Latest / The Comeback Career Podcast with Fexingo: Returning After a Gap, Stay-at-Home Re-Entry / How to Use a Career Gap to Build Credibility Through Writing
Transcript
- Lucas: If you've been out of the workforce for a few years, one of the hardest things to rebuild is not your skills — it's your credibility. The sense that you still know what's happening, that you can still contribute at a high level. Luna: Right, because your last byline or project is years old. Recruiters see a blank stretch and wonder if you've kept up. Lucas: Exactly. And the traditional fix is to get a certification or take a course. But there's another route that's actually cheaper and often more powerful: writing. Publishing your thinking publicly, consistently, in a niche relevant to the role you want. Luna: I want to hear a specific case. Who did this well? Lucas: Let me tell you about Maria. She was a marketing manager at a mid-sized consumer goods company before she had twins. She took five full years off — no part-time consulting, no freelance, just full-time parenting. When she started looking again, she was getting ghosted after the first round. Luna: That's brutal. Five years is a long gap in marketing, where tactics change fast. Lucas: It is. But Maria didn't go back to school. Instead, she started a weekly newsletter on marketing psychology — things like how color influences purchase decisions, why scarcity drives clicks, the psychology of free shipping thresholds. She published on Substack and cross-posted to LinkedIn. Luna: And she wrote about what she already knew, not what she was trying to learn? Luna: Twenty-six. So roughly one every week and a half. Lucas: Right. The key was consistency. Not viral posts, not long-form essays — just one solid insight every week. After six months, she had a portfolio that showed: she understood current marketing, she could communicate clearly, and she had an audience. A few hundred subscribers, nothing massive. Luna: And that got her interviews? Lucas: It did more than that. She applied for a senior marketing manager role at a mid-sized agency. The hiring manager had read three of her newsletter editions before the first interview. She later told Maria that the writing made her feel like Maria was already part of the conversation — the gap became irrelevant. Luna: Because the byline served as a proxy for current knowledge. It's like a living resume. Lucas: Exactly. And it changed how Maria thought about herself. She told me that before she started writing, she'd introduce herself internally as 'I used to be in marketing, then I took time off.' After six months of publishing, she said, 'I write about marketing psychology.' That's a completely different identity. Luna: That's huge. The psychological shift from past tense to present tense. And it costs nothing but time. Lucas: Which is exactly why it works for career returners. You don't need anyone's permission to start writing. You don't need a degree or a company email. You just need a topic and a schedule. Luna: Let's talk about choosing the topic. A lot of people might think, 'I need to write about the newest, hottest thing.' But Maria wrote about something she'd known for years. Lucas: That's the right instinct. The best niche for a returner is at the intersection of what you already know and what your target industry cares about right now. For Maria, it was marketing psychology — a classic field, but she updated it with current examples. If you're a former HR manager, you could write about the future of hybrid work policies. If you were in finance, write about behavioral economics in retail investing. Luna: So not 'AI for beginners' unless you actually worked in AI. It has to be credible from your own experience. Lucas: Exactly. Recruiters can smell inauthenticity. But when you write from genuine expertise, even if it's a few years old, it reads as confident and grounded. Luna: And what platform? Maria used Substack and LinkedIn. Is there a best one? Lucas: I'd say LinkedIn is non-negotiable for professional visibility. But a standalone newsletter on Substack or Medium gives you ownership. LinkedIn can change its algorithm anytime. Your newsletter list is yours. Maria cross-posted — the full edition on Substack, a summary with a link on LinkedIn. Luna: That's smart. It builds your own asset while still playing in the LinkedIn ecosystem. Lucas: Exactly. And the format matters less than the rhythm. You don't need to write 2000 words. Maria's editions were usually 500 to 700 words. One clear insight, a concrete example, and a takeaway. Luna: I think a lot of returners worry they don't have anything original to say. But it's not about originality — it's about curation and perspective. Lucas: That's such an important point. You're not expected to invent a new framework. You're expected to show that you can process information and add your own judgment. Maria would take a new study on consumer behavior and say, 'Here's why this matters for email marketing in 2026.' That's it. That's enough. Luna: And over time, those posts become a searchable portfolio. A recruiter can Google your name and find twenty-six examples of your thinking. Lucas: Versus a resume that just lists 'Marketing Manager, 2018–2021' and then a gap. The writing does the work that the resume can't. Luna: You know, it's funny — we're sitting here giving career advice, and we don't run ads on this show. That's a choice we made because we think the advice should stand on its own. If you've gotten something useful out of episodes like this, and you want to help us keep it that way, you can support the show at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. No pressure, just an option for people who find value here. Lucas: Appreciate that. And it ties right back to what we're talking about — building credibility through consistent, valuable content. That's what we try to do, and it's what Maria did. Luna: Alright, back to the strategy. So let's say someone starts writing today. What's the realistic timeline to see results? Lucas: Maria's timeline was six months to a job offer. But she started getting recruiter messages after about three months. The first few weeks, it's quiet. You're building the archive. But around week eight or nine, you start noticing that people you haven't talked to in years are engaging with your posts. Luna: That's the network effect. Your old colleagues see you're active and thinking. It reactivates your network without you having to cold message anyone. Lucas: Exactly. And that's one of the biggest underrated benefits. When you write consistently, you give people a reason to reach out. They comment, they share, they send you a message saying 'I loved your piece on X.' That's a much warmer lead than a cold application. Luna: What about people in more technical fields, like engineering or data science? Does writing work the same way? Lucas: It might work even better, because technical audiences crave clear explanations. A software engineer who took two years off could write about architectural patterns they used, or break down a complex concept like event sourcing. That shows both current knowledge and teaching ability. Luna: And for fields that aren't obviously content-oriented, like operations or logistics? Lucas: I've seen a supply chain manager write a series on 'lessons from the pandemic supply chain crisis' — analyzing what broke, what worked. That's incredibly relevant, and it positions you as someone who learned from a major industry event, even if you were on a break. Luna: So the through line is: pick a topic that connects your past expertise to current industry conversations. Lucas: Yes. And one more thing — don't overthink the format. A lot of people get paralyzed by wanting to write the perfect article. Maria's first few editions were rough. She admits that. But she kept going. Consistency beats perfection every time. Luna: And she didn't apologize for the gap in her writing. She just started from where she was. Lucas: That's the key. She never wrote 'I took five years off, but now I'm back.' She just wrote about marketing psychology. The gap became invisible because the content was present. Luna: It's a reframe from 'I need to explain my absence' to 'I am here now, and here's what I have to say.' Lucas: Exactly. And that shift in mindset might be the most valuable part. When you're producing, you feel like a professional again. The impostor syndrome fades. Luna: So for anyone listening who's on a break and thinking about re-entry, what's the first step? Lucas: Pick one topic you could talk about for ten minutes without notes. Then write a 500-word post on it this week. Publish it on LinkedIn. Then next week, do it again. Don't worry about the platform, don't worry about the audience. Just build the habit. Luna: And if you miss a week, don't quit. Just pick up the next week. Lucas: Exactly. The gap in the writing doesn't matter. The overall trajectory does. Six months from now, you'll have something no resume can show: a living record of your thinking. Luna: I love that. Thanks, Lucas. Lucas: Thanks, Luna. See you next time.