their mental health. And you know, they are basically looking to re-ignite that, regain their superpowers, and rebuild their confidence through finding their next job opportunity.

So I think there’s various things that motivate people to relaunch.

Mac Prichard:

What about challenges, Heather? What challenges do you see people face when it’s time to relaunch a career after a break?

Heather Black:

Yeah, it’s interesting cause when I work with, I work with our super mums that come through our program every week on our career advice session, and it’s funny about how many of them are shy or don’t want to share that they’ve had a career break. They almost feel bad or embarrassed about it. And you know, they shouldn’t be, right?

Because they’re, you know, everyone has that situation where they could be taking time out for some reason. Whether it’s a sabbatical, whether you want to travel around the world, whether you are caring for somebody, whether you are a parent. None of us should feel bad about taking time out of work. It’s a great privilege in some situations for us to do that, and I think many of us want to be able to do that. You know, and to make the most of life, and it’s not just about having a career.

So I definitely don’t think it’s something to be shy of because as a woman who might have, or a dad, who might have taken out of, time out of work to look after a child, that is actually no different than say someone taking time out to go traveling or to have a sabbatical to some degree.

So there’s gonna be lots of situations where people are putting a career break on their CV, and, you know, as part of that, there might be lots of reasons behind why that is. So don’t see it as a disadvantage. There’s ways that you can, I say, successfully relaunch and resell yourself back into a new career opportunity, but there’s steps you need to do to do that. Like anybody else would do.

So don’t feel like it’s alien. Don’t feel like you’re the only person in the world that’s gonna have that, you’re not. It can be very normal for people to have career breaks for various reasons.

Mac Prichard:

And I want to talk about how to do that relaunch in a moment. Before we get there, Heather, how do employers feel about candidates who have taken career breaks? What do you see in your work?

Heather Black:

So I think for the employers, they want to take people on who are actively trained and up-skilled in some of the latest technology, most in-demand skills. So if you have had time out of work, you do have to put the effort and time, and investment into up-skilling yourself and getting you back into being employment-ready. And looking at up-skilling in those areas where there is in-demand skills.

And employers are then going to want that. Because what is quite prevalent really is that people who are in jobs quite often don’t have the time to up-skill sometimes in the most in-demand or most recent skills, because they’re so busy working, they don’t have time to do that.

So, if you’re unemployed, you’re currently at actually a very great advantage at leaning in and getting some of those skills and things that employers are wanting.

So if you’re approaching an employer, an employer is looking for that. They’re looking for people who are motivated, who are keen, who have invested in themself, have invested in their training, you know, can offer value to them. They’re looking for attributes. I talk about superpowers with the attributes. We talk about, you know, the skills you’ve got, the knowledge you’ve got.

And that might have been in a previous workplace and role. It might have been in voluntary work, it might be you as a parent and how you manage your household, or if you’ve managed relocation to different, you know, different countries. You will have certain attributes, skills, and knowledge that you can apply and sell yourself into in any type of role.

So it’s thinking about what the employer’s looking at from you. Because if you go and apply for job opportunities where your skills and experience is ten years out of date, then yes, you’re not going to look as attractive to employers. And I think it’s about realizing that and going, alright, well, how do I take that step and make the bridge now?

Mac Prichard:

Let’s talk about that because I think some listeners might worry, hearing the point you’re making, oh my gosh, I’m doomed, I haven’t gone to graduate school. I haven’t worked outside the home in this, a particularly a long break, 5 or 10 years or more.

So, how do you recommend people get started? What have you seen work effectively for candidates who want to address the concerns that employers might have that an applicant’s skills are out of date, or they simply haven’t been part of the workforce in 5 or 10 years or more?

Heather Black:

So let’s talk about finding your superpowers. Now, when I work with parents, I get to reflect on actually their attributes first to think about what type of job role might suit them.

And once they figure out what job role might suit them, then that’s where to focus in on the training. So I do a quiz with parents who come through, who are entered in our program. And I ask them, you know, if they are playing with their kids, or they’re talking to their friends and family, there’s different kinds of buckets that we can kind of put ourselves into.

So if they are that typical person where they are very much the counselor, the facilitator, they like listening to people, solving people’s problems. You know, they’re always the listening ear for the kids or their friends, and their family. They, in our world, Super Mums, we’d say, you’d make a great business analyst. Because a business analyst listens to people’s problems, solves them, and helps come up with solutions. And it’s very much that people-person role.

