Want To Return To Your Former Job?

If you are reading this article, here is the most likely scenario: you are a stay at home mom and after much deliberation you and your family have made the decision that you should return to work.

Carefully weighing your options, you have decided to try to get back into your former job with your former employer. That is, of course, if your old position is currently available. You are fully aware of the possibility that the old job is not currently available and you are completely open to other equally appealing job possibilities within the company.

· But how do you find out whether your old position is still available?
· And how do you find out if there are other positions that you are equally qualified for?

Here are 4 steps to get you started in getting the pulse on your former employer and to find out what’s happening there.

STEP #1: DO YOUR BEST 007 WORK.

Become a spy and a hound! No, I’m not talking about any illegal activities! Just a little James Bond investigative action. Find out as much as you can about your old company. Go on a hunt.

· Did they get that huge client you knew they were after 1 ½ years ago?

· Did they appoint a new VP of Human Resources or a new COO?

· Have they been a part of an acquisition or a merger?

· Did they acquire a number of smaller competitors? Which ones?

· What kind of news items can you find about them?

· Did recent legislations and regulations affect the company? Which legislations? Which regulations? What kind of affects did they have?

Search online using your local newspaper’s and your local business journal’s archives.

Search on the company’s website and read their press releases, dating back as far as you need to go to catch up with the company’s happenings.

Look at the company’s officer list to see the changes in leadership.

Look at their product lines or their service offerings. Did anything change there? Did their acquisitions bring in new product lines? Which ones?

Be a hound and try to unearth as much information as you can!

It will help you to be more confident when the time comes for the job interview and will also aid you when you are to meet with someone from your old company (see Step #2 for that).

STEP #2: ZERO IN ON A SUSPECT AT YOUR OLD COMPANY.

Have you been in touch – however infrequently – with any of the people from your last workplace?

If not, don’t get discouraged.

Now is the time to rekindle those flames! Call an old co-worker at home – one that you used to have a good relationship with – and see if she will agree to go out for coffee or a quick lunch with you sometime next week. Set a date and a time to meet.

What to tell her on the phone?

Just tell her on the phone that you are possibly considering getting back to work and since you have been out of the loop for a few years you would like the opinion of someone like her regarding the current employment landscape. (Use your own words here.) Basically, just tell her that you want to chat a bit and catch up over a cup of coffee or lunch, whichever is more convenient for her.

Chances are, she will be more than happy to meet with you (granted you had a good previous relationship with her) and will be very interested in learning how you have been for the last couple of years.

Let me take a little detour here and tell you about “her”.

You haven’t seen her in two years and now she has been promoted to VP of Engineering. Don’t be disheartened if you see her in a different light now since she has moved up in the company.

Don’t let her job title intimidate you.

On the contrary, think of her new title / accomplishment in a way that can benefit you: with her newly minted title, she is higher up in the organization, therefore, she is more likely to be able to assert her opinion and that includes recommending you for a job!

See, you just have to look on the bright side!

- This concludes Part I of this article -

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com

Rita Fisher is a career advocate for Moms re-entering the workforce. She provides job search coaching and resume writing help at her site: www.MomResumes.com. Free coaching session, free ezine

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