By Ramona Schindelheim for WorkingNation.
Broadcast version by Alex Gonzalez for Utah News Connection reporting for the Working Nation-Public News Service Collaboration

As employers struggle to find talent, it appears the stigma of resume gaps is fading.

"We're seeing significant progress in what we call the institutional shift toward normalizing career breaks - so normalizing the career break that is part of a career path and the concept of taking career breaks itself," says Carol Fishman Cohen, CEO and co-founder of iRelaunch, a career reentry company.

By Cohen's count, iRelaunch has worked with more than 250 companies since 2007 to create programs for professionals looking to relaunch their careers after being out of the workforce for at least one year to 20+ years.

Returnships as an On-ramp

A vast majority of the return-to-work programs are returnships, similar to paid internships. Unlike an internship, returnships are not entry-level roles and employers have the intent to hire and convert the returnship into a full-time job. Programs vary in length, depending on the employer.

iRelaunch provides transitional support to both employers and professionals reentering the workforce with manager training, coaching and mentoring, and creating cohorts for participants. Cohen says participants are mostly women but also include men.

Reasons for extended absences from the workforce range from raising families to medical conditions, elder care, being a military spouse, personal pursuits, or retirees deciding to come out of retirement.

"The common factor is that these reasons are for something external and have nothing to do with a person's work performance," notes Cohen.

She explains that while career breaks are becoming more common, it's not the only reason employers are looking past resume gaps.

"The biggest factor is a greater recognition by employers of the attributes of professionals who have taken career breaks," says Cohen. "This is a pool of people who are educated, have great work experience, and are in a relatively stable life stage."

Returnships Move to the Public Sector

Returnships began in financial firms more than a decade ago with Goldman Sachs credited with starting them.

They spread to the tech sector and in 2015, iRelaunch partnered with the Society of Women Engineers to create the STEM Reentry Task Force and now counts 40 company participants including Intel, IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Ford, and General Motors. Almost 1,000 professionals have participated in the STEM Reentry programs, according to Cohen, with 85% hired into permanent roles.

Cohen says the latest wave of employers to embrace these return-to-work programs are in the public sector citing the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab, and Utah -the first state to offer a career reentry program of this kind.

"We, on a state level, certainly are experiencing a labor shortage just like everyone else is, so we need access to quality candidates," says Shay Baker, program manager for Return Utah which specifically recruits individuals who have taken career breaks for mid-career-level roles at state agencies.

"Also, like everyone else, we had a lot of women in particular leave the workforce during the height of COVID so we are utilizing it to get more women in the workforce," notes Baker.

Scores of women were forced to leave the workforce when schools and daycare centers shut down during the pandemic, leaving working mothers juggling the management of full-time childcare and a full-time job.

Return Utah was launched in 2021 with the help of Lieutenant Governor Deidre Henderson who had taken a career break herself to raise her family.

The program runs 16 weeks and offers cohort participants training, coaching, and support.

To date, 42 people have completed the program with 60% hired in temporary roles and 92% converted to full-time jobs, according to Baker. She notes several other states and cities have reached out, expressing interest about starting returnships.

Baker speaks from personal experience. The former television journalist took an eight-year break to raise her children and applied to Return Utah when a communications role at a state agency opened up. "I felt intimidated about having workplace conversations. I really had fallen behind in regard to any technical aptitude and technology," says Baker.

Addressing Skills Gaps

Those who run returnship programs encourage professionals to network and research products, updates, and services in their fields. In certain technology fields, they advise upskilling through bootcamps, or online courses may be needed.

Concerns about technical skills alone, say some, should not deter people trying to return to the workplace.

"Returners by definition typically are people that have a certain amount of years of experience. They've managed people before. They've managed organizations before. They may not have the latest technology tools in their toolkit but that's something they can learn if they are someone who embraces learning," says Addie Swartz, CEO of ReacHIRE. The organization works with about 50 companies including Wayfair and Fidelity to develop 6-month returnships and training programs.

People looking to return to the workforce can sign up, receive instructional content, attend webinars, learn about job openings, and submit resumes to reacHIRE's recruiters. Swartz stresses the importance of being able to transfer skills into different industries like tech and biotech. She adds, "We've moved marketing people into finance roles. We've done all kinds of things because smart, capable people can move into different industries, different segments of industries."

ReacHIRE boasts a 92% success rate in converting returnships into permanent roles. Swartz says it is helping companies grow their diversity pipelines. "Not only do we get this amazing talent back into the workforce, but they are actually staying and growing in their organizations."

A Lesson in Persistence

One of ReacHIRE's success stories almost never materialized.

Sujatha Kumarappan almost gave up on her career as a software engineer when she hit roadblocks with employers. "As soon as they asked, 'Tell me about yourself' and I said that I had a break, sometimes I wouldn't get a call back. Sometimes, they'd say, 'No, we are looking for someone who is still actively working,'" says Kumarappan.

When her family moved from India to the U.S. eight years ago, she took a break to raise her children and rejections started eroding her confidence. "It was a bit disappointing for me which made me feel like this is not going to work out and it was reducing my confidence level more and more," says Kumarappan.

Through social media, she learned about ReacHIRE, applied and landed a 6-month returnship at a financial firm where she was hired with the title Software Engineer II. Four months in, Kumarappan learned she would be hired permanently.

Now she's spreading the word for people in the same situation, emphasizing the importance of being part of a cohort and "feeling and sharing with someone who was going through the same experience," says Kumarappan.

