Fall Return to Work Series Success
To everyone who said, “Tell me about yourself,” and everyone brave enough to answer, thank you.
That simple prompt can feel enormous when stepping back into the paid workforce after time away. It asks for a story, a direction, a little confidence, and the ability to connect past experience with what comes next. This fall, hundreds of those stories were spoken out loud, heard with care, and met with real possibility.
Untapped Potential’s Fall Return-to-Work Series was a tremendous success because people showed up for one another. Across five events, 14 industry speakers, and 260 informational interviews, candidates, clients, mentors, speakers, and hosts made the series more than a calendar of gatherings. They made it a living example of workforce development in action.
We thank everyone who participated and helped make it possible. Your experience, curiosity, and generosity are helping experienced women move toward their next professional chapter with more clarity and confidence.
The series worked because the conversations were real
An informational conversation may start with a name, a role, or a company. The real value often arrives a few minutes later, when the conversation opens a door someone did not know existed.
A candidate may learn about an organization with an immediate need. A mentor may recognize a transferable skill that was sitting in plain sight. A speaker may describe a path that helps someone connect years of experience to a long-held ambition. Sometimes the conversation reveals a fulfilling next chapter that had not yet been considered.
That is why this work matters.
The Fall Return-to-Work Series was designed to expand awareness, share knowledge, and build relationships that help people move forward. The numbers tell one part of the story. Five events. Fourteen industry speakers. Two hundred sixty informational interviews. The deeper story is what happened inside those conversations.
People practiced saying the experience they bring.
People listened for fit, not just for titles.
People saw career potential where it might have been overlooked before.
This is especially important for experienced professionals returning after a career pause. A gap on a resume does not erase judgment, leadership, problem-solving, customer care, technical knowledge, project follow-through, or community experience. Many people returning to paid work have been managing complexity for years. They may need updated language, a timely introduction, and a chance to practice their story in a professional context.
That is exactly what the series offered.
We saw the strength of a generous professional community
The success of the series belongs to everyone who joined in.
To our candidates, thank you for taking the brave step of entering rooms, starting conversations, and naming what you are ready to do next. It takes courage to speak about your experience after time away, especially when the path ahead is still forming. You did it with thoughtfulness and determination.
To our clients and employer partners, thank you for listening carefully and looking beyond the simple outline of a resume. When organizations take time to hear from experienced women, they gain access to skills, maturity, and perspective that are too often missed in traditional hiring channels.
To our mentors, thank you for sharing practical guidance. A great mentor does not simply give advice. A great mentor helps someone hear their own strengths more clearly. That kind of guidance can change the way a candidate walks into the next conversation.
To our speakers, thank you for bringing the larger market into view. You helped connect individual stories to real needs in industry, technology, nonprofit leadership, customer management, operations, and mission-driven work.
To our hosts, thank you for making space for connection. Welcoming places matter. They help people feel seen before the conversation even begins.
Together, this community showed what is possible when people choose to be both practical and hopeful.
More than an introduction
An introduction is often treated as a small thing. In career re-entry work, it can be a turning point.
One conversation can help someone understand a field that has changed while they were away. Another can introduce language that better describes their skills. Another can point toward a company or sector that needs exactly the experience they have. Sometimes, the most powerful outcome is not an immediate opportunity. It is the realization, “There is a place for what I know.”
That matters because many women returners are navigating both confidence questions and market questions at the same time.
They may be asking:
How do I explain my career pause without apologizing for it?
Which of my skills are still current?
What has changed in my field?
Where might my experience fit now?
How do I talk about caregiving, volunteering, consulting, community leadership, or other unpaid work in a clear way?
What kind of flexible work could make this next chapter sustainable?
Informational interviews do not answer every question at once. They do something equally useful. They create movement.
Movement builds confidence. Confidence improves the next conversation. The next conversation may lead to clarity, a referral, a project, a role, or a new direction worth exploring.
This is why we continue to invest in spaces where experienced professionals can meet people who are willing to listen.
Connecticut conversations revealed a wide range of possibilities
Across the series, participants heard about opportunities taking shape in Connecticut and beyond. The variety was energizing.
QuantumCT shared a window into emerging technology taking shape here in the state. For many attendees, that kind of exposure is powerful. It shows that advanced fields are not abstract or far away. They are being built in communities people already know.
Technology companies spoke about the need for professionals who can manage projects, communicate across teams, keep work on track, and bring order to complex efforts. Those abilities often come from many parts of life and work. A person does not need a perfectly linear path to bring value to a technical environment.
Established businesses such as Motorlease offered another example. Fleet leasing depends on relationships, service, follow-through, customer understanding, and the ability to solve problems with calm and consistency. Those are strengths many experienced professionals have built over years of work, caregiving, leadership, and community involvement.
