Introduction
We have all been taught to be afraid of the gap. That awkward pause on a resume is something we worry about. The question that people ask us in interviews can be really tough: What were you doing during this time? People often think that career breaks are like detours that we need to explain or justify.
But what if the gap was not really a gap at all? What if the most authentic leadership development is the one where we’re not paid or promoted for it?
The reality is that when we leave a job, it doesn’t mean we cease to be responsible.
On the contrary, it can prompt valuable self-reflection, “helping us see where we fell short, which qualities we lacked, what skills we can build, and how we can better stand out in the job market”.
The Reality of the “Pause” Narrative
There is a reason why career breaks can be hard to talk about: we’ve been conditioned to equate productivity with paychecks. If we are not earning money, we think we are not working. If we are not moving up, we think we are falling behind.
Life does not always follow the same schedule as our jobs.
People take breaks for all sorts of reasons. Like “taking care of a parent, getting over being burned out, raising a child, dealing with a crisis, or just trying to figure out who they are”. These are not just pauses. They are complicated parts of our lives.
They require a lot more from us than most jobs do.
Career Breaks are Not One-Size-Fits-All
People think that the only reasons to take a break from work are to take care of someone or because they are too tired. That is not true. Those are reasons, but they are not the only ones.
The Pandemic Changed Everything
The COVID-19 pandemic forced many people to quit their jobs against their will. The first group of people who lost their jobs did so immediately. The second group had to leave work to handle family responsibilities, or they had to stop working because their industry shut down. People had to take this route because it constituted their only path to staying alive.
People experienced different results from their break periods. Some used that time to develop their abilities and operate their own businesses, which they established through entrepreneurship, or they shifted their professional paths. The time gave them space to consider their future activities.
The period was challenging for other people. So many people experienced financial difficulties while facing limited employment possibilities and needing to protect their social position among their peers. The same break that helped one person do better made another person feel like they were not doing anything.
The following point requires your attention because it matters. People who take career breaks experience both positive and negative outcomes from their time away from work.
The results depend on current conditions, available resources and types of assistance which people receive.
Other Reasons People Take a Break From Work
People take work breaks because of reasons that exist beyond their need to rest from burnout, their need to care for sick family members and their need to respond to financial constraints.
They want to change jobs or try a new field.
People need to attend school or complete their special certification programs.
One of the reasons could be that they need to adapt to their new location or office space.
People require medical treatment to maintain their overall well-being.
Some people want to operate their own business while developing their personal creative work
Some individuals want to spend time reflecting on their future career choices.
Not every break is something that people are forced to do. Some people plan them on purpose.
Not every break looks like people are doing something useful. But that does not mean that nothing is happening. Career breaks are what people make of them. They can be different for everyone.
The Skills You Don’t Realise You’re Building
People develop essential leadership abilities through work-related duties that they perform during their career breaks from employment.
The skills that people develop through their life experiences show their abilities. And these skills need to be recognised because they exist beyond their current “corporate” knowledge. The break period creates a situation that lacks any organised procedures because teams and managers have established methods that do not exist in real life.
You make decisions without receiving the so-called narrative guidance because you need to make choices that involve actual outcomes.
“People experience real pressure, which exists between their financial planning, their career choices and their personal responsibilities.”
The situation exists without an available option, which requires people to learn how to respond to urgent situations. The workers need to develop these skills, which formal programs do not provide, because they work in emergencies. People need emotional intelligence through their experience with various work situations.
People must work on the skills they need to achieve the position they have been manifesting for so long, “be it the good communication skills, any job, any college program they wanted to pursue.”
The process of taking a career break results in automatic career development. One must present an authentic depiction of actual events.
Making Decisions Without Any Help
While we are employed, we tend to work and decide things with our colleagues and boss. When we are on a break from work, especially when we are loaded with personal stuff, we have to make decisions alone.
We have to figure things out by ourselves.
Whether it is managing our money when we do not have a lot, making decisions about our health, or planning our steps when we are not sure what to do, we have to make tough choices without all the information we need.
That is not a gap. That is leadership when things are tough.
Thinking About the Long Game
The irony is that when you are not working, you actually think more about your future than when you're busy with your daily routine.
You start asking yourself questions like:
What do I really want from my career with a company?
Is this company really going to help me with growing in my career?
What am I willing to compromise on in my career?
What matters more to me now than it did before in my career?
You make plans, think about them again, and sometimes start over with a new plan for your career.
That is a strategy. Not the kind that companies use as jargon. But a real plan that can change your life and your career.
Learning to Tell Your Story
One of the things about going back to work is figuring out how to talk about your time off without sounding defensive.
Maybe the problem isn't how you're saying it. Maybe it's how we've been taught to talk about it. Downplaying your experience expands on what you actually did.
Not:
I took time off for reasons.
I managed full-time responsibilities that needed decision-making, coordination and adaptability in tough situations.
You're not twisting the truth. You're finally giving it the importance it deserves. This is especially crucial in the world we live in today. We are often surrounded by managers and HR personnel who ping us during non-office hours and expect us to respond and follow up. This constant micromanaging leads to burnout that we don’t talk about enough. Somehow, we keep finding ourselves trapped in this loop of merely surviving in our jobs and putting up with the silent toxicity that exists in almost every workplace. When we recover from the burnout and go back to looking for work, we need to set boundaries.
What Workplaces Need to Rethink
All over the world, employees have been threatened and forced to work in toxic and manipulative workplaces. We often let go of these patterns, for the families waiting for food at home, for the EMIs you have to pay every month, and the list goes on. Somehow, we need to question the patterns in the organisations to save ourselves from the constant burnouts and never- ending debate on work-life balance.
Conclusion
Career breaks are not empty spaces on a resume. They are periods of time that're full, demanding and often very hard to handle. They test how patient you are, push you to your limits and make you learn skills that you did not even know you needed to learn.
The only thing that career breaks do not come with is recognition from people. So maybe it is time for us to change the way we think about this.
Because not all leadership happens in an office. Some of it happens in moments behind the scenes in times that are not written down. But these moments can change you in ways that no job can.
