Career breaks can be a great way to explore other careers, time off to care for family members, or enjoy some well-deserved time-out. Starting this week, LinkedIn users will now be able to update their profiles with details of any career breaks they have taken. If you are currently taking a career break or thinking of doing so in the future, head over to LinkedIn’s site, sign in, and tell them all about your ambitions and how you plan to get back on the ladder.
Tips On How To Add a Career Break To Your LinkedIn Profile
Let’s watch how to add ‘career break’ in your profile
Video courtesy: Busrriss Consulting Inc.
What is the LinkedIn Career Break
The LinkedIn Career Break is an initiative by the company to show more respect to those who take time off to care for children, parents or personal bereavement or taking care of themself (mental health & physical health). It has now become a new option on Linkedin profiles, and it includes a description stating the length and reason for the break. It also includes some of your professional experience since you started your career break which will help when someone looks at search results. The Description section has been updated with additional guidelines that include employer support, location, and timing.
Individuals can choose from one of six options: career change, parental leave (maternity or paternity), humanitarian pursuits (volunteer work or for other reasons), family responsibilities (responsibilities due to aging parents), health-related reasons including recuperation from an injury or illness, or temporary bi-lateral geographical logistics constraints.
Common Use Cases of the LinkedIn Career Break
A LinkedIn Career Break is an option to put one’s professional life on hold for a set period. This can range from months to years, depending on the individual and how long they need before going back to work. It’s important for people who are taking breaks to be transparent about their plans so that LinkedIn users can have transparency between those with full-time jobs or careers, and those who take extended or lesser time breaks so there is no ambiguity. If a user needs someone experienced in their field while they’re not available, this means they will have more trusted connections in that person’s network when they decide to return.
Who Can Edit Their LinkedIn Career Break?
Anyone with a LinkedIn profile can edit their career break. To do so, they need to go to “Edit your profile” and click on the link titled “edit your overall summary.” Once this is done, they can add information about what they were doing before, what they are doing now, and what they will do in the future. Remember to keep this information as concise as possible to avoid going off-topic while explaining your timeline.
Conclusion
Why do you need to take a break from your career? A popular reason for taking a career break is to follow your passions. Ideally, this gives you more time for other responsibilities and interests. Taking a break also lets you gain all new experiences or relearn skills in what feels like an immersive way. Finally kudos to LinkedIn for this feature, as it will help us to be more vocal and confident about career break. It will break the prejudice in employer or change their way to look at employees who has gaps in their career. End of the day, it is completely ok to take time off for yourself, isn’t it?
