Post-Baby Careers - Bush Style!

By Ally

What does a mother of three who lives on a farm near Cowra do when she decides to go back to work after 8 years?

Panic?

Despite my Dads best advice to the contrary, I am not trained as a nurse, teacher, accountant, physio, doctor, dentist or any of the other careers that are in high demand in country towns. My qualifications are general – project management, facilitation, mediation, research, training, writing.

Relocating wasn’t an option as we operate a bulk haulage business based at Cowra. And we like living here. It’s a great part of Australia to live in.

I started out by scanning the local papers. Plenty of jobs for truck drivers, accountants and engineers but nothing that quite suited my skill set or interests. I moved to the web and sought out recruitment and job seeking sites. I’m sure these sites are great for urban dwellers or those with specific skill sets but regional Australia is less well represented and web- listed job opportunities in Cowra were basically non- existent.

Thankfully I received an email from Kate Sykes of Lift Recruitment. She suggested that due to my location and skill set, I might try utilising old contacts.

Waa laaa!

I’m back at work three days a week, school hours (well mostly) working for a Tamworth based rural communication business. It’s nice to think that in this techno-crazed world that it can actually work in reality. I can work with colleagues all over the country simply and easily from home.

It has been a seamless transition and one I was very ready for. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to work and use my skills.

So – if you’re a country based Mum with pre-baby skills, perhaps the best thing to do is search through the memory database for who ever might spring to mind. And then put together a cv and a brief email and see what happens! Good Luck.