Which Roles are Best for a Returnship Program?

Written By Jeff Monaghan

Deciding on the roles to include in your Returnship Program is no easy task. It takes some serious thought and consideration. Things you will want to think about when deciding include the hiring manager for the role, gender diversity within the department, ramp-up time needed, and required skills for the role.    

Hiring Manager 
You’ll want to make sure the hiring manager for each role is fully on board with the program. We have partners who actually have an application process in place. This is for interested managers and includes an interview to learn more about the manager and why they want to participate in the program. A process like this is worth doing as we have seen the greatest success when each participating manager is fully committed to the program.  

Gender Diversity 
Since Returners are predominantly women, it's best to look at departments and teams that are lacking in gender diversity when deciding on roles. Hiring career-ready Returners is a great way to balance out gender diversity on any team or in any department. 

Needed Ramp-Up Time 
Roles that need to ramp up quickly may not be the best for Returners. That’s not to say that Returners won’t become valuable contributors to any team. In fact, we consistently hear from our partners how amazed they are at the performance and dedication of Returners. But some may need a little more time to get back into the swing of things if they’ve been out of the workplace for a few years.  

(Read: A Comprehensive Guide to Implementing a Successful Returnship Program)

Required Skills 
What are the skills required for the role? Returners tend to shy away from roles where they feel like they won’t be able to compete against more traditional candidates. So, a laundry list of 10-15 requirements will usually result in very few applicants as Returners are already a bit unsure as their abilities. If you can, find a role with 3 or 4 must have skills and you will see more applicants. Here’s a good example from one of our partners.    
 
Essential 

  • BS / MS in Computer Science, or a related field 

  • Excellent C++ programming and software design skills 

  • Knowledgeable in Python 

  • Experience with database management systems (both relational and NoSQL) 

Desirable 

  • UI / UX experience, especially with React.js 

  • Knowledge of mapping, geo-spatial systems, 3D geometry 

  • Distributed System design patterns (high availability, scaling, load balancing, caching, sharding etc.) 

  • Experience working in a cloud environment (AWS, GCP, Azure, etc) 

 
Selecting the proper roles for your Returnship program is a key to its success. Make sure you are putting enough thought into them before moving forward.  

Women Back to Work is the leading provider of customized Full Service Returnship Programs for medium and large companies across the US and India.

Jeff Monaghan
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