Dropping Back In

Copyright 2000 Working Woman - Full text in March 1, 2000 edition. Feature below involves Johnson & Company

By Elaine Pofeldt, editor of Fortune's Small Business Web site

You always knew you’d go back to work after taking off a few years to spend with the kids while they were young. But now you’re staring at the phone, trying to get up the nerve to call that headhunter you met at a cocktail party last month. Are your computer skills out of date? How will you explain that gap in your resume? And is a four-day work week out of the question?

Relax. Nobody says accelerating back into the fast lane is easy. The good news is that technology has changed all the rules—in your favor. The Internet explosion is creating reams of jobs, and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics pegged managerial and professional unemployment at less than 2 percent at the end of 1999.

In that kind of labor market, job jumping is almost de rigueur. That means your nontraditional resume isn’t nearly as shocking to employers as it would have been even a couple years ago. …

Whether you’re ready to plunge back in or preparing to take some time off, listen to the experts. With a generous dose of ingenuity and an energetic approach to self-marketing, you can be back in a great position in a matter of months. …

Stay flexible

The 40-hour workweek is no longer an ironclad rule, and fax machines, cell phones, and e-mail are making the remote flexible work schedule a more viable option. Many companies are starting to offer high-performing employees a change to work a few days a week form home or even work a reduce schedule without taking away all the interesting and important assignments. “Back in the ‘80s, there was a stigma to a home office. Now people see is as empowering. They’re jealous,” says Jennifer J. Johnson, founder of the marketing firm Johnson & Company, a “100 percent virtual” office with 15 associates in four time zones, each working from home on his or her own schedule. ...

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