Program Helps Female Execs Return After Break

UBS and the Wharton School are offering a free three-day program to help returning women executives "hit the ground running." Application deadline is February 29.

UBS Career Comeback: A Fellowship Program for Professionals Re-entering the Workforce, is open to women leaders with degrees and a minimum of five years of professional experience who have taken a career hiatus of between two and seven years.

It's scheduled for Apr. 5-7. The first two days consist of meetings on the Wharton campus at the University of Pennsylvania, and the final day's activities take place at UBS offices in New York.

The curriculum is designed to update participants' knowledge of the business, technological and regulatory landscape; provide coaching and mentoring to help participants develop individual action plans for a return to employment; and provide networking opportunities.

The announcement cites a Wharton study that found many women eventually return to the work force even though they hadn't expected to when they left, and that their re-entry often proves difficult. "Female executives who leave the corporate world when they hit a glass ceiling, want to raise a family full time, or decide to focus on other interests encounter frustrating roadblocks in their attempts to re-enter the workforce," said Academic Director Monica McGrath, Wharton adjunct associate professor of management and a co-author of the study. "To overcome these obstacles, women in business must update their skills and stay on top of general business trends."

This is the second year the program is being offered at Wharton. UBS has offered similar programs in Hong Kong, Sydney, and London, in partnership with other educational institutions.

Application deadline is February 29th. For more information and an application form, click here.