by Sara Stockdale
Having children really does change your world. It wasn’t an option for me to go back to the job I’d had before my first child so I decided to take a few years out to spend time with my children. However, a few years out; a recession later; the explosion of social and digital media and suddenly I felt unemployable and daunted by the prospect of job hunting.
I came across an article for a new initiative to help get mums back into the communications industry and applied. Luckily, I was selected for the #back2businessship course run by f1 recruitment and SMG. It was a brilliant way to immerse myself back into the industry and I found there was a lot that hadn’t actually changed.
There was a mix of individuals on the course – some people having run their own businesses before and others looking for the direction and confidence to try something new. The sessions took us through a range of topics from the Myer Briggs personality test to presentation skills training and the all important changes in the media market place that have taken place over the last few years.
It was brilliant to be able to speak to other people in the same boat and to discuss some of the issues and solutions we felt we were up against. Liz, Amanda and the team were great at knocking back negativity and offering positive, constructive feedback to go forward.
What did I get out of the course? A confidence in myself and my abilities and importantly something recent and relevant to talk about in interviews. It also made me really think about what I want out of a job. Prior to the course, I would have jumped at any job offered to me. Now I’m in the controlling seat again and haven’t just said yes to the first offer I got.
Since the course I’ve been working as a marketing consultant on a start up and now have two other clients. It’s not the path I expected to go down but I think it’s important to be open minded, explore different options and see what works for you.
The communications industry is so far behind many other sectors when it comes to embracing flexible working, but perhaps with fantastic initiatives like this and the confidence of employees to question why their work can’t be done flexibly, there will be some light at the end of the tunnel.
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