Online Bonus
Won’t Quitting Kill My Career?
By J.C. Conklin
Posted July 2008

For Monica Samuels it happened when she was standing in front of the salad bar at the Radisson Hotel restaurant in Orlando. The smell of slightly curdled bleu cheese dressing was making the mom-to-be sick and it was this moment that made her realize she couldn’t go back to work after the birth of her second child.

The question was, could she take a couple of years off and still have a career? Is it professional suicide to be a stay at home mom, even for awhile?

The answer is, yes you can take time off, but you have to have a plan. Quitting is more than saying the words. It requires a strategy. It’s also something an increasing number of women are doing. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, each year since 2000 a few hundred thousand women more have decided to stay home. Last year 5.4 million women identified themselves as stay at home moms.

For Monica, quitting when she did was a huge sacrifice. She was working on the 2004 presidential campaign. All those months toiling away in bad hotel rooms and working until the wee hours of the morning were supposed to pay off with a bounty of job offers, yet there she was throwing them all away.

What she didn’t throw away, however, were her connections. The most important factor in whether or not you are employable when you go back to work is who you know. People in the loop can tell you where the job openings are. Ex-coworkers and former supervisors who still know your name might suggest you as a possible hire in the future. Networking is the one thing you can’t hang in the back of your closet when you decide to shed your suit.

Optimally you’d know you’re quitting a few months beforehand, so use that time wisely. Compile your coworker and supervisor contact information. Schmooze. Take people to lunch. Do extra work. Do the assignments others don’t want to before you announce you’re leaving. Sow the seeds of good will. Commit yourself to emailing these people every couple months, going to lunch once or twice a year and sending Christmas cards.

Besides networking in overdrive, you have to look at other ways you can keep a hand in your career. Ask yourself these questions:

• Are there professional organizations you can join that will help you stay connected?
• Are there other women in your field that you can form a loose network with?
• Are there charity or volunteer opportunities that will keep you connected? For example doctors can work in clinics and journalists can teach a section of a course.
• Is there part-time or project work you can do?
• Could being active in politics or religion or the schools help you stay connected?
• Are there courses you can take that will better you professionally?

Just don’t make the mistake so many women who leave work do by committing every moment of your time to your children. Save a couple hours a week for yourself and use that time to keep your contacts alive.

Take a lesson from Brenda Barnes, chief executive officer of Sara Lee Corp. Brenda left a leadership position at PepsiCo to stay home with her children but she didn’t let her contacts languish. While she was home she:

• served on the boards of seven corporations
• chaired the trustees at her former school, Augustana College
• taught a class in leadership at Kellogg Graduate School of Management

When Brenda was ready to go back to work, her contacts and skill sets were up to date. She took the job of president of Sara Lee in 2004 and was made CEO a year later. Not bad for a mom of three who took some time off.

-- J.C. Conklin is the co-founder of www.MomsNextMove.com, a site that educates women on how to successfully leave and then return to the workforce because they have chosen to spend time with their children. In 2006, she co-authored the book Comeback Moms; How to Leave Work, Raise Children and Jumpstart your Career Even if You Haven’t Had a Job in Years.