Over the past four months, I’ve spent hours interviewing people who were brave enough to take a career break.
I wanted to know if and how they overcame the many obstacles career returners face when trying to crack the job market. It all built up to the series My Big Break, which told a diverse range of stories, from stepping away to care for a child with autism, caring for parents until their final breaths, and moving to another country with family and leaving a job behind.
As someone who isn’t planning a career break any time soon, one thing I didn’t expect was to learn so much from the people who shared their stories with me. Although their journeys weren’t always smooth, I took comfort in seeing how they adapted, found ways to move forward in their careers, and learned lessons that shaped their character.
Here are three lessons I learned.
1. Your network can help your career comeback
In my fantasy career break, I’d be offline and unplugged as much as possible. But the more interviews I did, the more I noticed how big a difference staying in touch with one’s network can make in a comeback.
When Nicki Schroeder, a UK-based media lawyer, tried to re-enter her industry after 10 years, her contacts helped her get back up to speed, meaning she was prepared for her successful job interview. The same contacts then equipped her with a list of key precedents decided while she was out of the workforce.
Talking to Schroeder made me reflect on how significant help from people you know and trust can be, especially when you feel a bit rusty after taking time off.
In the case of Ramya Ramesh, a semiconductor professional who worried she’d never get another job after a six-year career break, her former colleagues encouraged her to apply for an opportunity in her old department. Meanwhile, Adam Stewart, an ex-Googler who took an eight-month break, said that he turned to former colleagues for advice about his next steps, while also making new connections.
2. A career break is an opportunity to open yourself up to new things
Not all of the people I spoke to returned to their original industry. Mounika Chinnam and Natasya Pawanteh both felt reentering their industries would be challenging after long absences.
The tech industry had transformed significantly during Chinnam’s seven-year break, so she was open to non-technical jobs. Becoming an intern for a digital marketing company at 31 with colleagues who were younger than her felt a little strange, but it enabled her to land a full-time role in a new industry.
Their experiences are a reminder that a career break doesn’t have to mean returning to exactly where you left off — sometimes stepping back opens doors to paths you might never have otherwise considered.
3. How you frame your time away matters
The people I spoke to were often their own harshest critics when it came to their career gaps, yet the time they spent away from work was rarely as damaging to employers as they feared. What made a real difference was how they talked about it.
Those who reframed their break as a period of growth — whether through caregiving, personal development, or building new skills — found it easier to walk into interviews with confidence. Rather than apologizing for the gap, they presented it as evidence of resilience and adaptability, qualities that carry genuine weight in any workplace.
That shift in perspective, from seeing a break as a liability to recognizing it as part of a broader professional story, proved to be one of the most consistent traits among the people who bounced back successfully.