Equally, you know, a business analyst might be one job role, but then also you might be really great in some sort of sales role, you might be good in a counseling role, you might be good in a paternal role where you’re looking after people.

You know, so you’re thinking about whether those skills suit you, can lead you down certain career paths.

Mac Prichard:

Let’s pause there. We’re gonna take a break. And I want to continue this conversation. Stay with us, when we return, Heather Black will continue to share her advice on how to relaunch yourself after a career break.

We’re back in the Mac’s List studio. I’m talking with Heather Black.

She’s the founder and CEO of Supermums.

Her company helps parents achieve flexible, well-paid tech careers after parenthood.

Heather joins us from East Sussex in the United Kingdom.

Now, Heather, before the break, we were talking about how to relaunch yourself after a career break.

And in our first segment, we talked about the reasons why people take career breaks, how employers think about breaks, and we started to walk through the steps you recommend people take when coming back into the workforce.

And you talked about the importance of knowing what you offer and thinking about the skills you have and the experiences you’ve had. And also the importance of knowing the job you want.

Let’s talk more about that. Why is it important, Heather, to be clear about the opportunities that you’re most interested in when coming back to work after a break?

Heather Black:

I think it’s the biggest barrier to moving forward if you don’t have clarity on which career path to go down. Because you just get that rabbit in headlights type of situation.

So I think leaning in and learning about different opportunities, talking to people, attending events, or learning opportunities to learn about different career paths and what the different training options are is vital, really, to make an informed decision about where you want to go.

So, at Super Mums, we run something called the Relaunch Your Career master class. People can do a free training course to learn more about what the course entails, what the product entails, what they would learn, the key skills. And that just gives people all the information they need to know to say, is this right for me or not? Without any sort of financial commitment to training.

And so, you have to be prepared to commit that initial time to research. So to say, talk to your friends and family. 60% of people that come to our program have heard about it through word of mouth, because they’re talking to people.

So don’t be afraid to talk to people, to learn, to listen, to participate in things, so you can make that identification of the right step forward for you.

Mac Prichard:

And when you’re having those conversations, if you’re not taking part in an organized program like Super Mums, what have you seen work for people who are doing this on their own?

You mentioned exploring different careers, having conversations with others. Who should you reach out to, Heather, and what kinds of questions should you ask to get clear about the career you want to tackle next?

Heather Black:

So I think there’s two answers to this.

The first is deciding if it’s right for you or not. And the first is just to talk to people about what they…one – understand your skills and experience. So I talked previously about your superpowers, you know. What is it you’re really good at? What do you enjoy? You know, think about how that plays out in your life. And think about what you’ve really enjoyed at work before.

So know and own who you are. And if you’re not clear on that, get a career coach to help you.

The second is then talk to people in different industries and really understand, like, is this right for me, is it gonna give me the flexibility, is it gonna give me the pay, and what does it offer.

Now, once you’ve decided on the path to go down, there’s some key ingredients that I think are really important to make sure you do actually get to that end goal. And we combined all these ingredients at Super Mums into our package.

So the first is you want to have really good quality assured training that employers will recognize and, you know, appreciate that they’re on your CV. So you want a quality assured training provider that’s got good reviews, that’s going to be recognized as quality training on your CV.

The second is you want to find a mentor who can provide you with one-to-one mentoring support during your learning journey and can verify the skills you’re learning and your expertise. Because then they can act as a reference for you, as part of what you do.

And thirdly, you want to try and get some work experience in that industry to put on your CV as well. Because equally, you might do that for free, initially, you might like to get that paid, but what that means is that you can add that onto your CV, your LinkedIn profile, and again, providing a reference.

And all of that we embedded into the Super Mums program.

The other element to it is also creating a community, finding other people like you who are going through this career relaunch journey. The biggest things that the Super Mums feedback to is that they really relish the opportunity to be part of a cohort, a group of people that are all on this relaunch journey together. Because they find that they really motivate and support each other.

And if you can find all those key ingredients and organize that yourself for your chosen career path, then that’s gonna give you the best chance at success.

Mac Prichard:

So, get experience as either an intern or a volunteer. Be clear about the career you want. Connect with others who are doing a career relaunch.

What other tips do you have, Heather, for someone who is relaunching their career and wants to pursue those opportunities?

