About five years ago I took a break from working to become a mum to twins girls. I loved my job and I loved working but the practicalities and cost of childcare for two in one go whilst juggling a two hour commute to London each morning and evening made it impossible for me to go back.
The girls are going to primary school in September so I’ve recently thought about delving back into the murky world of employment again and I have discovered several things.
I’ve pretty much forgotten what my last job was. Actually, I’ve pretty much forgotten what all my previous job responsibilities were but for each of them I have previous application forms and CV which have handy little summaries of these to help remind me. For my most recent job, nothing. It’s been quite a feat of memory and conjuring delving back into the pre-baby brain to remember it.
Secondly, I’ve totally forgotten how to do interviews and application forms. There’s a trick to them that I have entirely lost.
Thirdly, it’s really, really hard to find a job which fits in to the immense commitment that is raising a child. The number of times I‘ve heard my working mum friends stressing about how to find childcare for the holidays, or the teacher training days or the sudden meeting for parents at the school or the holiday that the childminder needs to take or the withdrawal of after school clubs at school (I could really go on).
Fourthly, there’s actually a massive lack of understanding and acceptance that your priorities might have changed. I recently had an interview where they asked me in depth about my previous work, which wasn’t especially relevant to the job I was applying for. I had experience in the area that I had applied for which I had built up through voluntary work and other commitments since but they were clearly more interested in my previous life. They since phoned to say I hadn’t got the job but they wanted me to apply for something more relevant to my previous career. If I’d wanted to go back to this, I wouldn’t have applied for this very different job!
For anyone in a similar position (or a working mum looking to change job), I recommend Working Mums.co.uk. Workingmums.co.uk was founded in 2006. They uniquely understand the issues I’ve experienced, they provide advice and help on getting back to work. They advertise jobs that have a pertinent interest to mums (and dads, carers and other flexible job seekers!). They’re like wet wipes, an essential resource for any mum!
