Latest / The Comeback Career Podcast with Fexingo: Returning After a Gap, Stay-at-Home Re-Entry / How a Career Gap Helped One Parent Become a Project Manager
Transcript
- Lucas: If you search 'return to work programs' online, you find a lot of them in engineering, finance, tech. But one of the most accessible paths for a career-gap parent doesn't get nearly enough attention — project management. Luna: I've noticed that too. It feels like this catch-all role that somehow still requires 'relevant experience.' But is it actually friendlier to career changers? Lucas: I think it is, if you frame it right. Let me tell you about Maya. She was a marketing coordinator before stepping away for six years. When she wanted to return, she didn't go back to marketing — she pivoted into project management at a mid-sized logistics firm. And she did it without an MBA or a formal PM degree. Luna: Okay, that's interesting. How did she explain the gap? And what made her think PM was the right fit? Lucas: Great questions. First, she realized that project management is less about industry knowledge and more about process: scheduling, budgeting, risk assessment, stakeholder communication. Those are skills she'd used as a marketing coordinator — coordinating campaigns, managing vendors — and they're also skills you use running a household. She didn't say 'I planned birthday parties.' She said 'I managed a portfolio of projects with fixed budgets and competing deadlines.' Luna: So she reframed the gap as hands-on practice. That's smart. But did she have any formal credentials? Lucas: She got the Project Management Professional certification — the PMP. But here's the interesting part: she didn't treat the certification as just a line on a resume. She used the three-month prep course as a structured re-entry timeline. While studying, she built a portfolio of volunteer projects — her kids' school fair, a neighborhood food drive — and documented them using the PMP framework. She had a project charter, a work breakdown structure, a risk register. Luna: That's actually brilliant. It gives her concrete artifacts to talk about in interviews, not just 'I was a PTA mom.' Lucas: Exactly. And it's not that being a PTA mom is less valuable — it's that the hiring manager doesn't automatically translate it into business language. Maya did that translation herself. When she interviewed, she showed them a one-page summary of her food drive project: budget $2,400, timeline 8 weeks, stakeholders included the school principal and 12 vendors, actual outcome — raised $3,800. That's a project. Luna: And the logistics firm bought that? Lucas: They did. She joined as a project coordinator at first, but within 18 months she was promoted to project manager. And her salary jumped about 25 percent after she completed the PMP — which aligns with the Project Management Institute's data. They estimate PMP holders earn a median of 25 percent more than non-certified peers. Luna: That's a meaningful bump. And she didn't need a degree or prior PM experience for the entry-level coordinator role? Lucas: She didn't. The coordinator role was essentially a foot in the door — managing meeting schedules, tracking action items, updating the project dashboard. And she could point to those volunteer projects as proof she'd done that. Plus, she'd taken a free online course in Microsoft Project to get comfortable with the tool. That cost her maybe 20 hours and zero dollars. Luna: I want to zoom out for a second. This sounds replicable — but only if the parent actually has some organizational or coordination experience from before the gap. What if someone was in a non-project role, like teaching or retail? Lucas: That's fair. But I'd argue that many roles have project-like elements. A teacher manages a curriculum timeline, assesses risks, communicates with parents as stakeholders. A retail shift supervisor schedules staff, manages inventory budgets, resolves conflicts. The key is to identify the process skills, not just the job title. Luna: So you'd recommend Maya's approach even for someone with a completely different background? Lucas: I would. And the timing is good right now. As of mid-2026, the Project Management Institute reports that demand for project managers is growing faster than for other management roles — especially in healthcare, logistics, and technology. And many mid-sized firms are more flexible about where experience comes from. Luna: Did Maya do anything specific to find those mid-sized firms? Or was it just applying broadly? Lucas: She did two things. First, she targeted companies that had recently hired return to work candidates — she found them through LinkedIn searches and alumni networks. Second, she reached out directly to project management office directors with a short note: 'I'm a certified PMP returning after a career gap. I know your team works on logistics implementations. Here's how my volunteer project background maps to what you do.' She got three initial conversations from that. Luna: That's a good strategy — not mass applying, but targeting. And the PMP certification probably gave her credibility right away. Lucas: It did. The PMP is recognized globally, and it's not easy to get — you need either a degree plus three years of project experience, or a high school diploma plus five years. But for Maya, the experience requirement was met by those volunteer projects she documented. So it's not a shortcut, but it's a structured path. Luna: I imagine the cost could be a barrier though. The exam alone is around $400 for PMI members, plus study materials. Lucas: It's not cheap. But there are scholarships and payment plans. And Maya pointed out that the return on investment is fast — she made back her certification cost in the first month of her new salary. Also, some employers reimburse certification costs after you're hired. She negotiated that as part of her offer. Luna: So if a parent is listening and thinking, 'I want to try this,' what's the first concrete step? Lucas: I'd say: identify three 'projects' from your gap — volunteer, household, or community — and write them up using a free project charter template. You can find them online. Then see if you can map each to the PMP's five process groups: initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing. If you can, you're probably ready to start studying. And the PMI offers a free online course called 'PM Foundations' that takes about three hours. Luna: And for those who aren't ready for the full PMP, there's the CAPM — Certified Associate in Project Management — which is a lower-cost entry point, right? Lucas: Right. That's a great stepping stone. The CAPM requires 23 hours of project management education — that's basically a weekend course — and then you take the exam. It doesn't require any project experience. So you can get certified even before you land a role. Some people use it to get a coordinator job, then work toward the PMP. Luna: I think this episode is a really good example of how you don't have to start from zero. The gap itself becomes a kind of credential if you frame it right. Lucas: Exactly. And you know, it's conversations like this that remind me why we started this show — to give people a concrete, realistic path forward. If you've found these episodes helpful, a couple of dollars a month is genuinely what keeps them going. You can support us at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It makes a real difference, especially for a small independent show like this. Luna: Yeah, it's a small way to say 'this matters to me.' And we really appreciate it. Lucas: So back to Maya — one last thing. She told me that the biggest mindset shift was realizing she didn't have to apologize for the gap. In her first interview, she started with 'I know I've been out of the workforce for six years...' and the hiring manager interrupted her and said, 'I'm more interested in what you've been doing in that time.' She was ready with her project portfolio. Luna: That's a powerful moment. The gap only holds you back if you treat it like a void. Lucas: Right. It's not a void — it's a different kind of experience. And in project management, that experience is often exactly what hiring managers are looking for.