Career Break Perceptions and Experiences: Women in STEM

My doctoral research study explored how women in STEM navigate and respond to emerging changes in their work, life and career whilst they manage their employability when taking a career break.

This fresh perspective explored career breaks as transitional experiences, as they are a period that is characterised by significant changes for an individual. to understand how individual’s cope with and respond to emerging changes and determine how an individual’s employability is shaped by these emerging changes.

A narrative research approach was used to collect and thematically analyse my data and capture the stories of women in STEM’s career break perceptions and experiences.

Key Findings

The research findings provide an appreciation of the entire career break experience, as well as an appreciation of specific points of the career break experience.

The research findings highlight the many and varied challenges participants faced throughout the phases of their career break experiences when managing and balancing their personal and professional lives while remaining employable.

They also revealed the critical role of relying on self, but also on relying on many other sources of support, as well as their workplace to cope with the difficulties they faced in addressing their changing needs and wants that were bought on by changing circumstances and contexts. This support was required to enhance women in STEM’s ability to navigate this transitional experiences from the time they decided to take a career break through to the time they returned to the workforce.

The Career Break Model

The challenging responsibility for individuals to self-manage their career breaks and subsequent emerging changes requires an appropriate thinking process throughout the entire career break experience to facilitate a successful return to the workforce.

A Career Break Model was developed that allows individuals to systematise the stages of a career break, whilst affording continual change and facilitating continual development.

The Career Break Model integrates career break, employability and transition knowledge to understand how the career break as a transitional experience shapes the employability of an individual.

Women can use the Career Break Model as a self-management capability tool to design and tailor their own career break experiences.

Organisations can use the Career Break Model to develop and adjust their career break policies and practices and gather information about their employees’ professional and personal situation.