By Courtney Megaughey

At 18 years old, Project Manager Erica Vander Voort didn’t know what she wanted to be when she grew up, but she did know one thing: she wanted to serve her country. After completing an aptitude test, she trained to be an airborne Arabic linguist in the U.S. Air Force, completing immersive language training with native speakers in Monterey, California.

“I grew up in a very small town; we didn’t have a ton of diversity, so the training really opened my eyes to a lot of different cultures and journeys,” said Erica, whose job as a linguist included communications intelligence collection and analysis as well as in-depth analysis of raw intelligence to produce timely information to decision makers.

After separating from the Air Force, she moved into systems engineering then project management, ultimately spending 15 years with a company that grew from two people — Erica and the CEO — to 140 employees. Erica said she took several lessons from her start-up experience.

“We were a double bottom line company: take care of the bottom line, but also make things better for our customers,” said Erica. “That focus has stayed with me. We’re not just here to make money, we’re here to make a difference.”

Exploring Abroad

In 2009, Erica’s husband received an international work assignment and the family moved to Germany, with Erica taking a three-year career break. While there, she and her family traveled across Europe — hiking, biking, skiing scenic mountains and paddling beautiful lakes.

“We were all very excited for the move — for the adventure and change it was going to bring and for the family time it would afford us,” said Erica, whose favorite part of the experience was the tight-knit community. 

Upon returning to the United States, Erica rejoined the workforce, then, in 2019, took another career break, moving back to Germany for another international assignment with her husband’s work. While there, she connected with many of the same friends from their first assignment, including Northrop Grumman Engineer Sandie Krebs. As the family wrapped up their international assignment in 2023 — and Erica prepared to embark on her return-to-work journey — Sandie encouraged Erica to explore Northrop Grumman’s iReturn program.

Making a Seamless Transition

iReturn is made for people like Erica: the program supports employees returning to the workforce after a career break of at least two years, offering professional development and networking opportunities, mentorship, coaching and extensive resources.

Erica connected with an iReturn recruiter in 2023, who reviewed her resume and helped her to apply for jobs that matched her skillset. She joined Northrop Grumman as a project manager, and through the team’s support, she quickly gained confidence in her new role.

“It’s so unique that a company would give someone like me the opportunity to return to the workforce,” said Erica. “I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity and the fact that Northrop Grumman cares. But I was nervous, obviously — it was going to be a big change, I’d had a big break and I was going to be doing something completely different than I’d ever done before.” 

“In my role, being an iReturner has been incredibly beneficial,” Erica shared. As a project manager, she leads employee experience efforts for the Mission Systems engineering and sciences team, including supporting new hires and driving a sense of belonging.

Having recently been through onboarding and adjusting to a new company, she draws on the information she learned through iReturn as she supports new hires. And this experience is not one that Erica takes for granted.

“iReturners are invaluable,” said Erica. “Many people step out of the workforce for reasons that have nothing to do with work, and they have so many skills and valuable experiences that can be leveraged and shouldn’t be discounted.” 

 

*Caroline Mroz contributed to this article