How to Rebuild Career Confidence After a Break: 7 Tips

You’re looking to rebuild career confidence after taking a break.

Taking a break from your career—whether for motherhood, caregiving, illness, burnout, or personal growth—is a deeply personal choice.

But returning to the workplace can be daunting.

You may be having feelings of self-doubt or fear that your skills are outdated.

If you’re in that place right now, know this: you are not alone, and your value hasn’t disappeared…it just needs to be rediscovered.

I’ve returned to work after taking a long break because I moved with someone I thought I was spending the rest of my life with (we didn’t end up together).

I’ve taken breaks when both my kids were born. I’m friends with moms who entered back into the workforce after many years of being a stay-at-home mom.

Whatever your reason is for returning to work after a break, all of the following tips apply.

Let’s walk through seven actionable strategies to help you rebuild your career confidence and re-enter the workforce feeling strong, capable, and clear about your worth.

1. Own Your Career Break

One of the most powerful mindset shifts you can make is to reframe your time away from work not as a “gap,” but as a time of growth.

Whether you were raising a family, supporting loved ones, recovering from burnout, or exploring new paths, that time was not wasted.

Update your resume with a brief, professional explanation

Something like:

• Family Sabbatical
• Career Pause
• Caregiving
• Personal Development

Highlight transferable skills: time management, multitasking, communication, resilience, budgeting, etc.

Something like this:

• Took a planned career break to care for a family member, while maintaining involvement in skill development and personal growth.
• Paused full-time employment to focus on raising young children, during which I developed time management, budgeting, and multitasking skills.
• Pursued personal and professional development through independent study, certifications, and self-guided projects.
• Explored independent projects and short-term freelance work while evaluating long-term career goals.
• Pursued coursework and certifications to upgrade skills and prepare for the next stage of my career.

💡 Career Confidence tip: Practice saying your career story out loud. Avoid phrases like “just a mom” or “I took time off,” and instead say: “I chose to focus on family for a few years, and now I’m excited to bring my experience and skills back to the workplace.”

2. Complete a Skills Inventory

When you’ve been away from the professional world, it’s easy to forget what you bring to the table.

Try this exercise with a piece of paper and pen:

• List out all your past roles.
• Write down the tasks and skills associated with each.
• Identify which of those are still relevant, which need updating, and which could be reframed for today’s job market.

You’ll likely realize you have more to offer than you thought.

Now go one step further and write down all of the tools and platforms that you used. Something like:

• Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, Trello
• Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, Google Docs, Word, Dropbox/Google Drive, DocuSign
• Google Calendar/Outlook Calendar, ClickUp, Canva
• Instagram/Facebook, Mailchimp/Kit, Wix/Wordpress, Buffer/Later
• QuickBooks, Calendly, Etsy, Square, Stripe

💡 Career Confidence tip: Ask a former coworker or friend to review your skills list and remind you of your strengths—they often see what you miss.

3. Upskill with Intention

You don’t need a new degree or 10 certifications to get back into the workforce.

But you can boost your career confidence by brushing up on key skills.

Here’s how:

• Take a free or low-cost online course (Coursera, LinkedIn Learning, Udemy)
• Focus on tech skills, project management tools, writing, or industry-specific trends
• Set a 30-day learning goal (Example: “Complete 2 Excel tutorials and one communication workshop by end of month”)

Don’t forget courses or certifications that you received years ago!

I have a Microsoft Office Certification that I received in college over 10 years ago. If I didn’t have the certificate in the corner of my office, I would forget I ever had it.

💡 Career Confidence tip: Keep a “Skills Gained” list to visually track your growth. You can build upon it as you improve your skills and not have to try to remember these skills in the future.

4. Practice Speaking the Language of Work

After a long break, your communication style might lean more personal than professional.

Practice writing and speaking like you’re in the workforce again.

How:

• Draft mock emails to a client or boss
• Practice a short elevator pitch about your return to work
• Use voice notes to rehearse answering interview questions like, “Tell me about yourself.”

