‘Value your Broad Background’ with Derek White

Career Returners

This episode, we’re delighted to bring you our first conversation with a male returner. Derek White enjoyed a fascinating and varied career which equipped him with a broad mix of people, business, technical, marketing, procurement, and project management skills.

After making the decision to follow his wife’s diplomatic career, Derek took a career break of 7 years to care for their young family when they relocated to Canada. He describes this period as a precious time in his life and talks about the valuable transferable skills he gained through various entrepreneurial projects, despite the career sacrifices he made due to the interruption in his career trajectory.

As the children grew older and the family relocated to London, Derek decided the time was right to return to work. The route back to work was not easy though, with ‘confidence destroying’ rejections before finding success.

Hear how Derek secured a 3-month returnship which gave him valuable experience and networks in a new country, and then went on to find a fulfilling role at the Department for International Trade. In our conversation, Derek talks of the value you build through all the activities you do throughout your career and career break; “I have definitely found that being a bit older and having a broad background, I can add in many different ways”.

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