Back to Your Future UK and Ireland Conference 2021
Are you a professional woman wanting to kick-start or accelerate your return to work after a long career break? Our Back to Your Future Conference on 5-6 October is what you need! It’s a 2-day fully interactive online event packed with advice, inspiration, tools and employer and peer networking connections to get you back to a rewarding role.
Ticket sales have now closed.
Bought your ticket? See you very soon! Read our FAQs for attendees
The virtual format makes the Conference accessible from wherever you are located, and very flexible if you can’t make the full 2 days. Speaker, panel and main stage workshop sessions will be available on recording for ticket holders for 30 days after the event.
“It was a brilliant event – every session was on point and relevant. I picked up tips which enabled me to overhaul my CV, refresh my LinkedIn profile and gave me some helpful pointers for interviews. I made some fantastic contacts. I feel like I’m really ‘back in the game’ and have a renewed confidence about the future.” 2020 Attendee
“It is such a great feeling to not feel so alone and isolated. What a turnaround in 2 days!” 2020 Attendee
- Get advice and information from a wide range of Return-to-Work Expert Workshops: find your career compass, boost your confidence, improve your self-marketing, sharpen your CV and enhance your LinkedIn profile
- Connect with other like-minded women returners through 1:1 video chats and group video networking rooms organised by sector.
- Learn more about return to work opportunities and organisations in 2 live Power Hours in the Sponsor Booths with 9 leading Returner Employers: Amazon, Bank of England, Convex, Credit Suisse, DAC Beachcroft, FDM Group, Fidelity International, J.P. Morgan and Moody’s
- Meet in small-group video chat rooms with these 8 employers, plus FinTech employers Starling Bank, Klarna and Primary Bid
- Be encouraged by the stories of two Returner Panels of women who have successfully returned to work in diverse fields
- Understand more about what returner employers are looking for from two Employer Panels
- Be inspired by our Keynote Speakers, Baroness Helena Morrissey DBE, financier, diversity campaigner and author and Jane Garvey, podcast host, presenter and author, and by our CEO, Julianne Miles MBE
- Receive personal 1:1 coaching or small group support with interview skills, work-life balance or PowerPoint skills (choice subject to availability)
See the full Conference Agenda here
Read about our Speakers, Panellists and Workshop Facilitators here
Thanks to our sponsor partners Amazon, Bank of England, Convex, Credit Suisse, DAC Beachcroft, FDM Group, Fidelity International, J.P. Morgan and Moody’s and to our supporters, Innovate Finance and the Diversity Project. Read more about them here
Watch video highlights from our 2020 Conference below
Ticket sales have now closed.
Enter our virtual Conference Venue and you’ll have a truly interactive experience, just like at an in-person Conference. You can watch content on the Main Stage and ask questions to panellists and workshop leaders; interact and talk informally with employers; and chat to other returners individually.
The Conference will be relevant to you whether your background is in finance, tech, engineering, law, marketing, HR or any other professional area; whether your career break has been 2, 5 or 15+ years; and whether you are at the first stage of your return-to-work journey or actively applying for roles.
What will you get from the Conference?
“My career break felt like a big hurdle and I have been feeling I will never be able to get back to work with this lost confidence. Thanks to this conference I am feeling so much better.” 2020 Attendee
Expert Return to Work Workshops
- Find your Career Compass
- Become more focused in your ‘What Next?’ career choices
- Get a road map to clarify your aims, develop decision criteria and move to action
- Boost your Professional Confidence
- Get a renewed sense of ‘what is great about me?’
- Increase your self-belief with practical tips and techniques
- Improve your Self Marketing
- Craft your career story
- Sharpen up your CV and enhance your LinkedIn Profile (with Victoria McLean, CEO of City CV)
- Sharpen up your CV
- Enhance your LinkedIn profile to attract employers
Returner Panels
- Learn from the experiences and advice of other successful returners on two Returner Panels of women with diverse backgrounds,
Employer Panels
- Find out from our two panels of leading employers the reasons why employers run returner programmes and what you can do as a candidate to stand out
- Be inspired by our keynote speakers, Dame Helena Morrissey and Jane Garvey
Connect with leading Returner Employers
- Learn about returner opportunities from our returner employer sponsors within their virtual sponsor booths, including live content during two Employer Power Hours
- Speak informally in small groups with sponsor employers
Connect with other Returners
- Meet and talk virtually 1:1 with other like-minded women returners in randomly-allocated peer networking
- Meet and talk virtually with women returners with similar backgrounds in video discussion groups organised by sector. Create your return to work support group!
Personal Coaching or small group support (subject to availability; one choice only booked when you buy your ticket)
- 1:1 ‘Laser’ Video Coaching Session (15 minutes) with one of Women Returners’ expert coaching team
- Interview Skills (25 minutes) small-group video workshop with City CV
- Brush up on PowerPoint (25 minutes) small-group workshop with Computer Fitness
- Creating a Healthy Balance Between Life and Returning to Work (25 minutes) small-group video workshop with Liz Mearns, Women Returners Coach
Who is the Conference aimed at?
The event is targeted at women with a professional/managerial background who have taken a long career break (over a year) and who want to return to work using their professional skills and experience.
- Your career break could be for 18 months or 18 years, for childcare, eldercare, health, relocation or other reasons
- You may have not done any paid work for a number of years, or have been running your own business or doing lower-level work around other commitments.
- You could be any age
- Your background may be in finance, law, tech, engineering, marketing, retail, HR or any other professional area
- You could be at the first exploratory stage of your return-to-work journey; you may have been trying to get back for a while and are feeling stuck; or you might be actively engaging in interviews
- Our focus for the Conference is the UK or Ireland, but you are welcome to join us from anywhere in the world.
Note for Employers: This event is not targeted at employers, recruitment agencies or coaches; please do not book a ticket unless you are a woman returner. If you are an employer interested in sponsoring the Conference and/or returner programmes, contact info@womenreturners.com
Where, When and How?
When? Tuesday 5 October (9:00 – 16:30) and Wednesday 6 October 2020 (9:00 – 16:30)
Where? Online, from the comfort of your own home.
How? The content will be a mixture of live speaker sessions, panels and workshops and interactive e-meetings for the employer networking and personalised support components. Selected speaker/workshop sessions will be available on recording for ticket holders for 30 days after the event. Conference materials will be provided in advance, including speaker biographies and employer profiles.
How do you book?
If you have any questions, email us on info@womenreturners.com
As our social mission is at the heart of everything we do, we have set aside a small number of £10 Bursary Conference Tickets for our Network (if paying £10 is not possible, please do get in touch).
If you are a women returner with a professional/managerial background who would love to join us for our two-day virtual event on 5-6 October, but who is financially constrained from doing so, send us an email with the subject “Bursary Ticket Application” to info@womenreturners.com with your name and contact details, including a few lines on:
- your professional background
- the length of your career break
- your location
- your right to work in the UK and/or Ireland
- why you qualify for a bursary
Returner Employer Network Event: Returner Programmes during the Pandemic
24 June 2020