Also, retrain your brain to start thinking like a professional would.

Instead of “I just held my 6-year old’s birthday party” say to yourself “I just project managed an event with budgeting, vendor coordination, and timeline execution”.

Silly? Not at all.

That’s literally what you did, but you’re saying it in a more professional manner.

Let’s do another because I find it really fun:

Instead of “I volunteered at my kids school”, say “I collaborated with teams, led fundraising, and managed community engagement”.

To help you get back into the swing of things, listen to a podcast in the car of someone speaking about the industry that you are looking to get back into.

💡 Career Confidence tip: Record yourself answering, “Why are you returning to work now?” Watch it back. Improve with each take.

5. Start Small: Volunteer, Freelance, Internship

One way to rebuild career confidence is by getting back into action gradually. Even a few hours a week in a semi-professional setting can reignite your rhythm.

Ideas:

• Volunteer with an organization in your industry
• Offer to freelance for a local business or nonprofit
• Intern part-time to get current work experience

These bridge roles build your network, sharpen your skills, and look great on a resume…plus, they’re career confidence gold.

Dipping your toes into returning to the workforce will help you:

• Rebuild your career confidence with hands-on experience
• Brush up on professional communication and structure
• Gain recent experience to add to your resume, which perhaps will build your confidence during an interview
• Remind yourself of your value

💡 Career Confidence tip: Treat every small project like a professional case study. Record the outcomes to show potential employers what you can do.

6. Surround Yourself with Support

You don’t have to do this alone.

Find a community of women who are also returning to work, career-shifting, or growing after a break. A support system can:

• Keep you accountable
• Offer emotional encouragement
• Share job leads and insights

Look for:

• LinkedIn groups (like “Women Back to Work”)
• Facebook groups for working moms or career changers
• Local meetups or returnship programs

Check out Path Forward’s return to work success stories. You’ll find a ton of helpful information on this site as well.

💡 Career Confidence tip: Create a “Confidence Folder” in your phone or desktop. Save compliments, testimonials, past wins, and words of encouragement you’ve received. Review them when self-doubt creeps in.

7. Visualize and Celebrate Your Return

Career confidence grows not only from preparation, but from self-belief. Start visualizing what success looks like for you—whether that’s a remote role, starting your own business, or landing a dream job.

• Write a vision statement: “I am returning to work as a confident, capable, and qualified professional.”
• Visualize your first day at work—what are you wearing? How do you feel?
• Celebrate small wins: sent a resume? Had a networking call? Took a course? That counts.

Focus on the baby steps that you’re taking to get to your ultimate goal.

I know when I focus on something big like “Save $10,000” it feels like it’s forever away and I may get discouraged along the way.

But when I set up smaller goals, like “Save $1,000 in four weeks”, I can focus on that in the moment and feel like the end goal isn’t so bad.

Create your to-do list, focusing on making small steps in the right direction instead of looking only at the ultimate goal.

💡 Career Confidence tip: Progress, not perfection, is the goal. Each step forward is proof you’re rebuilding, not starting over.

Final Thoughts – You Are More Than a Job Title

Remember that taking a break from your career does not reduce your intelligence, drive, or value. In fact, it often adds layers of wisdom, compassion, and clarity that make you an even more powerful contributor.

Train your mind to believe that this is true.

Instead of saying that “it’s impossible to enter back into the workforce after a break”, try repeating these statements:

• “I took time away to focus on what mattered most, and now I’m bringing fresh perspective, resilience, and renewed focus into my next role. I may have paused, but my potential hasn’t.”
• “Stepping away gave me the chance to reset, grow personally, and now I’m excited to bring my skills back into a professional setting — stronger than before.”
• “My career break gave me real-life experience in time management, negotiation, problem-solving, and emotional intelligence — all valuable in the workplace.”

By taking intentional steps to rebuild your career confidence, reconnect with your skills, and enter the workforce on your terms, you’re setting yourself up for a powerful comeback.

You’ve already done the hardest part which is deciding you’re ready. Now go get what’s next.