Back On the Career Track
A Guide for Stay-At-Home Moms Who Want to Return to Work

by Carol Fishman Cohen and Vivian Steir Rabin

Do you want to return to work after staying home to care for the kids? Are you looking to re-enter your previous profession? Or do you want to explore a new field? For many stay-at-home moms, the desire to return to work leads to a deluge of questions, such as finding family-friendly companies, child-care issues, updating job skills, channeling family support and handling the new job. Back on the Career Track provides assessment tools and answers to these important concerns.

Authors Carol Fishman Cohen and Vivian Steir Rabin ask readers to honestly analyze their reasons for a RElaunch, their term for this new stage in a woman's life. Why do you want to return to work? Have you been home longer than you thought you'd be when you quit your job to stay home with the baby? Do you miss the accomplishments from your career? The reasons for returning to work can be numerous, but start your job search by knowing what you will gain.

Consider how a job – and your time away from home – will affect your children and your spouse. This question is not asked to tug at mother's guilt; career moms will need to prepare a new family schedule. What changes are necessary for you to work outside the home? The new schedule may mean you are not available when your kids arrive home from school or when they start homework. Are you ready to turn over the kids' care, as well as some of the household's activities, to other people? Some mothers realize they do not want to lose the flexibility of their current stay-at-home schedule. Other moms report surprise in losing support from their previous at-home mom friendships once they return to their careers.

Do you think you're ready to return to the workforce? Take the RElaunch Readiness Quiz, which consists of “Appetite for Work”, “Child and Elder Care Responsibilities” and “Spousal/Other Family Support”. Back on the Career Track helps you RElaunch in seven detailed steps. The second half of the book highlights inspirational RElaunchers, the RElaunch movement and its future, like working part time, extended leave and job sharing.

Cohen and Rabin have turned their successful RElaunches into a guide that is rich in solid advice along with inspirational examples of famous RElaunchers like Sandra Day O'Connor. Helpful resources, sample resumes, and recommended books round out the guide. Back on the Career Track is easy to read yet includes an in-depth amount of information. Readers will surely find areas or questions that hadn't occurred to them when they thought of returning to work. Grab highlighters and sticky notes as you delve into this book. Back on the Career Track will be an indispensable resource for your successful transition from home to work.