Nexxt Phase

Yesterday I attended a lunch given by a group called Nexxt Phase: a networking community of women looking to get back into the workforce after a hiatus. The group represents an elite Manhattan community of accomplished, polished, well-off women — all of whom have decided it’s time to do something in addition to raising kids and doing volunteer work.

The energy in the room was palpable. There was a warm-up exercise to get to know other people and then a guest speaker: one of the authors of the book “Back on the Career Track”, which speaks to women relaunching their careers. Everyone in the group is busy, most of them have launched projects of some sort. However, many of them appeared inflexible in how they would ultimately let work intrude on their busy lives.

The truth is: we can easily fill our time; there’s always plenty to do. And if you haven’t worked in years, you’ve of course been occupied with plenty of things, including raising a family in many cases. But paid work requires a different mind-set. If you really are serious about going back to work, you need to carve out the time and provide the resources to support your decision. And you need to organize that before you start looking for a job.

Many people have good intentions about working again, but if a real financial need isn’t there, the motivation may not follow. However, there are plenty of people who are really serious about relaunching themselves, and are ready to make the job a priority. I’m going to be interviewing some of those women who returned to work after “stopping out”, on these pages. So stay tuned. Do you have questions about relaunching your career? I’d love to hear from you.