At 51, Cathy wanted to put her Oxford physics degree and former experience to be

游客2024-01-02  6

问题 At 51, Cathy wanted to put her Oxford physics degree and former experience to better use. She had worked part-time in a school for several years while her three children were young, but she wanted to get back into the corporate world. Several applications later, she was getting nowhere. Then a friend told her about "returnships", a form of work experience that some companies are experimenting with to help middle-aged people—mainly women—return to work, often after breaks to care for families.
    Cathy eventually secured a place on an 11-week "Career returners" program with a company, open to men and women, which included being paired with a 20-year-old male student. He helped to acquaint her with new technology, such as using an iPhone and accessing the company’s virtual network from her laptop so she could work from home but still access internal files.
    "On the assessment day, I thought they must have been looking at my project management skills. But they weren’t looking at us for specific roles. They were just thinking, ’these women have a lot to offer, let’s see what they can do.’ That was refreshing." A clutch of companies in the UK and the U.S. have spotted an opportunity in hiring female returnees, who can put to use again technical skills learned earlier in their careers.
    They believe middle-aged women returning after a break make particularly good employees, because they bring a fresh perspective. Women tend to combine high emotional intelligence with strong leadership and organizational skills. "There is a massive pool of highly skilled people who want to return to work", says the head of human resources of an engineering company. "Recruitment agencies typically view people who have had two years out as a risk, but we see them as a great opportunity."
    In fact, by hiring female returnees, companies can access good skills these women developed in their former high-level jobs—and for a discount. In return, employers coach these middle-aged females back into working life. Through her returnship, Cathy gained a full-time role as an operations data consultant. She still is earning less than she would like to, "but it’s a foot in the door and the salary is up for review in six months," she says. It is still overwhelmingly women who stay home to care for young children. UK government figures show that women account for around 90 percent of people on career breaks for caring reasons. A lack of middle-aged women working, particularly in high skilled roles, is costing the UK economy £ 50 billion a year, according to a report. The report found that men over 50 took home nearly two-thirds of the total wages paid out to everyone in that age range in 2015. It blamed the pay gap on the low-skilled, part-time roles middle-aged women often accept. Some 40 percent of women in work in the UK do so part-time, as opposed to only 11 percent of men. This issue is not restricted to the UK. A- study last year by economists found "strong evidence of age discrimination in hiring against older women" in a range of white- and blue-collar jobs. The data show that it is harder for middle-aged women to find jobs than it is for middle-aged men, regardless of whether they have taken a break from working.

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答案     51岁的凯茜想更好地利用自己牛津大学物理学的文凭和先前的经验。在她三个孩子还小的时候,她曾在某所学校兼职工作了几年,但她想回到企业界。几次申请应聘后,她一无所获。之后一个朋友跟她说了“职场回归项目”。这种项目是一种工作实习,一些公司正在尝试推行,旨在帮助以女性为主的中年人重回职场。这一人群通常先前为了照顾家人而中止了工作。
    凯茜最终成功进入一家公司的“回归职业者”项目。该项目面向男女开放,为期11周,其中包括与一名20岁的男学生结对。他帮助凯茜熟悉新技术,例如使用iPhone、用笔记本电脑访问公司的虚拟网络,以便她在家办公的同时仍可以访问公司内部文件。“
    在评估当日,我认为他们当时一定一直在考察我的项目管理技能。但他们并没有以特定的角色去衡量我们。他们只是在想:‘这些女人有很多技能,让我们看看她们能做什么。’这令人耳目一新。”英国和美国的许多公司发现了雇用重返职场的女性这一机会。这些女性在以前的职业中学到的技能可以派上用场。
    这些公司相信重返职场的中年女性会成为特别优秀的员工,因为她们带来了崭新的视角。女性往往能将高情商与强大的领导和组织能力相结合。一家工程公司的人力资源主管说:“有大量的高技能人才想重返工作岗位。招聘机构通常认为已经离开职场两年的人会带来风险,但我们认为他们会带来巨大的机遇。”
    实际上,雇用重返职场的女性,公司可以利用她们以前在高级职位中培养出来的良好技能,而且给出的薪水比她们原来的低。相应地,用人单位要指导这些中年女性重返职场。通过“回归计划”,Cathy获得了运营数据顾问的全职职位。她的收入仍然比自己理想的要少,但她表示“这只是个开端,工资在六个月后会再评定上调。”目前主要仍是女性留在家里照顾幼儿。英国政府的数据显示,在为了照顾家庭而暂时离开职场的人群中,女性约占90%。一份报告显示,缺乏中年女性劳动力,特别是担任高技能职位的女性,使英国经济每年损失500亿英镑。根据该报告,2015年,年龄在50岁以上的男性领到的工资几乎占该年龄段所有人工资的三分之二。该报告将薪酬差距归咎于中年女性经常接受的低技能的兼职工作。在英国,约有40%的女性从事这样的兼职工作,而相比之下,男性只有11%。此问题不仅限于英国。去年经济学家进行的一项研究发现,“强有力的证据表明就各种白领和蓝领工作而言,在雇用大龄女性时存在年龄歧视”。数据表明,中年女性比中年男性更难找到工作,不管她们是否曾离开过职场。

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