Re-Ignite your STEM Career
- Karen OReilly
- Mar 21, 2019
- 3 min read
We describe a returnship simply as ‘A Returnship is run like an internship but it is for women who are returning to the workplace after a break ( usually to care for their children). The idea around it is to offer coaching and mentoring for women returning back – confidence can be a major issue for many women returning after a career break and by supporting women through this period, we can access a fantastic resource of women who want to re-ignite their career.’
‘We speak to women every day who register with us and find it really difficult to re-enter to workplace after a period of being a Stay at Home Parent – this is a perfect way to gain relevant experience and get their foot back in the door’
Johnson and Johnson are launching their Re-Ignite Programme to support women with a STEM background who wish to come back to work. This is a 6 month programme with an opportunity for a full time role at the end of the assignment. DePuy Synthes programme is designed to help women build on their capabilities, enhance their leadership skills and continue their professional journey.
‘Employmum is delighted to support Johnson & Johnson in this initiative as it epitomises everything we stand for – reaching out to women who have had to leave the workforce to be the primary care giver for a few years. Now they can use a programme like Re- Ignite to kick start their career and get back to where they were before family commitments made it impossible to stay on their career ladder. It is a fantastic opportunity’ says Karen O’Reilly, founder of Employmum.
According to the latest CSO, over 400,000 women in Ireland stated their role as home duties, compared to 10,000 of their male counterparts. In Ireland, we are starting to change the conversation around returners and as we reach full employment, we know that there is a group of untapped, high-calibre candidates who are a great fit for this programme and employers are recognising this. The programme future proofs the returners career by providing them with an opportunity to rebuild confidence and obtain current, up to date experience. They also receive mentors (internal) and coaches (external) as well as training and upskilling opportunities throughout the programme.
With over 55 million women at middle management level not working globally, it does not make economic sense to leave these women out in the cold. In Europe, just over 50% of women work full time, compared to 71.2% of men – therefore the full time employment gap reaches 25.5%.
Employmum believes that taking action on this, is not just a question of fairness and ethics but also an economic imperative as it is estimated that this gender employment gap amounts to about €370 billion per annum.
‘Employmum would love to see more companies in Ireland coming on board. Returnships can work very well in most work environments – Finance, banking, tech, HR, marketing and admin type roles. We would be delighted to speak to companies who would like to tap into this fantastic resource that is on their doorstep and help them implement their Returnships within their organisations’
Check out the website of Johnson & Johnson for all the details
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