Back to work after 11- year break. 

I took an 11- year break to take care of my two girls and last year, I returned to work by applying to a 6-month returnship Project Manager position at an American company in Lucerne. During my career break, I thought a lot about going back to work, but the longer it took, the less self-confidence I had to believe that I could do it. I kept my computer skills up to date. I have a broad network but I feared I was no longer so capable to do a job, so I never applied. When I found out about the returnship programme, I realised that it was my chance to try because they would not judge me for having had a career break and the programme would support me to get up to speed again.

Before sending my CV, I researched many websites to find out the newest CV templates, interview skills needed and prepared myself really well. During this process, I realised that my confidence was already coming back, I read my recommendation letters again, looked for the skills I possessed and prepared a document with possible interview questions related to the position and the answers I would give. I was already feeling more confident and capable.

When I started working, I also realised that hard skills can be learned, but what really matters is your attitude. I am an open person and I was extremely motivated to do well. My role was to develop the returnship program and although our parent company had a similar program in the US, the challenge was to adapt it to the circumstances we had in Lucerne and make it work. It did. At the end of my contract, they could not offer me a permanent position due to headcount constraints but they extended it for another seven months at our sister company at the same location. During this time supported the Financial and Customer Services departments and I enjoyed a lot.

Although I was not offered a permanent position, I feel confident that I can now apply for a position and succeed. As I said before, positive attitude, motivation and willingness to learn are all you need. We all worked before and were successful in our previous roles. We still can be now.