Another group who can sometimes struggle to break back into the job market are people who have taken a career break. Zoë Briggs, who runs the Return-to-Work Programme explained that taking a career break doesn’t make people less skilled or less competent, but it can still be hard to find a job again.

“Return-to-Work is an opportunity for individuals who’ve taken an extended career break to relaunch their careers at Deloitte Ireland through a bespoke, structured, and supportive nine month placement. The minimum career break length is one and a half years, but we’ve had people who’ve been away from the workplace for up to thirteen years.”

Shigraf Nageen, who works in Deloitte Ireland’s Audit & Assurance team, is one person who benefited from it: “The reality of job hunting with an eleven-year gap was daunting. I faced lots of rejections. Then, in May 2023, I stumbled upon the Deloitte Ireland Return-to-Work Programme. I applied immediately and went through the interview process, but unfortunately, I didn’t make it onto the programme. However, they encouraged me to apply again. I didn’t give up, and in 2024, I reapplied, and this time, I got the call that changed everything.

“I still remember the moment – I had just picked up my son from school when I got the news. My son was so delighted, and that was the first time I saw him so proud of me for achieving something that was not related to motherhood. His eyes were beaming with pride; he rushed home and broke the news to his father that “Mama got the job!”. That’s when I realised that everything was worth it.”

Zoë explained that the programme is gender-neutral, but most applicants are women as they’re more likely to have spent time in the home caring for children or parents. “We work with an organisation called Career Returners, which is a social enterprise looking to make career breaks a valid part of a lifetime of care.”

“We also offer ongoing internal coaching, mentoring, and learning opportunities, and work very closely with the business to identify meaningful roles for the candidates that could lead to permanent employment.

“We piloted our first Return-to-Work Programme in May 2022, and the impact is clear - to date we’ve recruited 28 women into full and part-time positions at experienced levels right across our business.

“To date, we are delighted that 83% of our returners have been offered permanent roles following their placements. Each of them accepted and also took on the role of a ‘Returner Companion’ to the following year’s participants, offering advice and guidance based on their personal experience of returning to work.”

Shigraf shares the impact it has had on her: “Balancing family and working life is daunting and challenging, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. After every challenge you unlock, there is that new sense of achievement and a sense of bravado: “I did this. I can do anything now.” You get braver, but you still need to have resilience to keep going and to keep facing new challenges.”