I wrote this article a year ago-February 2008. Wow, have the times changed. Are we in a talent shortage crisis anymore? The state of affairs and rising unemployment might lead us to believe we have great talent walking the streets. While there might be more than usual, I will still venture to guess that companies are in dire need of the talented talent - male or female. Finding ways to uniquely showcase a prospective employer your skill, core competencies, acumen and work ethic are the defining goals to a successful employment.

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In my 20s, I had boundless energy: going to graduate school at night; working a rigorous full-time job in our global services division; and, yes, enjoying life in New York City. I was relatively unencumbered and focused on full-speed ahead.

Amidst my 30s and entering the 40s, I can – only in my current state – advocate the scientific research and progress in cloning! Alas, short of having permission to clone all stay-at-work moms, with such a variety of responsibility saddled squarely on a working mother’s shoulders, I find the only way to survive - and incrementally find success – is through sacrifice. On any given day women are giving up something – whether it is an important meeting to be with a flu-ridden semblance of their child or to miss an important school function to attend a leadership conference. While one’s 30s and 40s have been defined as the two decades noteworthy for providing opportunity for instrumental and linear leaps on the path to executive levels, the course for high-potential women looks more like a series of hops on a chess board. Backwards, forwards, laterally, women migrate, down-shift, off-ramp, quit, lay-low, slide; simply, highly talented women often hit the outer boundary where energy is depleted. In fact, thirty-seven percent of highly qualified women “off-ramp” – voluntarily quit working.

But there is good news: in the research, produced by Harvard Business Review, Silvia Ann Hewitt confirms that over 90% of women want to “on-ramp” two to three years thereafter. 90% of highly qualified talented women want to return to work! Is business taking advantage of this today? Not nearly to the greatest extent possible - - and what a missed opportunity it is. With a renewed focus on their careers, returning talent actually find it stressful to face the stereotypes of having stayed at home and are insecure about having limited professional accomplishments under their belt for the past years. Often, the ones who are offered positions take marked pay cuts or less challenging jobs in order to jump on the “opportunity” and merely re-establish a foothold. Rather than being viewed as a source of expertise, knowledge, skills and accomplishment, they often face having to rebuild their career from a different starting point than where it was when they left to have a family.

The potential to fill positions created by the looming talent shortage is even further untapped: enter women in their mid-40s and well into their 50s. In the United States alone, women between the ages of 45-64 make up the largest demographic: close to 40 million people. These women – while still rearing children and probably responsible for the majority of elderly care – are the more experienced version of those in their 20s. They have an independent frame of reference, secure and confident, and seem poised to assert themselves, stand up for their needs and advocate for the person they want to become. Like the 20-something year old who left their employment, pursued a graduate school degree and now faces a plethora of career options to re-enter, women in their 50s have the opportunity again to fulfill their professional aspirations, and they can devote a great deal of energy to their employer.

Whether it is a 25 year-old who now holds a MBA, or a 35 year-old who holds a baby in her arms, or a 45 year-old who carries the fate of her teen-agers’ under-grad education or her elders’ care to the post-office, or a 55 year-old who now realizes greater aspirations than ever before - the returning female is smart, organized, presentable, experienced, accredited and dedicated to coming back to meaningful work. All-around, for corporations to win the war on talent, the mindset must shift away from shunning the returning worker. Furthermore, successful talent development will require corporations to capitalize on this rich opportunity to recruit this returning, seasoned talent pool.