A Roadmap for Moms
RABIN AND COHEN: Drafting a blueprint for stay-at-home moms hoping to rejoin the workforce.
Photo by Susan Young
Despite raising five kids at home, Vivian Steir Rabin (MBA ’86) felt alone. Before she came back to HBS for her 15th Reunion in 2001, Rabin thought she was the only stay-at-home mother who wanted to return to the workplace. As it turned out, many other HBS alumnae who left careers to raise children felt the same way. Now Rabin and another HBS graduate who relaunched her career, Carol Fishman Cohen (MBA ’85), have coauthored a guidebook for like-minded women (who they estimate number more than 2 million nationally) who face the challenges and rewards of returning to work: Back on the Career Track: A Guide for Stay-at-Home Moms Who Want to Return to Work (Warner Business Books, 2007). Rabin discussed their book during a recent promotion event in Boston.
What’s the biggest motivation for stay-at-home moms to return to work?
Money is probably the biggest motivation but not just for itself. Often it’s a desire to be able to spend one’s own earned money. People often measure how successful they are by money. Many women want to earn it to feel validated.
What factors should be weighed in relaunching a career?
The need for money to pay the bills is obviously a powerful motivator. If it’s the only motivator, then it’s hard to muster the enthusiasm for the positions you’re competing for. You have to feel really passionate about what you want to do.
What are the biggest hurdles women face in the process?
You can’t just ask for a job if you don’t know what you’re looking for. You have to do a self-assessment. [The book has a worksheet so you can do that.] The other key issue is confidence. Women have to realize that confidence is an internal game. You can project a lot of confidence, even if you’re not quite feeling it. The hope is that over time the confidence will kick in.
Why should employers want to hire them?
Enlightened employers realize that these women have a lot of skills to offer, not only the training and experience they have but also the maturity and perspective they bring from being a parent. They understand that these skills are transferable to the workplace, and they’re seeing value in that.
Do you think relaunchers will have it easier in the future?
Absolutely. Women are half the talent pool, and employers now recognize that they have to figure out ways to either retain women during their child-rearing years or permit them to take a break and come back.
What’s the experience been like for you personally?
I’m showing my kids that it’s possible to be both a parent and a professional, and I think that’s a really important message.
— Lewis I. Rice
