“There were many times, working as a shelf stacker in a local supermarket, where I questioned what I was doing with my life,” recalls Renu Amin, 40, a mechanical engineer who took 10 years out of her career to bring up her son, Dominic.
Like many women in similar positions, she was shocked to discover how hard it was to find her way back onto the career ladder.
“The store work was physically hard and very dull, with all breaks closely monitored and little interaction with others. I started to wonder whether I would ever get back to doing the job for which I had trained so hard.”
Time out for family
"After finishing my degree in engineering, I had been working as a Piping and Machinery designer in a shipyard near my hometown in Gujurat, India, when I got pregnant with my son Dominic in 2009.
"Having given birth, it became clear that returning part-time was not an option, and the full-time hours were very long, so my husband, Peter, and I decided that he would work while I took a career break.
"The cost of living in India was low and the culture was very focused on family and kids, so it felt the right thing to do.
"As Dominic turned 11, my husband’s company posted him back to England in 2020. This coincided with my son starting high school, so I decided I would like to return to engineering to help contribute to the higher living expenses in the UK.
"I felt ready to work outside home again."
Joyless job-search
"Little did I know how hard it would be to secure a job. I spent a year looking for engineering positions, initially in shipbuilding and then in any industry, sending in several hundred applications, but I got nowhere. It was so demoralising.
"I couldn’t bear sitting at home doing nothing and knew it would be good for me to meet other people and get out of the house.
"I took on a few roles for which I was hugely over-qualified just to get into the workplace again – working in a supermarket and then in an optician's – but it wasn’t what I wanted to be doing nor what I was qualified for.
"All the while, I was continuing to look for any engineering opportunities and happened upon a LinkedIn post by the Women’s Engineering Society mentioning something called a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) Returners program and sharing some of their success stories.
"A local engineering firm called Aquilar Nuclear was looking for someone to join the scheme – it felt like it was meant to be."
The daunting first step
"I was delighted to be offered a place on their 12-week program in September 2022 but also very nervous.
"It had been a long time since I’d used my engineering brain, and my experience was in a totally different sector to Aquilar Nuclear.
"It was also going to be a very new work culture vs my previous work life in India, plus English was my third language.
"On the first day, I put all these concerns to one side and threw myself wholeheartedly into learning as much as I could. It was amazing to be back working and stretched intellectually again.
"I felt I was making a positive impact, but it was a wonderful surprise when my manager approached me in my 10th week on the scheme to offer me a permanent role."
Finding my place again
"Initially, it was an entry-level post, but I’ve gradually made my way up in the company and I'm now a Mechanical Design Engineer. My role has grown every year, and I love working with a lot of different teams across many projects.
"Thanks to my perseverance, my career dreams eventually came true. I kept believing that I had more to offer and stayed positive even when I knew my skills weren’t being utilised.
"I now feel valued and mentally challenged, doing a role which I spent all those years training for.
"I’m continuing to push and develop myself and have recently been elected a member of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers (the first person to gain such recognition at Aquilar), and I’ve also nearly finished my Master of Science qualification."
Never give up
"I know I’m not alone in finding it hard even to get an interview when returning to work after time out caring for family.
"I hope my story might inspire others who are struggling to overcome the 'career break curse' to persevere and look at all possible entry points.
"I feel so fortunate I found STEM Returners, which helped to open the door to my new career. It still took a lot of bravery and hard work to leap right through it, but I’m so glad I did."
