77. COMEBACK – Joanna Jacobs – Twinings – Can your career recover from a career break? (YES) - Using LinkedIn to get talking to potential employers

Hello Bright Minds, and welcome to the start of season six of COMEBACK COACH. I am so pleased to be back sharing stories and coaching sessions about returning to work and onward career development after a break. My guest today is Joanna Jacobs who took a career break straight after maternity leave from Vodafone. Prior to that she was living in Shanghai and working for Sainsburys, sussing out whether China would be a viable market for them and now she’s the HR Director for UK Twinings Commercial. In between Vodafone and Twinings she experimented with a few things including the library assistant role (which wasn’t for her!)

If you are thinking about taking a career break or you’re on one now you are in for an energising treat because this is a conversation that shows it IS possible to have a gratifying and stretching career after a significant career break.

You’re going to hear about:

• A useful way to think about your career break when you describe it to recruiters and potential employers.
  
  
• The power of experimentation and doing dramatically different work to what you used to do.
  
  
•  How to set about finding a new role in the sector you were in before.
  
  
•  Also Jo’s wobbliest moment when she returned to work and her top tips for coming back from a career break.

MORE FOR YOU

• DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk
• Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event
• Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers.
• Watch five coachees talk about working with us
• Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film