Product Description For full-time moms, going back to work doesn't mean returning to your old job and easing back into the life you had before staying home to take care of the kids. Instead, it means reigniting old contacts (even those who were once your junior), marketing yourself, and getting over the intimidation that plagues most women who have been out of the workforce, whether it's been two, six, or fifteen years. Carol Cohen and Vivian Rabin, who have successfully pulled it off themselves, know that it can be done--with careful planning, strategizing, and creativity. In BACK ON THE CAREER TRACK, they offer a seven-step program for going back to work. These steps are: -Relaunch or not? You decide -Learn confidence -Assess your career options -Update your professional and job search skills, and prepare for the interview -Network, market yourself, and clinch the opportunity -Channel family support -Handle the job (or find another one) Cohen and Rabin also offer advice on maintaining the balance between work and home, and navigating the inevitable sticky situations with family and friends that arise when you return to work. This is a comprehensive, inspiring guide that is sure to become the classic resource in this field.
Buy This Book if You're Even Thinking About "Relaunching" November 30, 2008 2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I'm a new mother, thinking about how I will take the next step of "relaunching," or reinventing my working self for the next stage of my career when my daughter is a little older. I bought this book both because it speaks to my personal situation and because I was so impressed after hearing Carol Fishman Cohen speak recently. Thank goodness I did. It has been enormously helpful in helping me deal with both the personal and the practical issues involved in these complex decisions. It walks you through the process of deciding what kind of return to work is best for you personally, and then shows you how to put those changes in practice. For example, I loved the book's step by step guide to creating your own "elevator pitch" - something I knew was useful to have, but which I'd had difficulty creating during this time of transition. Just as importantly, the book helps you get over the psychological hurdles involved in relaunching in a way that is surprisingly effective. It contains a smart, effective pep talk for women who have started to doubt their own value in the workplace - something that can happen even to women with prestigious degrees and major career accomplishments (I can vouch for this personally). I highly recommend this book to anyone considering a return to work after being a full time mother, no matter how clueless and conflicted you may feel right now about these decisions. "Back on the Career Track" will make you feel better and help you relaunch more successfully.
Excellent! October 15, 2008 3 out of 3 found this review helpful
A very helpful book with the potential to change lives--for the better. An absolute page turner I could not put down until the very end. Have recommended it to a number of people.
Relaunch is best for those who have taken off previously September 2, 2008 10 out of 10 found this review helpful
As a medical researcher, I was impressed to see that Cohen and Rabin included grant programs for scientific researchers who are reentering careers after time away. They took this approach throughout their excellent book which highlights how women in a wide range of careers and educational backgrounds could realistically approach returning to work after a career break.
There is a flaw in the recent negative review posted by Martin Nemko. His criticism is directed toward the difficulty of building a resume to obtain a job following a break. Obtaining a job is not the focus of the book. Rather, the book is directed to those who seek to relaunch careers or launch new ones.
His comment implying that these authors are not qualified to write on this topic is wrong. Cohen and Rabin have been through this process personally, run a return to work conference that is touring nationally, and have a lengthy press and speakers list. I highly recommend this excellent guide to relaunching a career following a break.
Back on the Career Track August 17, 2008 10 out of 10 found this review helpful
I can't believe reviewer Martin Nemzo read the same book I did. As reviewer Rachel Towle mentioned, I do not have an advanced degree, yet I found Back on the Career Track to be a realistic, refreshing guide to career reentry. Women who had "relaunched" careers in all sorts of fields and work configurations are profiled and the advice and strategy is accessible and I think equally effective for those of us without graduate degrees. In fact, I think the stories from the authors and their subjects were unusually candid, which made the points the authors were trying to illustrate even more compelling for someone in the position of being at home trying to return to work. Looking at Mr. Nemzo's background, he does not appear to be in this situation which is why he might have missed the major points of the book.
Finally, his comment about the authors backgrounds is clearly inaccurate to the point where I wonder if Mr. Nemzo had some sort of agenda to diss these authors. His comment that one of the authors is noted in the NYTimes for marrying a physician happens to be her wedding announcement from 1988! From their company website (www.iRelaunch.com) and some of my own googling, I found out that Cohen, a mother of four, resumed working after 11 years out of the full time workforce in a full time job for an investment company. She left after a year at which time Harvard Business School wrote a case study about her journey back to work after her time at home. Rabin went into the executive search business after seven years at home with her five kids.
These two authors appear to me to be the only authors of books on career reentry who have actually gone through the entire process of working, taking a career break and then returning to jobs unrelated to writing about or starting a company in the career reentry field. They wrote their book and started their company after they went through the entire return to work process. That's why they understand it so well! They now run a company that creates career reentry programming for people on career break and they have spoken internationally on the topic. Just take a look at their list of speaking engagements to see the wide range of audiences they address. Mr. Nemzo - I think you better do more careful research next time before tossing out the ridiculous references you make in this review. I give Back on the Career Track five stars and highly recommend it for those on career break interested in a strategy to return to work after a hiatus.
Nicole, mom of 1 with one of the way
This book fails for the reason so many self-help books fail August 1, 2008 1 out of 7 found this review helpful
The authors generalize from their experience as Harvard MBAs and from superstar women. The message: "If they can do it, so can you."
Well, in the real world, what works for superstars is vastly different from what works with the average person. What works for the average stay-at-home mom who wants to return to work is to simply beg all your friends and relatives for a launchpad job, even if menial, so you can put something on your resume other that stay-at-home mom. Unless really desperate, most employers resumes and cover letters from stay-at-home moms (even when they try to feebly explain how being a stay-at-home mom demonstrates lots of transferable skills) and throws them into the trash.
Laughably, if you google these two authors, supposed examples of stay-at-home moms successfully reentering the workplace, despite their Harvard MBAs, you get the feeling they aren't all that successful. They're mainly noted for pushing their book, and one was noted in the NY Times for marrying a physician.
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