Norah O’Donnell is returning to “CBS Mornings” seven years after leaving the program, and career experts say her comeback offers lessons for anyone considering a return to an old job.
O’Donnell coanchored the morning program from 2012 to 2019 before taking over “CBS Evening News.” On Thursday, CBS announced O’Donnell’s return to “CBS Mornings” and that she is expected to rejoin cohosts Gayle King and Nate Burleson by September 8.
Robert Thompson, a television and popular-culture professor at Syracuse University, said that the evening news anchor was once the undisputed face of a network, but in today’s media environment, morning shows offer broadcasters more opportunities to interview guests, cover breaking news, and draw on a wider range of skills.
“Twenty years ago, I suppose we would look at a return to the morning show after being the anchor as a demotion,” Thompson told Business Insider. “I don’t think in 2026 it’s that simple.”
“I think it’s a sign that CBS has confidence and commitment in Norah O’Donnell that they’re putting her in what is an important place to help the morning show,” Thompson added. “The morning show has been struggling for a while.”
Treat an old job like a new one
Career experts told Business Insider that returning workers have the key advantage of understanding the job and organization, but cautioned against expecting to step back into the workplace as if no time had passed.
“The presumption around boomerangs is that they know the organization and the organization knows them,” said Brad Harris, a management and human-resources professor at HEC Paris, a leading French business school. “There can be beauty and baggage in a return.”
“She’s probably closer to a new hire, though certainly a more senior new hire, than an insider who took a break,” Harris added of O’Donnell. “To be successful in a return stint, you’ve got to marry the confidence of an insider and the curiosity of a newcomer.”
Andrew Selepak, a professor in management and media at the University of Florida, said that on the part of the hiring organization, bringing back a major employee is “a bit of an admission of, ‘We were better when you were here.'”
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“As a returnee, keep in mind that one of the reasons they might be trying to bring you back is because the company and the business have not been as successful with you gone,” Selepak said. “The company may be wanting to achieve some kind of former glory.”
Selepak said returnees should consider why they are going back, whether the move could feel like a professional step backward, and, most importantly, whether the salary is commensurate with a potentially difficult rescue project.
“You’re also going to have to contend with personnel changes and technological developments and the fact that the position and the job have advanced in that time away,” Selepak added. “As the saying goes, you could never go home twice.”
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