The comeback kid: What it’s like to return to the world of work after 17 years

See how Anna Assisi, 49, navigated new technology, terminology and work cultures. It wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t as hard as she’d expected, she says.

The last time Anna Assisi had a full-time job, 17 years ago, Facebook had not yet arrived in India. Netflix was renting DVDs, and had not yet launched its streaming service. Jet Airways was still flying.

Assisi, in fact, worked as ground staff of that airline. She produced and presented shows at All India Radio.

When she and her husband, entrepreneur and HT Wknd columnist Charles Assisi, had their first child, Nayantara (now 17), Anna became a full-time mother. “I knew my work was going to be to see this child grow up,” she says. A few years later, their second daughter, Anugraha (now 11), was born.

The years went by, the children grew. They began to fill out the edges of lives of their own. Assisi says she realised that “there wasn’t really that much left for me to do on the home front.”

She started asking herself: What is the purpose of this phase of my life?

She would love to return to the world of work, she realised. But in a reality so vastly changed, where would she even begin?

In echoes of a struggle that is common among mothers, hers stood out because of the length of time she had spent away — and the dramatic worlds of change that had swept workplaces, industries and economies in those years.

First, she says, she had to come to terms with her worth in this new world. “I asked the honest questions: Why would anyone hire me? Should I simply aim to be a data entry operator,” says Assisi, 49.

Then she asked the harder questions: “Am I aiming low out of fear? Can I, perhaps, use my Master’s degree in social work to make an actual difference, doing something I love?”

As old friends began to help her figure out how to navigate her search, Assisi sought out a psychologist (always a good idea when one is in the midst of an internal tussle), who gave her fresh perspective on her resume. Looked at one way, there is no gap, she told Assisi. “‘What you have done in your life is a relevant resume, she said.”

This had included managing a home, children, finances and hospitalisations during her husband’s months-long struggle with viral encephalitis, her father-in-law’s stroke, her late father’s respiratory ailments. In her years of active involvement with her church community, she had honed her ability to reach out to people with efficiency but also empathy and patience.

Thus reinforced, Assisi applied for a position to the Nirmala Niketan College of Social Work, where she had completed her Master’s degree. The institute offered her a part-time position as a field-work instructor, mentoring and guiding students during internships.

In July, after a year in that job, she moved on to a role as senior project coordinator with an NGO that works to help economically disadvantaged adolescent girls stay in school and college, and acquire co-curricular skills. It’s the dream job, Assisi says.

Six days a week, she liaises with municipal schools and oversees the NGO’s community programmes, which include classes in supplementary English, computer literacy and self-awareness.

Which isn’t to say that it was easy. She was the oldest person in most rooms, often reporting to people 15 years younger than her. Unfamiliar technology was everywhere. “But I can now smoothly build an expense report in Microsoft Excel,” she says, smiling.

She is also learning, from colleagues and new literature; about intersectionality, agency, gender-neutral terminology. These are factors that people in her field had dealt with but didn’t have names for, and how we name and define things matter, she says.

She adds that she is happy to see that some things haven’t changed at all. “Documentation was always an important part of social work. Every day’s activities must be recorded, something we would do by hand back then, and now minutely log digitally with our management information system. Outreach events are vital too. I’m working in that area, getting in touch with curators for a film festival.”

Her social circle is expanding, something she had been looking forward to. “It feels like the years have melted away,” Assisi says. She is energised and invested in what she does. “I feel like I did when I had just finished college and started working. It’s easy to forget I’m 49.”

People hear her story and are intrigued. Some ask what she might want to do next. “I really don’t know,” she says. “But I think I will work till I’m 75, now that I have restarted. The stay-at-home phase is over.”