Leidos Create helps women return to STEM roles in the UK
In the UK, Leidos has partnered with Career Returners (formerly known as Women Returners), a free network community of over 8,500 professionals looking to return to the workplace, to launch Leidos Create.
Leidos Create was developed to support experienced STEM professionals in the Southwest of the UK who have been out of the employment market for 2-12 years return to skilled roles. The objective was to remove a common bias in the recruitment process: the career break penalty for women who have undertaken extended breaks to look after their families or other caring reasons.
Through our partnership with Career Returners, Leidos has accessed a highly skilled talent pool of women employees looking to resume their professional careers—particularly those with backgrounds in information systems, project management, supply chain and logistics, commercial and contracts, and risk and compliance.
Kay Mercer and Ajay Sahota are two professionals who found a new home at Leidos through the programme. Their candid stories and advice offer inspiration to other women looking to return to work.
Finding confidence to re-enter the workforce
After 23 years away from a full-time career, a period in which children were born, raised, and now starting careers of their own, Kay Mercer wanted to get back into the workplace. Starting her career as a programming analyst and later working in IT service delivery, Kay worried the skills she’d developed in her earlier career were no longer relevant. She lacked the confidence to apply for most jobs and spent months trawling the internet hoping she’d find something that might work.
“Most of the jobs were either too basic for what I was looking for, like admin data entry, or too high brow, where I’d need to project manage a team or something like that. I remember thinking, ‘gosh, I can’t do that.’”
Kay was struggling to find something in between where she’d also benefit from the support she needed to go back into work.
“I just didn’t have the confidence to turn up at work and get started again,” she explained.
Kay recognised she hadn’t done a formal interview for some time and was worried her lack of practice might impact her job prospects. This, combined with no experience of remote working platforms like Microsoft Teams, felt like a barrier she’d struggle to overcome.
Fortunately for Kay, she discovered the training Career Returners offers, both for interviews and in the new ways of working that emerged after the pandemic. This led to a role with Leidos as a supply chain analyst.
The flexible, hybrid nature of the role at Leidos, Kay quickly discovered, was also a major draw. “My manager enables me to work flexibly from home and from the office through Leidos’ dynamic working programme; this has been a huge help with the adjustment.”
Beyond the flexibility, Kay also credits the team she’s joined as helping her find her feet and regain the confidence she’d previously lacked.
My manager has been incredibly supportive. I have a one-to-one chat with him every week, and he supports me with training opportunities and is always happy to answer my questions.
Kay Mercer
Supply Chain Analyst, Leidos UK & Europe
Pivoting to a different industry
Ajay Sahota had the “perfect start” to her career. After graduating with a degree in food technology, she landed a job with Nestlé based in India. When she was ready for a change, Ajay emigrated to the U.K. and found she had to start from scratch. Fortunately, she found roles as a technical manager in her industry.
But after having three children in quick succession, Ajay decided to take a career break. “It was the best decision I made in my life,” she says.
To maintain her expertise and stay current, she started a consultancy business with her husband, which also gave her flexibility while raising a growing family. After a decade of success, COVID-19 struck. "This pause gave me the opportunity to rethink my future and its direction," she reflects.
With her kids in a more independent stage and a desire to pivot to a different industry, Ajay decided to enroll in an MBA program at Imperial College, London. Graduating in 2023, Ajay decided now was her opportunity to return to the corporate world.
Despite her impressive qualifications and experience, Ajay struggled to find her next challenge. “People just see that 10-year gap, even though I was working – I wasn’t not working at all.”
Ajay spoke of the challenges of breaking into a new industry. “I would still get offers for technical manager roles in the food industry. But I didn’t want to go back to that role. I wanted to leverage my MBA and move into a different sector.”
Eventually, a family friend recommended the Career Returners programme, which is how she first came across Leidos. Unsure where she would fit best, Ajay worked with Leidos’ hiring manager after months of applying for roles and getting knocked back.
“She was very forthcoming and helpful, understanding that I was returning to work and recognising my need for additional support,” Ajay shares. “She could see how my skills, acquired over my career, fit into a role they had available, even though I hadn't applied for that position.
Together, they decided that her skills fit the role of a benefits realisation manager.
You might not realise how relevant your skills are, and it can be challenging to effectively market them yourself.
Ajay Sahota
Benefits Realisation Manager, Leidos UK & Europe
Training and resources for returning to the workplace
Ajay explains the type of training she received through the Career Returners programme – both before she started at Leidos and while she settles into her new role – consisted of four coaching sessions.
The first, Ajay says, is how to introduce yourself. “It’s really an icebreaker. When you come back, you don’t know how much to say, and how much to dwell on. How do you let people know who you are?” Ajay hints that this was the moment she started regaining her confidence.
The second session helps participants identify goals and career paths, while the third focuses on networking to ensure professional development. Ajay is looking forward to her fourth session on celebrating achievements and action planning for the future.
Kay feels the training Leidos offers – helping her learn new skills and continue her professional development – has been essential. “I don’t know if it’s this way at other companies nowadays but compared to my previous employers, it’s been incredible.”
But it’s the friendship she forged with Ajay through Career Returners that really helped Kay.
“We swapped numbers, and we message from time to time, checking on each other and seeing how the other one is getting on,” Kay shares. “It’s important because you’ve got someone going through the same thing as you, and I’ve really appreciated that extra source of support.”
Ajay is grateful for the support she has received along the way and spoke fondly of Kay, her fellow returner, and her colleagues who she now considers friends. “People do help, you just have to have the courage to ask for it and say you need it,” she admits.
When asked what advice she’d give to other women considering returning to work after a career break, Kay offers some useful pointers.
“I think it’s about being brave enough to try it. Also, when you start, be kind to yourself and don’t expect too much too early. You’re always going to feel a lot of pressure, pressure to be doing more or learning quicker, but really, you need to recognise that it’s a process and one you’re more than capable of completing.”
