Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Returning to work and self doubt

I spoke to a lovely woman today who is looking to return to work. Her daughter is 8 months old. After a few minutes of chatting with her, we narrowed on on the main obstacle to her finding a great job - self doubt.

Some critical things we spoke about were:
- letting all of her network (social and work) know that she is looking for a job
- Understanding her skills and what she is good at
- Being clear on flexibility requirements
- Not talking about your children at a job interview - apart from the flexibility discussion
- Knowing that parenthood is so much harder than any task a manager will give her

Apart from getting your self confidence back on track, you need to also think about child care options, child care costs, drop off and pick up, sharing domestic duties etc etc.

What I can share from my experience is that within a week of returning to work (after my first child), I wondered why I had spent so much time doubting my abilities. In fact, I returned to work as an even more productive employee.

Give yourselves a break and enjoy the new challenge of finding a good job that ticks your important boxes.

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