Program ReConnects women with workforce

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By Heather Travis
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Laurie Lockington hit the pause button on her career as a project manager for Smart Technologies in 2002 to take on a full-time job at home with her children.


Laurie Lockington, who completed Ivey's ReConnect program last year, now has a better understanding of what she needs to be successful.

Then after six years of full-time parenting, Lockington decided to shift gears and start working outside the home again. But after having been out of the game for so long, she needed a boost to get started.
 
“Women in a leadership role who have left the workforce may feel that they are losing ground by stepping away,” she says. “In reality, women often mature in their time away, develop other valuable skills, and with confidence can return at the same level or higher.”
 
Lockington is one of many women who have been helped by the ReConnect program at the Richard Ivey School of Business, which is offered in partnership with CIBC. Now in its second year, the program will be held from Oct. 26-30, followed by an intensive two-day extension and graduation in Toronto Nov. 16-17.
 
ReConnect is a program designed for women with managerial experience who have been out of the workforce for two to seven years. Women, now looking to re-enter the workforce, want to return at a level similar to where they left, namely in a leadership position.
 
Like others who are going back to work after a parenting break, or who changed careers to pursue other interests, it can be a difficult transition.  
 
“The goal of the program is to improve women’s confidence in going back into the workforce,” says Mary Heisz, faculty director of ReConnect. With many women deciding to focus on family and defer their careers for various reasons, Heisz says it is common for women to feel they have to prove themselves.  
 
“They really want to go back into a managerial position and have less confidence when they stepped out because the work world has moved on,” says Heisz.
 
The program is not designed to teach women new skills, but rather help them brush up on skills they have already acquired.
 
ReConnect updates women on changes in the field and refreshes networking and job search skills. Heisz says research has shown women often don’t return to the same type of job and are differentiating between getting a job and starting a career.
 
The program also helps women decide whether they are ready to return to the workforce and for some, the answer is no. “This program is the perfect thing to remind you that you are very capable of being in a managerial position,” says Heisz. “This is a pretty big untapped market.” The current economic climate has created challenges for jobseekers, including many of the women involved in the ReConnect program.
 
“After six years of full-time parenting, I started investigating career options in London, and decided that I would need to 'kick-start' my job search,” says Lockington. “The ReConnect program seemed to offer exactly what I was looking for.
 
“I learned that I am not alone,” she adds. “Many women have left the workforce for a period and find it challenging to return. I learned that I still have the confidence I need to re-establish my career.”
 
After completing the 2008 program, Lockington feels she has confidence, and a better understanding of what she needs to be successful, as well as the knowledge to position her skills for taking on a new role in the future.
 
Financial assistance is available for participants through a scholarship established by CIBC. The program costs $3,500 and a certificate is awarded at the end of the seven-day program.
 
Participants should have a post-secondary education and have professional experience at a managerial or executive level. For more information and to apply online visit www.reconnectyourcareer.ca or call 1-800-948-8548.    
 

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