Work or Family
I took the decision of taking a break in my career for the upbringing of my new born daughter as I did not have a sufficient support system to look after my daughter while I was away at work. During that time, I had all these tormenting questions in my mind: would I get a good break again in my career? Would my career break make me lag behind my peers? What should I do to keep myself competitive and valuable in the job market?
After lot of introspection, I decided to pursue masters in finance course on a part-time basis to avoid the career gap in my resume and to also be able to look after my child while pursuing the course. The thought of leaving my daughter with my helper while attending late evening classes always made me feel guilty but the thought of improving job prospects kept me going. After 18 months, I finally finished my course but now I find it difficult to find suitable job opportunities after slogging so hard. Such a disheartening response from the job market makes me doubt my credibility at times, even though I know that once I am given an opportunity, I will work very hard to prove my worth and will be an asset for any organization. I sometimes even regret my decision of going the family way. Since I am currently staying outside India, I am unable to use my ex-colleague’s network and the problem is accentuated by the fact that the hiring company will have to sponsor my employment pass. But an eternal optimist in me feels that there is light at the end of the tunnel even though I don’t know if a train is heading my way at the end of tunnel 😊
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