[Photo:  JPM's New York HQ's  /  breakingenergy.com]

JPMorgan started a pilot program in 2013 in New York offering internship-like posts to people who had taken a break from their careers, for personal reasons - like having children or caring for sick relatives; last year, Barclays followed suit with a 10-week program.

Since its trial run in 2013, JPMorgan's so-called Re-Entry Program has expanded to London and Bournemouth, offering 18-week trial posts to people who have been out of full-time work for more than 2 years and have interest or experience in working in financial services.

Business Insider interviewed 2 people on the 2016-2017 program – Marie Tran in fixed income structuring, and Margaret Delesalle in European marketing at the private bank – to get a sense of what the program is like and how it feels to return to work after a long absence.

Ben Moshinsky (BI): Why did you apply for the JPMorgan program?

Marie Tran: I used to work at JPMorgan, for 4 years until 2013, and I always kept in touch with my former colleagues. It was my former manager actually who told me about the program. And when I heard about it I was already thinking about returning to JP Morgan, and so it was a perfect opportunity to do that.

Margaret Delesalle: For me, when my youngest daughter went off to primary school, I became very interested in going back to work. In March 2014 I read an article in the NYTimes called Helping Women Get Back in the Game, which profiled JPMorgan's first ReEntry classes. I was in Brussels at the time, where I had worked for Citigroup. When Citi moved its European HQ to London in 2007 I had the choice of moving with them or staying. As I had 2 young children at the time, I chose to step out. So I've been out for 9 years.

BM: Was it a shock to come back to work?

MD: In some ways it's been much easier than I expected. A lot of it is the challenges you would face with any new job – not being familiar with the people and culture, and for me being in a new city. Some things have changed. In the marketing world for example, social media has evolved. When I left, Facebook was something primarily for college students, Twitter was just emerging and Snapchat wasn’t around.

During my career break I stayed connected to the industry and I worked on a website strategy for a charity but there are still some things I will need to come up to speed on. People here have been very helpful and are happy to answer any questions I have.

MT: On my side it hasn't changed that much. Of course there've been a few regulatory changes and the environment has evolved a little but nothing too significant. But I've got a different role. I used to be in the sales team, now I'm in structuring. There has been an adjustment, a learning curve being in a new job and the challenge of being up to speed again and efficient again as soon as possible.

MD: It's exciting. My daughter said to me 'If this is something you want, mum, then I really want it for you too." It is very exciting to be back.

[Click link below for the interview, as presented by Business Insider.]