Break ke baad, re-entry

A woman in Bengaluru is helping her fellow women restart their careers after taking a sabbatical! 35-year-old Neha Bagaria, an alumnus of Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania is the founder of JobsForHer.

This city-based portal enables women on a professional break to restart their careers by connecting them to opportunities with no notice periods! Like most stories, this idea was inspired by her own journey...

“I took a three year break in my own career when I had my children. That’s when I first became aware of the difficulties women face to re-enter the workforce,” Neha tells us.

A triple major in finance, marketing and management information system, she noticed her female friends – well educated, qualified and experienced professionals, much like herself, stepping out of their careers citing marriage, motherhood or caring for the elderly as reasons.

“I learnt of several re-entry challenges including flexibility, confidence and retraining. It only made me more determined,” she says on what got her to jumpstart her portal. Her biggest inspiration, Sheryl Sandberg’s words on why the world has fewer female leaders only spurred her on.

For Neha, entrepreneurship comes easy. “Being from a Marwari family, it runs in my blood,” she smiles. “Even before I graduated, at 21, I founded my first venture to introduce an advanced placement program in India. That experience made me taste the highs of social entrepreneurship and I was hooked,” she says.

Since that fateful March 8 – International Women’s Day of 2015, she has come a long way. Neha was even recognised as an INK Fellow and spoke at the INK conference, India’s foremost portal for inspiring stories in 2016. But her proudest moment? “When I meet women whose careers I helped restart,” she beams.

The many testimonials and Way Back to the Way Forward, an e-book that chronicles some of these re-starter journeys motivate Neha every day. “When I decided to restart after a five-year break, I tried job hunting traditionally. I’d get scores of interviews and they’d evaporate on hearing of my break,” says Uma Maheshwari, who found a high-flying job through the portal.

“From feeling outdated to losing your network, the biggest challenge that women face is a loss of confidence that it is possible for them to restart their careers. A portal like this shows them how to get there,” adds the now branch head and the associate vice president of a prominent bank.

Another Bengalurean, Manisha Dasappa agrees. “I actually took up a month-long course with the portal to combat my inhibitions from being away from work for too long (eight years),” she adds, now happily working for a communication firm in the city.