Nonprofits and startups added still more possibilities. Purposeful work can take many forms. Some people are drawn to mission-driven organizations because they want their next chapter to connect with values they have carried for years. Others are excited by smaller teams, varied responsibilities, and the chance to help build something from an early stage.
The range of speakers and organizations made one message clear. There are many paths worth exploring.
Sometimes it takes one conversation to discover an organization in your own backyard. Sometimes it takes a question from someone else to recognize that your skills meet a need you had not considered. Sometimes the right opportunity starts as a simple exchange after an event, when someone says, “Tell me more about that.”
The courage to answer is worth celebrating
“Tell me about yourself” can sound like an ordinary interview prompt. For someone returning to paid work, it can carry a lot of weight.
The answer may include years of professional achievement, a career pause, caregiving, volunteer leadership, continued learning, consulting, board service, part-time work, community projects, or a shift in priorities. It may also include uncertainty. That is normal.
The goal is not to explain every chapter. The goal is to create a clear bridge between past experience and future contribution.
A strong answer often includes three parts:
A clear professional identity
This helps the listener understand the throughline. For example, someone might describe herself as a client-focused operations leader, a project manager with strong cross-functional experience, or a communications professional who helps teams make complex ideas clear.
A brief and confident career pause statement
The pause does not need to be hidden, overexplained, or treated as a weakness. A simple statement can work well. For example, “After a career pause focused on family caregiving and community leadership, I am returning to professional work with renewed focus on operations and client service.”
A forward-looking direction
This helps the conversation land. It tells the listener where to connect the dots. For example, “I am especially interested in organizations that value relationship management, process improvement, and thoughtful customer support.”
During the series, participants practiced this kind of language in real human conversations. That practice matters. Confidence grows when words move from the page to the voice.
What we learned from 260 informational interviews
The 260 informational interviews across the series gave us a clear reminder. People help when they understand how to help.
A vague conversation can be pleasant. A thoughtful conversation can be productive.
The strongest informational interviews often included a few simple habits:
A short introduction that gave context without overexplaining
A specific question about an industry, organization, or function
A willingness to listen for unexpected fit
A clear follow-up step
A thank-you that recognized the person’s time and insight
These habits may sound small, but they create trust. They also show readiness.
For candidates, the interviews offered practice, market knowledge, and new connections. For speakers and employers, they offered a chance to meet experienced people with proven skills and renewed energy. For mentors, they created moments to translate possibility into practical next steps.
That is workforce development at its best. It is personal, relational, and grounded in real needs.
Your next step...
The Fall Return-to-Work Series created momentum. Now is the time to keep it moving. In addition to 1:1 follow-up requested by participating Mentors and Clients, your next opportunity is the Mock Interview event.
Date: Thursday, November, 19th
Time: noon - 1pm
Virtual: via zoom
Let's keep the momentum going. This is a practical and encouraging way to turn conversations into readiness.
A mock interview helps candidates practice the moments that matter most:
Introducing themselves with confidence
Explaining a career pause clearly
Connecting past experience to current needs
Answering behavioral questions with specific examples
Asking thoughtful questions of the interviewer
Receiving feedback in a supportive setting
Practice changes the experience of an interview. It reduces the pressure of the unknown. It helps people hear where their answers are strong and where they can become clearer. It also builds the muscle of speaking about experience without shrinking it.
For many returning professionals, the challenge is not lack of ability. The challenge is translating that ability into current language, then saying it out loud with confidence. A mock interview gives space to do that before the stakes feel higher.
If the Fall Return-to-Work Series helped open doors, the Mock Interview helps prepare candidates to walk through them.
Thank you for making this work possible
This fall reminded us that re-entry is not a solo effort. It is a community effort.
Experienced women need access to information, relationships, and practice. Employers need access to capable people whose experience may not fit a narrow or traditional path. Mentors and speakers help connect those needs in ways that are practical and human.
That is what we saw across the series.
We saw people listen carefully. We saw candidates grow more confident as they practiced their stories. We saw industry speakers name real needs. We saw mentors offer thoughtful guidance. We saw hosts help create welcoming spaces. We saw a community choose possibility.
To everyone who said, “Tell me about yourself,” thank you.
To everyone who answered, thank you.
To everyone who made an introduction, shared a resource, hosted a conversation, or encouraged a candidate to take the next step, thank you.
The Fall Return-to-Work Series was a success because of you. Now the next step is clear: check out our upcoming events: AI Wine for Women, Community Coffee & workUP Elevator Pitch, then Mock Interview. You'll keep building the confidence, clarity, and connection that move a professional chapter forward.
