Should I Hire a Returner?

It seems everyone’s talking about returners. Many large firms are setting up returnships and hardly a day goes past without mention of the gender pay gap. So here’s part two of our series of blogs about returners for businesses.

Should I hire a returner?

September is here and as everyone gets back to work after the holidays, it soon puts any staffing issues into sharp focus for many employers. So if you have a gap in your business, why not consider hiring a returner?

Returners are people who have had an extended career break. And they’re usually women who have taken time off to raise their children, so it’s a longer period than maternity leave.

Five reasons to hire a returner

1. Returners are highly motivated, well qualified and bring fresh perspective to the organisations that recruit them.

2. Returners usually find that within four to six weeks they have regained their professional confidence and skills.

3. In some cases returners have successfully reintegrated into senior managerial positions after career breaks of 10 to 20 years.

4. A returner is less likely to leave you after five minutes to pursue an even bigger and better position elsewhere – unlike more junior staff.

5. Returners have a lot to prove – they feel under the spotlight so they will want to achieve results as quickly as possible. They’re super hungry to succeed.

In fact, returners are proving to be so bankable that many large corporations are now investing in returnship programmes. These are like an entrepreneurship but for high-calibre career people who want to get back on that ladder and find fulfilling and meaningful work.

These programmes offer additional support and training and many financial firms like RBS, KPMG and PWC have already adopted them, with more businesses such as Vodafone following suit. The government are pushing this forward as part of their rolling research into the gender pay gap.

We’re expecting to hear a lot more about this topic in coming months. We think it will put ageism into sharp focus as well as stimulating debate around how mothers are viewed in general.

Returners: a great investment

Overall, it’s our view that returners make great employees; employers are mistaken if they think that women lack ambition or drive. So if you’re juggling those spinning plates at work, this could be the ideal time to consider a returner for your business.

We have lots of fabulous candidates on our books, so please get in touch if you think we could help your firm to be even more productive this last quarter. We look forward to hearing from you.