In a talk at the JCC on Feb. 5, Vivian Steir Rabin, left, seen here with her business partner, Carol Fishman Cohen, will explore strategies for people looking for new, more secure, or more fulfilling career options. Photo by Sandra Nissen Photography
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Back on trackJanuary 31, 2008
Vivian Steir Rabin and her business partner, Carol Fishman Cohen, started out with the aim of helping women relaunch their careers after taking a break to raise children.
With recent economic jitters making everyone reconsider their job security, Rabin said their audience is expanding.
Rabin, a former finance and human resources professional, has five children. Cohen, who used to be an investment banker, has four. Drawing on their own experiences, they wrote a book, Back on the Career Track, and established a Web site. Washington Post columnist Leslie Morgan Steiner called the book a “smart, practical, inspiring guide for moms looking to get back to paid work — without losing their minds.”
Their book caught the eye of Michele Dreiblatt, the director of cultural arts and education at the Jewish Community Center of Central New Jersey. It struck all kinds of chords for her. “That’s just what I went through a few years ago, and their advice is absolutely spot-on,” she said.
Rabin will speak at the Wilf Jewish Community Campus in Scotch Plains on Tuesday, Feb. 5, presenting a summary of the techniques outlined in the book. They also apply, Rabin said, to those simply looking for “new and wonderful opportunities,” or to feel “more in control of their own destiny.”
The event is scheduled from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. That timing precludes those in full-time jobs from attending — unless they already have the kind of flexible schedule Rabin describes as an option for hands-on parents or for those with religious requirements.
Speaking in a phone interview from her home in Clifton, Rabin said that such flexibility can allow for Shabbat or Holy Day observance, often without the need to mention religion to a client. “You can always say that you’re meeting with someone else, or that you have another arrangement that day,” she said.
Rabin, like Cohen, has an MBA from Harvard University, but that doesn’t mean they expect everyone in their audience to have advanced degrees. She said, “We feature all kinds of people in the book. It doesn’t matter what you did before, or what you’d like to do next; everyone needs to think strategically.”
That might mean starting with something that seems “like small potatoes,” she said. “A ho-hum job can give you a foot in the door and grow into something more.” It could also mean considering some kind of study or training course, or accepting a temp position rather than the permanent one you want, to check out what a company or a particular job feels like. Even your social life might need re-tuning, making time for those who are enthusiastically supportive of you and avoiding people — even dear friends — whose doubts fuel your fears.
Confidence is key, especially for people who have been out of the mainstream, Rabin said, sounding as sure and enthusiastic as she wants her clients to appear. But, she added, self-promotion needs to be done with a light touch rather than arrogance. “It’s great if you can be humorous,” she added.
In her talk, Rabin said, she plans to give tips to bolster re-launchers’ self-assurance. If age is an issue, for example, it helps to meet people in person, so you can show them that you’re energetic and a quick learner. “People don’t hire out of pity; you have to make them want to hire you.”
It’s important to frame what you offer in terms of what an employer needs, said Rabin. She suggested that if an employer wants a full-time person and you want to work part-time, you might find someone to share the job with you.
The approximately 45-minute JCC presentation will not give her enough time to guide people through a detailed self-assessment, Rabin said, but she plans to provide participants with the outline of a process they can take home and do at their leisure to assess career options, update job search skills and prepare for interviews, come up with a networking plan, market themselves, and “clinch the opportunity.”
Starting a new career can be a scary prospect, she said, “but it can also be a wonderful journey, a time for growth and experience, that ends up being rewarding not just financially but in many other ways.”
Back on track
Vivian Steir Rabin, coauthor of Back on the Career Track, will speak at the Wilf campus in Scotch Plains on Tuesday, Feb. 5. The event runs from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. A light kosher breakfast will be served. The event is cosponsored by the JCC of Central New Jersey and the Women’s Campaign of the Jewish Federation of Central New Jersey.
The cost is $30, $25 for JCC members. Reservations are suggested. Register on-line (course #25025) or call Simone Klein at 908-889-8800, ext. 214.