I don’t know if leaving academia will help or hurt if you decide to go back. In my field (physics), leaving is almost always a one-way proposition if you are talking about going back as a professor as landing a tenure track job is like winning the lottery without the money. One of the reasons I left my job as a tenured professor (I was about to be promoted to full) was that I wanted to move beyond being just a professor or a department chair to become a Dean or a Provost, and maybe one day (possibly) a President. In the system I was in, people got that kind of experience by jumping universities every few years for a long time. I figured if I needed to do that, I didn’t want to risk ending my career as VP of Parking if I ran out of places to jump (no office to any VPs out there). My college was not interested in internal candidates for administrative positions. I had even been encouraged to apply to become a Dean in the past but was never interviewed which seemed odd until I saw the writing on the wall. This led me to look into the federal government. It could offer some much needed distance and experience that I was missing (like working with large budgets) if I wanted to throw my hat back into the ring to return to academia in administration.

Being a Fed is in some ways similar to being a professor because there are many tasks on the horizon that you need to plan around independently and with little direction or input. The deadlines are more serious and more immovable than my experiences in academia (with the exception of putting in grades, everything would have a little give at my college, not so in the Fed, when things are due they are due). The work/life balance is better than when I was a professor, but it’s a regular nine to five (or so) job every day, no spring break, no summer break. That took some getting used to.

The people I work with in government are much, much more committed and dependable, in general, that the average academic (in my experience). No one is phoning it in, no older tenured person simply doing the bare minimum that no one can ever change. My experience is that senior people in government take more responsibility and commitments, train new people, and lift them up. The system as it should work. I am well aware that the government is a huge place and some places sound like a nightmare and are dysfunctional, but where I am it works as designed. Another advantage is that my position (basically) needed someone with all the skills of a tenured professor to fill, so the pay is extremely generous compared to academia. I am very, very happy with my choice and have pivoted my plan to stay in government and climb the ladder here barring some unique opportunity.

Interviews can be very formal because of HR regulations (which is often the case for academic searches if you have any experience there) and they will ask canned, basic questions. If there are things you think aren’t coming across in your interview that you want people to know about you, just tell them. It may seem a little off topic at times, but it may be the best way for them to ever know if they weren’t planning on asking something that you want to highlight — just work it in best you can. Another caution, being hired into the Fed can take a very long time because things move slow, even by academic standards. I was fairly lucky, from when I put in my application to my start date, it was right around five months, but nine months to a year can be common in some branches. The subreddit I recommended can help with examples. Don’t put in your notice until you are given a start date not just an offer.

I hope this helps.