full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Carol Fishman Cohen: How to get back to work after a career break

Unscramble the Blue Letters


I met tcary in June of 2011, when the Today Show aeksd me if I could work with her to see if I could help her turn things around. The first thing I told Tracy was she had to get out of the house. I told her she had to go public with her job search and tell everyone she knew about her interest in returning to work. I also told her, "You are going to have a lot of conversations that don't go anywhere. Expect that, and don't be daorsgeicud by it. There will be a handful that ultimately lead to a job opportunity."

I'll tell you what hnepepad with Tracy in a little bit, but I want to share with you a discovery that I made when I was returning to work after my own career break of 11 years out of the full-time workforce. And that is, that people's view of you is frozen in time. What I mean by this is, when you start to get in touch with people and you get back in touch with those people from the past, the people with whom you wkeord or went to school, they are going to remember you as you were before your ceaerr break. And that's even if your sense of self has dimshniied over time, as happens with so many of us the farther removed we are from our professional iiedntites. So for example, you might think of yourself as someone who looks like this. This is me, crazy after a day of driving around in my minivan. Or here I am in the kitchen. But those people from the past, they don't know about any of this. They only remember you as you were, and it's a graet confidence boost to be back in tcouh with these peolpe and hear their enthusiasm about your interest in returning to work.

Open Cloze


I met _____ in June of 2011, when the Today Show _____ me if I could work with her to see if I could help her turn things around. The first thing I told Tracy was she had to get out of the house. I told her she had to go public with her job search and tell everyone she knew about her interest in returning to work. I also told her, "You are going to have a lot of conversations that don't go anywhere. Expect that, and don't be ___________ by it. There will be a handful that ultimately lead to a job opportunity."

I'll tell you what ________ with Tracy in a little bit, but I want to share with you a discovery that I made when I was returning to work after my own career break of 11 years out of the full-time workforce. And that is, that people's view of you is frozen in time. What I mean by this is, when you start to get in touch with people and you get back in touch with those people from the past, the people with whom you ______ or went to school, they are going to remember you as you were before your ______ break. And that's even if your sense of self has __________ over time, as happens with so many of us the farther removed we are from our professional __________. So for example, you might think of yourself as someone who looks like this. This is me, crazy after a day of driving around in my minivan. Or here I am in the kitchen. But those people from the past, they don't know about any of this. They only remember you as you were, and it's a _____ confidence boost to be back in _____ with these ______ and hear their enthusiasm about your interest in returning to work.

Solution


  1. touch
  2. people
  3. identities
  4. career
  5. discouraged
  6. worked
  7. tracy
  8. happened
  9. diminished
  10. asked
  11. great

Original Text


I met Tracy in June of 2011, when the Today Show asked me if I could work with her to see if I could help her turn things around. The first thing I told Tracy was she had to get out of the house. I told her she had to go public with her job search and tell everyone she knew about her interest in returning to work. I also told her, "You are going to have a lot of conversations that don't go anywhere. Expect that, and don't be discouraged by it. There will be a handful that ultimately lead to a job opportunity."

I'll tell you what happened with Tracy in a little bit, but I want to share with you a discovery that I made when I was returning to work after my own career break of 11 years out of the full-time workforce. And that is, that people's view of you is frozen in time. What I mean by this is, when you start to get in touch with people and you get back in touch with those people from the past, the people with whom you worked or went to school, they are going to remember you as you were before your career break. And that's even if your sense of self has diminished over time, as happens with so many of us the farther removed we are from our professional identities. So for example, you might think of yourself as someone who looks like this. This is me, crazy after a day of driving around in my minivan. Or here I am in the kitchen. But those people from the past, they don't know about any of this. They only remember you as you were, and it's a great confidence boost to be back in touch with these people and hear their enthusiasm about your interest in returning to work.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
career break 11
reentry internship 6
internship program 4
career breaks 3
internship programs 3
career transitioners 2
long career 2
today show 2
job search 2
technologically obsolete 2
started noticing 2
hiring decision 2
job offer 2
temp job 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
reentry internship programs 3
reentry internship program 2

Important Words


  1. asked
  2. bit
  3. boost
  4. break
  5. career
  6. confidence
  7. conversations
  8. crazy
  9. day
  10. diminished
  11. discouraged
  12. discovery
  13. driving
  14. enthusiasm
  15. expect
  16. frozen
  17. great
  18. handful
  19. happened
  20. hear
  21. house
  22. identities
  23. interest
  24. job
  25. june
  26. kitchen
  27. knew
  28. lead
  29. lot
  30. met
  31. minivan
  32. opportunity
  33. people
  34. professional
  35. public
  36. remember
  37. removed
  38. returning
  39. school
  40. search
  41. sense
  42. share
  43. show
  44. start
  45. time
  46. today
  47. told
  48. touch
  49. tracy
  50. turn
  51. ultimately
  52. view
  53. work
  54. worked
  55. workforce
  56. years