• Five ways to get back to work when your kids are older
  • Five ways to get back to work when your kids are older

Five ways to get back to work when your kids are older

What are your top tips? Here are ours

 

  • Do some voluntary work to get yourself back in the game and to refresh your skills for free if you can afford to
  • Don’t assume you have to do something you wouldn’t have considered before you had kids. Get some experience in a start up, offer yourself for free or very cheaply in return for a swanky job title. If you ring round advertisers for a friend’s website, for example, ask for the job title Commercial Manager. Ask them to give you a reference. If you got them three ads when they only had one before, you’ve increased their success rate by 200%. Think of your success in percentage terms
  • Talk with your old colleagues or check out groups on LinkedIn – what are the latest software packages, techniques or buzzwords you should be aware of? For example, in communications it used to be gamification, now it’s storytelling. If you want to prove you’re a good writer/storyteller do a blog for us or mumsnet or look for a blog site with open blogging access. If you’re a former spot welder, get in touch with a firm you’ve worked for before and see if they’d let you come back for a day or two of ‘mature internship’ or work experience. Or ask your Trade Association or Union to set something up. So what if they say no?! It’s their loss
  • Get your LinkedIn profile posted and make sure it reflects how great you are. Be honest if you’re coming back from a complete break and emphasise your strengths. Ask for help. Look up your mates on there, who has a good profile? Can they help you over a coffee or a phone call to do this? Add a nice photo of you rocking a smart haircut
  • Talk to an interim agency and explain what you can bring to a business. If you’re feeling a bit un-confident, get some hypnotherapy to boost your self esteem and remind you of what you’re capable of. Some of us BeTeenUs parents have done this and it’s helped us get back on the work ladder
  • Sell yourselves on the skills you’ve gained as a parent. Put them on your LinkedIn profile if you think that they’d help: Negotiation abilities (come on, we can outsmart UN negotiators on occasions when kids are dangerously undermining each other with words, paper scissors or fists), In depth knowledge of how young people consume information, the social media channels they use, the Apps and TV they like and why (lots of businesses need this for their marketing), if you’re hot on all this start following the careers site of a company that sells products to children or young people, Logistics skills of a battlefield leader (I’d love to see some of the folks without children get one kid to cubs, one to ballet followed by double karate, a birthday party and a sleepover all on the same day, with lunch, snacks and visits to the emergency room all on thrown into the mix). Not forgetting: first aiding, teaching, anger management (yours when there’s a chocolate handprint on your favourite white jumper, your kids’ when they need calming, your mates’ when their other halves say ‘I’ve done the washing up for you’ or ‘I’ll babysit tonight’), ability to thrive on pressure, ability to function in a dynamic, fast paced environment, project management (plotting courses of action to help your family improve)

If you’re interested in writing a blog for us or joining our parent advisory board, email Vicki at [email protected]. We have no money to pay anyone, but if you can help us in anyway, we’ll consider sorting out a reference for you.

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