Working Mums the Word
Returning to work after you’ve had a baby, whether out of choice or necessity, can be a juggling act. So how do you achieve the right balance between motherhood and your job? FlyingStart talks to two mums who’ve successfully combined their career ambitions with bringing up baby.
Full-time working mum.
Eleanor Walsh, 30, returned to her full time job as an account manager for a software company when her son Findlay, now nine-months, was six-months old.
“As my job involves travel and nights away from home working full-time and being a mum is a constant juggling act. Luckily, my husband, Brian works more locally and as his job involves more weekend work he is able to take responsibility for the majority of the childcare during the week.
“Finlay has a full-time place in the baby room at a nursery near our house. Finlay absolutely loves nursery. He is a really happy child when he’s there and this makes me feel more reassured about my decision to return to work. I do miss Finlay when I have to go away overnight but it just makes me really appreciate the time that I spend with him.
“The biggest benefit of working full-time is the extra income, which enables us to enjoy a better lifestyle than we would have if I’d chosen to stay at home. However, I also enjoy my professional life because I’m seen as a person in my own right rather than someone’s mother.
“Of course, something has to give and generally this is the housework. As I’m away from Finlay for most of his day during the week I don’t want to spend the time I have with him at the weekends doing the housework. I just about manage to keep on top of things but luckily I am in a position where I can delegate, for example I send the ironing out.
“Another disadvantage of working full-time is that I never have any time for myself. Things like going to the hairdressers are a rare treat, as are evenings out or lazing in front of the television. But I’m willing to make these sacrifices because the positives outweigh the negatives.”
Part-time working mum
Julie Turner, 27, has two children, Ben aged seven and Rebecca aged five. She lives with her husband in Sheffield and after taking courses from learndirect ended up working for them as a part-time administrative assistant.
“I wanted to get back into the real world and meet people again but I wasn’t qualified for anything but hairdressing. I needed to train in something else so that I could get a job that would fit in with looking after the children before and after school.
“I was looking through a magazine one day and spotted an advert for my local learndirect centre. I made an appointment and explained to the staff that a part-time administrative job would be perfect but I needed to improve my knowledge of computers.
“They explained to me that an ideal first course would be the internationally recognised European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL) as it included how to use Microsoft Word for word processing and do spreadsheets.
“Initially, I felt very nervous about getting to grips with the new technology as things have moved on so much but despite this I found the course easy to do. Every day, after dropping the children off at school, I spent the morning studying at the centre and within three months I’d gained my ECDL qualification.
“While I was applying for jobs, I started building up my IT experience by offering to do administrative jobs at the learndirect centre, such as creating client record cards.
“I told the centre that I was looking for work but then the manager said that they were looking for someone part-time and offered me a job. They are such a friendly bunch that I said yes immediately!
“Having young children is not easy but with learndirect, I found I could learn when it suited me and at my own pace. Now that some of my friends with young families know what I’ve done, they are thinking that they would like to go back to work.”
Five-step get back to work guide
1) Remember that being a mum has given you some new skills, such as good time management and the ability to cope under pressure.
2) Brush up on your skills or acquire new ones by taking adult learning courses. This will boost your confidence.
3) Seek out employers who are willing to be flexible.
4) Update your CV to showcase your new employability.
5) Start applying!
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