![]() "They build their children up, they have to do that for themselves." "But you have to look at your skills and as a mother and repackage them to an employer: it's all about how you sell yourself these days."Ĭareer consultants told mothers to remember how they spoke to their own children, she said. They're the ones with the greatest fears," she said. Other mums have been out for a longer period of time and they will be going back into an industry where technology has moved on and they have to re-establish themselves. ![]() "There are several different levels here, the mum who has taken maternity leave and goes back, maybe to the same job or to the same organisation but a different role. Because when a woman is effectively being a housewife they'll be doing it all, and when they go back to work then they need some help sharing that load. But it's also about learning to say no when you do go back. "Our focus is on boosting confidence, how you give yourself the pep talk, how you understand that your emotions might be all over the place. Kerr said that confidence and selling yourself were the key tricks to getting back into work, but both of those were qualities that women who had been at home with their children were likely to have lost. McGregor-Smith and Allen are not the norm. Everyone has to accept that things will not be the same." "I think really pretty much that's universally understood. Everyone I interviewed struggled at first and the best advice for exhausted parents tempted to give up work is to try going part-time if you can, and keep your options open."īut can a woman who leaves her career to have children really expect to get back into the workforce at a similar level? "No," said Alexa Kerr, a careers development consultant who runs First Focus Consultants. Hinsliff said: "Nobody's pretending this kind of comeback is easy. Hinsliff interviewed several women she said had "bounced back" and points to McGregor-Smith, who had an 18-month career break, and Professor Margaret Rayman, who had 17 years out before going back into science and making important breakthroughs in nutrition. She said: "Alpha-returners like Allen are increasingly coming back not just into any old job, but into decidedly stellar careers." Gaby Hinsliff, a former Observer political editor who quit to spend more time with her son in 2009, was chairing a debate at the Mumsnet WorkFest this weekend. She said women should not just be trying to fit in to the economy but "be shaping it". Last week, Ruby McGregor-Smith, chair of the Women's Business Council, said Britain could create employment for many of the 2.4 million non-working women who would like jobs over the next five years if flexible conditions were embraced. "I've had two kids, and as much as I love that, I'm never going to be the sort of person who sits at home all day playing with plastic toys," she said. This spring singer Lily Allen dubbed her return to the stage after four years off a "mumback". I used to phone up Leonardo DiCaprio and now I'm in rubber gloves in other people's toilets." I went for an interview at Marks & Spencer and practically had a panic attack. "I have to get back to work, but it's really scary. She now cleans houses while the children are at school and is terrified of the future. I had a rethink and decided to have another baby and then perhaps retrain, but somehow it all just slipped." "My old boss had moved on and the place was full of bright-faced young things who looked at me as though I was a mad dinosaur.
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