Want to Get Ahead? Get Back

Are you retreating or advancing?

Wu prepared himself for trial by fire, as anyone attempting to boomerang should. No matter what questions you get asked in the do-or-die interview, assume that underlying all of them are versions of "Why are you leaving your new job?" "Why did you leave us?" and "Can you ever be happy here?" You'll need to prove that going back is not a retreat, but rather an advance -- for the company and for you.

Following the advice of his mentor, Wu wrote a business plan, outlining what he hoped to accomplish in the next two years -- if Coopers took him back. "I didn't want to give the hiring partner the opportunity to doubt me," he says. "So I made sure he knew that I had set goals for my return that would take me several years to accomplish."

Wu describes the call to Coopers & Lybrand as being one of the most nerve-wracking experiences of his life. Sure enough, the hiring manager was very curious about why Wu would want to return. Once he heard Wu out, however, he agreed to see him.

"When we finally met for an interview, he didn't grill me," Wu says. "He had seen my plan, and he knew that it would take some time for me to accomplish my goals. At that point, he was acting more like my career counselor."

Wu got his job back, thanks mostly to his well-thought-out approach to the situation. Wu's strong performance during his first stint at Coopers also made it easier for him to return to an industry that's short on talent right now. Indeed, many boomerangers are finding that the talent crunch increases the odds of a second run.

Is it home that you're returning to?

If it is, don't go back. You can't advance if you're only returning to seek the comfort of the same old job at the same old office. Also, make sure that you're not returning to the same problems that caused you to leave in the first place -- that, in fact, your company has changed for the better, and you're going back to a new challenge.

Finding that challenge was exactly the issue that Betty Szeto faced. She had to decide what sort of job she wanted so that going back to her old company would be worthwhile. Szeto, now 32, had traded her human-resources post in the San Francisco office of Kemper Insurance for a similar job at National Semiconductor. Although she learned a lot in the go-for-broke world of high tech, National Semi's stock swooned soon after her arrival, and the chip maker endured a round of job cuts. When Kemper called to tell her that her old job had never been filled, Szeto realized that she was eager to help her former company grow.

But going back proved to be particularly tricky: Not only did Kemper offer Szeto the same spot that she had left, but she would also be sitting at her old desk. For anyone concerned with advancing professionally, this was not good news.

So, before she agreed to take the new job, Szeto tried to find out just how similar that new job would be to her old one. She called her soon-to-be customers -- the managers in Kemper's branch offices who would be asking her for help with HR matters. "Two years ago, management had done away with a lot of the HR staff," she explains. "I wanted to know whether HR was still valued. People said that they missed the interaction with HR. They were so bogged down in the business of doing business that they didn't have time to think about the business of people."

That was what Szeto had been hoping to hear. She also learned that Kemper was in a hiring mode, which meant that she could help shape the company's growth. Plus, her internal customers wanted to include her in everyday management meetings. All told, Szeto's job would be the same in name only -- everything else about it would be radically different. Going back, she realized, would help her to get ahead.

Can you catch up with your ex-company?

Congratulations -- you've won a return trip to your former company. You're ready to ride in on a white horse and contribute to a new era of growth. But not so fast. Has it occurred to you that your company may have progressed since you left? It may have new practices, new tactics, a new strategy. What will be your strategy for catching up?

One way to make a lousy first impression is to swoop in and announce that you have the answers to the company's problems. While you may have learned a great deal in your time away, take care to reconnect with your colleagues and to find out what they've learned.

After leaving Right Management Consultants in 1989, David Blank, 55, successfully developed new tests that help middle managers make career self-assessments. But he quickly tired of all of the traveling he was doing for his new employer, the Franklin Consulting Group. When the president of Right Management invited Blank back into the fold about 14 months later, Blank jumped at the chance. But he was in for a surprise when he returned.