In 2008, Hagit Katzenelson left her job at a tech startup to care for her three small children. Four years later, she was revved up and ready to return. Armed with an electrical engineering degree, an MBA, and 14 years of previous work experience, she refreshed her skills with consulting projects and by developing a mobile gift-giving app on her own. Yet when she applied for product jobs, she hit a wall… again and again, for five full years. Prospective employers either questioned her qualifications and commitment or ignored her altogether. “I’ve had a lot of really well-meaning people tell me to quit looking,” she told me. They’d say, “Come on, you’re banging your head against a closed door.’”
When it comes to working families, employers and politicians tend to focus on new mothers and fathers. Yet parents who leave the workforce when their kids are young but later want to reenter it might be corporate America’s greatest untapped resource. With unemployment rates near historic lows and companies bemoaning labor shortages, it’s time to tap into this talent pool. For the past year, I’ve worked with organizations trying to do just that. I have also interviewed scores of executives about the strategies they’re using to create more on-ramps. Here are five of the most promising:
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