Personal Obstacles

That sense of community can be key for returners to overcome personal obstacles. "On a personal note, I would say confidence and imposter syndrome are the biggest things that they are grappling with and are holding them back," says Christine Winston, executive director at Path Forward, a nonprofit that assists people who take breaks for caregiving return to the paid workforce.

Winston stresses, "Try to get educated about what employers are looking for in your field today and figure out how your past experience fits in there."

Convincing Skeptics

Path Forward counts 100 companies it's worked with since starting in 2016 ranging from Walmart and Amazon to startups. While employers may like the idea, it can be a hard sell to put into motion.

"For recruiters, the question is, 'Are my hiring managers going to be receptive to this?' For a hiring manager, it's 'Am I going to get penalized for taking a chance on somebody who has a career break?'" says Winston.

"Those are the things that we work to help them get past so they can get these programs set up and start to hire this talent - at which point the talent speaks for itself," she explains. "I love the converts that we see, the skeptics who become complete converts once they have gone through this program once and see the kinds of talent that they hire."


Ramona Schindelheim wrote this article for Working Nation.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.


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Kansas City transit riders and workers are fighting proposed cuts, warning of a looming public transit crisis.

Hundreds of advocates of the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority gathered on the steps of City Hall last week over threats to cut 13 bus routes, eliminate up to 175 transit jobs and shut down the Immigrant and Refugee Integration Services microtransit program.

Protesters warned the cuts could strand thousands, cost hundreds of jobs and leave misclassified IRIS drivers without unemployment benefits.

Ashley Ball, a leader with Stand Up KC and the Missouri Workers Center, relies on public transit for work.

"I was living in a hotel with my kids in North Kansas City and the buses weren't always reliable, so I got IRIS early to be able to get to my shift," Ball explained. "I work in the city now, overnights at Taco Bell. It's very beneficial to have IRIS when I get off work."

Supporters argued the cuts are needed to address KCATA's budget shortfall, as the city's $71 million allocation falls far short of the $117 million needed. Officials also cited high administrative costs and call for more efficient transit operations.

In 2024, KCATA reported 1.1 million riders, a four-year high, averaging more than 35,000 people daily. Couple that with KC Streetcars, and Kansas City's transit served more than 40,000 people per day last year.

For Ball, its significance goes beyond just transportation.

"Our public transportation is the heart of the city," Ball emphasized. "It allows us, no matter where we are from or what we look like, to move around, accomplish our goals and try to live a better dream."

The budget cuts are being discussed by the City Council Finance Committee after talks were delayed in a previous session.


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Minnesota's up-and-coming doctors say in order to better care for patients down the road, they need collective bargaining power.

A large group of them has filed to form a union, reflecting an industry shift. This week, a supermajority of nearly 1,000 University of Minnesota resident physicians and fellows submitted their union-creation plans. It follows a similar move by peers at Hennepin Health earlier this month.

Dr. Thomas Schmidt, infectious diseases fellow at the University of Minnesota, said the current work environment for providers advancing through their training in hospitals and other settings is pretty grueling, with up to 80-hour workweeks in some cases.

"It's us making sure that we're having some breaks and making sure that we're able to have some life outside of training," Schmidt explained. "To ensure that we can be good doctors when we're there with our patients."

Schmidt cited burnout, still lingering from the COVID-19 pandemic, as one factor behind doctors embracing unionization. Researchers say the number of newly union-represented doctors could soon double, compared with the past two decades.

Because of consolidation in health care, more physicians are now employees of larger systems, as opposed to independent practitioners. The university said it will be responsive to all necessary parties as the process takes shape.

Doctors still getting their training say the residency system leaves little room to advocate for changes or request a new location. And while established medical professionals might make good money, Schmidt said it is not the case for residents, who are often in the $15 to $20 per-hour range.

"That is not a substantial amount of money to be able to take care of your housing, to take care of your family," Schmidt pointed out. "I'm a parent of two young kids, so it has not been easy to be a trainee."

He added some peers are delaying starting a family because of the limited pay and long hours.

Skeptics fear the union push among doctors will reduce the earnings of specialists. Meanwhile, the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees, which has members working on infectious disease control in the state health department, recognizes the need for providers to have a bigger voice. It said it is vital as public health concerns, such as the bird flu, add to the work demands for the young professionals.

Overflow crowds are showing up at town hall meetings in Iowa, which had been planned to allow people to ask questions of their congressional representatives. But the lawmakers are not showing up.

Constituents are attending town hall meetings at libraries across the state to ask about potential changes to Social Security, cuts to government agencies - and rollbacks of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs.

But Iowa American Federation of Labor President Charlie Wishman said U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller Meeks - R-Davenport - and U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn - R-Bondurant - are among lawmakers who haven't shown up to listen.

"And if they don't show up, we still have crowds that are standing room only or overflowing," said Wishman, "just to try and talk to an empty chair."

Wishman said advocacy groups are trying to find other ways to connect people with their representatives - including by writing postcards or emails, or calling their Washington offices with questions about the Trump administration's effort to reduce spending and downsize the federal government.

The advisory group, the Department of Government Efficiency - overseen by SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk - has announced plans to terminate leases for seven federal office buildings in Iowa, including for the IRS, the Food and Drug Administration, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Wishman said the cuts mean terminating important positions for federal workers in Iowa.

"Bird flu people," said Wishman, "or they work at the disease lab up in Ames or, like, something that we really need staffed."

Wishman said since lawmakers didn't show up to the scheduled town hall meetings, attendees wrote their questions on postcards - which he says will be delivered to the congressional representatives' offices.