Heather Black:

I think the key thing is to start building your network and to have allies by your side.

And you need to make sure that your energy is good. That you’re looking after yourself, you’re tapping into energy, whether that’s running or cycling, or reading, or meditation. You know, in order to progress and achieve your goals, you need to have a good energy state and you need to feel good and confident.

The second is to surround yourself with people that are gonna lift you up and empower you and support you on that journey. And again, it’s the reason why, you know, people work with us at Super Mums, is because they always say, “you’ve really got a supportive team.”

You want to find that tribe around you, who are on this journey and are cheering you on along the way. Because it is hard. Every day, you’re going to have days where you think that imposter syndrome is telling you that you can’t do it, you’re never going to get there. You know, that’s normal, everybody has that. But it’s about overcoming that through having, let’s say, good energy, people around you, cheering you on, and telling you, “yes, you can.”

Mac Prichard:

So we talked about the importance of knowing the opportunity you want and also pursuing that opportunity.

I know another step that you recommend people take when relaunching a career after a break is to sell yourself to employers.

What’s the best way to do that, Heather?

Heather Black:

You want to sell yourself well to employers, and it’s been interesting because I’ve been working with people on their CVs every week and looking at their bio. You know, their elevator pitch effectively and how they sell themselves. And we can be our own worst critic, like, getting that right is really interesting.

But I, you know, somebody else looking at it can be like “oh my god, you’ve got all these amazing experience, industry background, etc, etc.”

So I think it, you know, the way that I look at it with individuals is, you know, look at your years of experience in different industries, within different companies, your different skill sets, your different attributes, and you really want to own and package that in that bio, in that elevator pitch.

You’ve got a lot to offer to people. And put your best foot forward, because it’s the first thing that people will read to grab their attention.

So I have done some personality profiling tools before. They’ve helped me understand who I am and what my key traits are. And you might do some personality profiling tools, and you think, “Oh, that’s not me at all.” Well, okay, that’s fine, if it doesn’t really align, you know, you find the one that does fit.

But I have to say, over the years, having done some of these tools and assessments, it has really helped me sort of understand who I am and what my superpowers are. And if you aren’t confident in your superpowers, then it’s worth doing a little bit of work on that. Either doing some personality profilings or working with a career coach or somebody who can support you with your CV. To help really pull out those strengths that you have, to believe in yourself.

Because if you don’t sell yourself in your CV, you don’t sell yourself in the interview, you’re not gonna get that job opportunity, cause you won’t sell yourself, you know, to get to that end goal.

So it really is about exploring yourself, believing in yourself, and really consolidating it, and sometimes having a third party can help you do that.

Mac Prichard:

Well, it’s been a terrific conversation, Heather. Now tell us, what’s next for you?

Heather Black:

So we’d love to support you, to help you explore your career. You can come to us at supermums.org and find out more about the career opportunities that we offer people, and you can find out if there’s a right fit for you.

So please do visit our website at supermums.org. Visit the page called “What Is a Salesforce Career,” and we’d love to help you if this is a right fit.

Mac Prichard:

Well terrific.

And again, as you mentioned, listeners can learn more about you and your work by visiting the supermums.org website. And I know you have a specific landing page, supermums.org/what-is-a-salesforce-career, and we’ll be sure to include that in the show notes.

Now, Heather, given all the great advice you shared today, what’s the one thing you want a listener to remember about how to relaunch yourself after a career break?

Heather Black:

Find your superpower. Obviously, we talk about super mums, you know,  it’s about knowing who you are and what you’re really good at and believing in yourself, because that’s going to carry you through the whole journey.

Mac Prichard:

Next week, our guest will be Anne Lapour.

She’s the executive director of career initiatives for Willamette University, where she oversees career programming, education, and advising.

You may change jobs five to seven times in your career.

And to find your next position, you need to have clear goals and know what you offer employers.

Join us next Wednesday when Anne Lapour and I talk about why you should never stop planning your career.

Until next time, thanks for letting us help you find your dream job.

This show is produced by Mac’s List.

Susan Thornton-Hough schedules our guests and writes our newsletter. Lisa Kislingbury Anderson manages our social media.

Our sound engineer and editor is Matt Fiorillo. Dawn Mole creates our transcripts. And our music is by Freddy Trujillo.

This is Mac Prichard. See you next week.