Returnships

Leaving a company can be hard

There can be upheaval, there can be uncertainty, there can be hard times ahead

Often times, the relationships you’ve built and friends you’ve made can be hard to replace. The skillset and the expertise you’ve acquired over the time you’ve spent with a company are highly valuable things, and its usually not easy to leave it all behind, that’s why, when looking to get themselves back on the career ladder, more and more people are nowadays looking to returnships

Returnships are something that have recently started over the last decade or two. While the practice is still not that widespread, it is something an increasing number of companies are starting to do

Returnships might be offered to any sort of candidate who has experience in any number of different fields of expertise. These are candidates who, for their own various reasons, have left their roles, but are now looking to re-enter the workplace

The premise behind a returnship is simple. For an experienced candidate who has been away from the organisation for some time, and who wants to pick their career back up where they left off, a returnship is sometimes offered as a means of giving them the opportunity to do so. This can be ideal for experienced employees looking to come back into the workplace after a long career break

Returnships will usually vary depending on the company in question, for that reason, no two returnship programmes you’ll encounter are usually ever the same. It’s also why, for the companies that do offer them, you can expect to encounter big differences both in terms of what they offer enrolees upon successful completion of a returnship program, as well as what they require in terms of the eligibility criteria to be accepted into them in the first place

For example, while many organisations will only accept enrolees who have previously worked for the company, others may be more open and accept those with prior experience who have never been with that company before. Others still may even accept you if you’ve been with that company before but have no prior experience relating to the opening in question. Most companies will only ever offer returnships for certain roles within their organisation, and they will have different minimum and maximum specifications for the length of time you need to have been away before you can enrol in them, on top of which, some may have additional criteria to satisfy too. For instance, if you’re in a line of work that requires a license, they may require you to keep this license intact before they will consider you for enrolment into their returnship program

Applying for a returnship

In many respects, applying for a returnship offers a very similar sort of experience to what you’d expect when applying for an actual job. There will be an initial application process where you submit your resume and highlight your prior experience, explaining why you would be best suited for the returnship itself. Then, if you are successful, you will move onto the interview stage. This may entail not only the interview itself, but can also sometimes include additional steps like meet and greets, or presentations where you might have to showcase what you have to offer that organisation. For more on how to give a great presentation that is sure to win your interviewer over, see our amazing section on Making the Perfect Job Presentation.
Just as it is when applying for any actual job, the interview stage is both the most difficult and most important part of being accepted into any returnship program. Returnships however, offer a unique opportunity when it comes to how you go about traversing the interview. itself That’s why, if you’ve done well enough to successfully progress onto the interview stage, you’ll have several options when it comes to the direction in which you can take the conversation with your interviewer, and we will examine these further on down below

Returnships hold many benefits for both employers and returning employees alike. Irrespective of the differences between them, one thing most programmes will have in common is that they will offer paid placements for those with prior experience with the promise of employment upon successful completion of the programme itself. Returnships typically last from 6 – 12 weeks, and because most are paid, they are a great way for you to get reacquainted with your old profession, while at the same time enabling you to get the training and mentoring you need to help you get back up to speed in your old role again

Aside from the big advantages it brings to a company’s culture and the team bonding it promotes by having staff people know and love return into the workplace, because they don’t have to rely on purely traditional job sourcing methods, returnships also allow employers to source candidates from a larger pool of applicants, and they also give employers the leeway and flexibility they need to evaluate your performance and current ability level before committing to a formal offer of employment too. It’s all of these factors combined which is why returnships have started to become increasingly more common with the employers today

Approaching a returnship interview

Like applying for any role, when applying for a returnship, one of the biggest challenges you’ll have is to traverse the interview itself. While proper preparation for any interview will always help you maximise your chances, a returnship presents a very unique opportunity for you to leverage your prior experience and history with the company in a way that enables you to showcase the most of what you have to offer during your time in the interview

Start with the basics 

You’ve been here before, either in the same organisation, or in a similar role. Play on this. If you use professional interviewing services like this one you’ll have come across this before too, enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is one of the most effective traits you can employ in an interview – use it to talk about all the great things you’ve learned and accomplished during your time working for them either before you left the company, or about your chosen profession in general

Build on this further by talking about the skills you used to love and utilise most in your old role, and about the excitement you feel at the prospect of learning new ones. It’s also an effective tactic to bring up what you liked best about your old role too, and about the areas you’d managed to improve on most before you left

Another great place to take the conversation is to highlight the desire you have to reacquaint yourself with your old skills, and about the enthusiasm you have to contribute once again to the continued prosperity of the company, not only by performing in the same ways you did before, but in new and improved ones

Better yet, why not try a time tested tactic – networking
Keeping in touch with a workgroup or friends from you’re your old company can be a shrewd move indeed. Aside from naturally strengthening your social circle, it will give you an opportunity to keep up with current events with your old employer. In an event where you ever find yourself making your way back there, this can be very advantageous indeed. In an interview, it will allow you to impress by mentioning all the existing connections you still have there, and will also allow you to talk about the most up to date things that are going on inside the company too, something the interviewer is sure to equate with your love and enthusiasm of both the company and the role itself

Lastly, working into the conversation, or rounding the interview off by talking about your personal motivations for you wanting to get back into the workplace, and by emphasizing how much you’ve grown during your time away, will ensure you have the strongest finish possible

The great advantage you have when applying for a returnship is that you can go into the interview with your head held high, knowing that you’ve already proven yourself in your given profession once before, and that you have the experience, and the track record, to be able to assure the interviewer you can do the job just as well again, if not even better, if you are given the opportunity

That’s why if you’re leaving your current job for a while but have hopes of returning at some point, it’s worthwhile making enquiries to see if your company has a returnship program available

If your actively in employment and have no intention of leaving, but instead are looking for a way to move up and get more involved in your organisation, it might still be worthwhile finding out if your employer has a returnship program in the organisation you work for too. That way if they don’t, it would give you a perfect opportunity to score some points by suggesting this to them, as it would give them a great way not only to enhance the current recruitment structure they have in place, but would also be a great means of improving the workplace culture within the organisation as a whole