"The role that excites you is around the corner", with Melissa Janvier

Career Returners

Melissa Janvier is an experienced US lawyer with a background in financial services and public law. After relocating with her family to the UK in 2014 for her husband’s work, Melissa took a career break to settle her 3 young children into their new life. When her youngest started school, she decided the time was right to return to work but found the route back to law far more challenging than she initially imagined.

After a friend told her about Women Returners, Melissa was excited to discover that the Bank of England was advertising opportunities to return to law as part of their wider returnship programme. She describes the joy of finding an opportunity that valued the skills and experiences she had gained during her career with an employer that recognised that her career break didn’t make her “any less of a lawyer”.

She joined the 2019 programme and in March 2020, just as the UK went into its 1^st lockdown, Melissa successfully completed her returnship and was offered a permanent role as Legal Counsel. Hear how Melissa navigated her return to work, in a new country with few networks and little support, and brought her transferable legal skills to the Bank of England.

"I've settled into work in a way where, professionally, I feel like I am constantly learning and stretching and building my professional knowledge in a way that I hadn't envisioned before my career break."

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For advice, support, opportunities and connection, see our Women Returners website: https://bit.ly/3eAhKQH