Carol Fishman Cohen of iRelaunch speaking at a TED Talk
“What have you done lately?”
Those were the words that weighted on Priti Shah when she went in for interviews after taking time off to raise her children. Despite previously earning her master's degree and working in tech for most of her career, after over a decade out of the workforce, many tech companies weren’t taking her seriously when she decided she wanted to return to work. Fortunately for Shah, it wasn’t too long before she started the job search that IBM had signed onto a new kind of program designed for people just like her—high caliber candidates who have taken some time away from the workforce.
IBM is one of 19 companies in the STEM industry as part of the STEM Reentry Task Force that have now launched re-entry programs designed to reintegrate candidates into the workforce, catch them up to speed and ideally get them into long-term positions. Thus far, 400 “relaunchers,” as they are called, have gone through these programs and 85% have been hired—Shah included, who’s now worked as a software engineer in quantum computing for IBM for two and a half years.
This program is the brainchild of Carol Fishman Cohen, a former relauncher herself, who has now spent the greater part of the last 15 years making it her mission to help launch other professionals who wish to return to the workforce with her company iRelaunch. Cohen recalls that in 2014 we hit what she calls a real “relaunch movement.” At that time, the financial services industry had really woken up to the untapped talent pool that relaunchers represented and began to put in place programs to guide them back into the workforce. Fairly quickly, they saw that it was working. These “40-year-old interns” as they were affectionately called were quickly helping to fill talent gaps—particularly female talent gaps as caretakers who take time off, more often than not, tend to be women.
It was around that time that Cohen was asked to speak at a conference about the success of these programs and a lightbulb went off for her: this should be brought to other sectors. Knowing that the tech and engineering sector in many ways resembled the financial sector, Cohen approached the Society of Women Engineers with her idea. Straight away, they were all in.
“They immediately saw the vision and we worked together to make this happen. In the summer of 2015, we presented the concept to the Society of Women Engineers Corporate Partnership Council. Three months later, we were sitting around the table with 7 inaugural member companies of the Task Force,” recalls Cohen.
Today, powerhouse STEM companies such as Apple, Honeywell, Proctor & Gamble, United Technologies, General Motors and Johnson & Johnson all have re-entry programs in place. Cohen hopes to see more major companies within the STEM world sign on and believes that those industries like STEM and like financial services—that haven’t quite reached gender parity yet—should be looking to implement these kinds of programs as well. For companies who might be thinking about piloting this kind of initiative, Cohen has several key pieces of advice.
It’s important to retrain recruiters and managers to think of this demographic differently.
There’s a big misconception that it’s impossible for these relaunchers to get their technical skills up to speed and the success of these kind of programs have proved that to be royally false. Cohen believes it’s important for those in hiring and promotional capacities to realize that these relaunchers come with a unique skill set that makes them a real asset.
“The relauncher talent pool is so high caliber. They're educated, with great work experience, a mature perspective and energy and enthusiasm about returning to work precisely because they have been away from it for a while. Plus they are at a stable life stage with fewer or no maternity leaves and fewer spousal or partner job relocations,” explains Cohen.
It’s ideal to structure these “returnships” with an evaluation period with the end goal being to transition candidates into permanent positions.
According to Cohen, most of the successful programs are structured as short-term placements with pre-determined testing out periods to determine if the relauncher can fill a full-time role. She says that most programs last 12-16 weeks but she has seen some that last up to 6 months.
It’s a good idea to bring in a group of relaunchers at the same time.
Like a good internship program, candidates often thrive if they can go through the experience with someone who can relate. According to Cohen, here’s how the best programs tend to be run:
“The participants all start at the same time as a cohort, go through an orientation and ongoing professional development sessions, are usually assigned a mentor and buddy, and have access to program managers who coordinate the program and serve as additional sources of support for the participants as they move through the program together. The participants themselves support each other personally and professionally as they all transition back to work together,” says Cohen.
So, there you have it. These '40-year-old interns' are much like your 20-year-old interns in that they do best when they're given clear goals, evaluation periods and a cohort they can lean on for support. Go figure.
