Finding a stimulating part-time finance sector role: a returner's success story

We have been gathering lots of inspiring new stories of women who have successfully returned to work after their career break. You'll find all the stories on our website. Today, we're featuring Tina's story of returning to work at a boutique financial services company. Her experience shows that it is possible to find stimulating, professional, part-time work and also that the whole family can benefit when you return to your career. 

It isn’t often that a return to work story starts with Woman’s Hour, but in my case that was exactly where the process began! I was made redundant from my role as a Director of a fund investing in mezzanine debt in 2002 and as my children were then very young I took the opportunity to scale back my working life and to adopt a more flexible approach to my career. Over the next 13 years I had a number of roles as a Non-Executive Director and undertook a variety of consultancy assignments. By the start of 2015, however, my young children had morphed into teenagers and I was finding the role of the consultant increasingly solitary. I had more time and I needed a new challenge; in particular, however, I wanted to be part of a team and to add human interaction to my daily life.

I had enjoyed my role in the finance industry, but to be perfectly honest I had no faith that in my 50s I would be employable in that sector. I was trying to consider my available options and wrestling with how I might approach a return to substantive employment. Mired in this thought process, and without any real views on how to progress, I found myself in mid April 2015 listening to Woman’s Hour as I distracted myself from the tedium of ironing. As luck would have it, the programme was running an article on exactly my dilemma and featured Julianne Miles talking about returnship programmes and the Women Returners organisation she had set up with Katerina Gould. I quickly Googled the website and realised that the programmes that Julianne and Katerina were promoting could provide a useful route to achieve my goal of getting back into substantive employment.

Following my registration with Women Returners my first course of action was to attend a number of networking events developed around the objective of helping women in my position get back into the workplace. These event were of great assistance in helping me think about my strengths, the development of my personal message (the “elevator pitch”), working on my CV (formats have changed since I last had to prepare one in anger) and developing my LinkedIn profile to ensure it had the right professional impact. I also found a number on online courses provided by MOOCs which added support to this process.

I applied for a couple of returnship programmes and then in mid-June an email popped into my inbox from Women Returners advertising a role with coaching support as part of the Portfolio Monitoring Unit at MV Credit. When I read the job description I was stunned; I thought I had a very specific and highly specialised CV and I couldn't believe that a job was on offer which appeared to fit my skills and experience perfectly. The only doubt which gnawed at me a bit was that I had operated at a more senior level than the position being offered. This issue had been raised at one of the networking events I had attended and Katerina has advised how to deal with this in one of her blogs on the site. I decided to face the issue head-on in my application letter and to be honest in acknowledging this was probably the case but emphasising that I wanted to take on a role I was confident I could perform effectively.

I applied for the role, went through an extensive interview process and was hired, alongside a fellow Women Returners applicant, on a part-time (three days a week) basis. I have now been at MV Credit since the beginning of November and have not looked back. My colleagues have been welcoming and positive in their attitude towards me. I have also benefited from coaching sessions with Julianne as I revise my work-life balance, placing more emphasis on myself and my working life and less on the needs of my family. My husband has been great and he is delighted to take back more of the cooking – which is more his passion than mine. My teenagers have both wished me luck and have seized the greater independence and self-reliance required of them with a demonstration of maturity of which they can be rightly proud.

My words of advice to those looking to return to work would probably encompass the following:

• Prioritise your search over other non-paid activities.

• Attend events to meet as many people as you can and to ensure your knowledge and strategies are up to date.

• Find ways to keep your skills current.

• Accept that you do not need to be a domestic goddess and that other members of the family can contribute to the running of your home life.

• Stay positive and retain belief in your skills and abilities.

Posted by Katerina

Lending your Skills to get Ahead - How to do ‘Strategic Volunteering’

Strategic volunteering can build your skills, be intellectually demanding and provide a route back to work after a career break. We hope this week's second post by Jill Ridley-Smith will inspire you to explore this route further.

The new CEO of the £225 million turnover business turns to us, the Board, saying he wants our input into the development of his five-year strategic plan. He also wants to initiate an acquisition strategy to diversify revenues because he’s worried the core business is too dependent on a single source of income. His team have identified the first potential acquisition and will present it to us for our consideration in the next meeting. He surmises that his inherited management team and organisation structure aren’t right to deliver the new plan; where are the gaps, strengths and weaknesses in the senior team? He knows his top line is vulnerable as customers are increasingly more discerning and demanding and the business needs to respond - well, given students now have to pay University tuition fees this is hardly unexpected. Yes, this is what it’s like being on the Board of Governors for one of the largest Universities in the UK.

There are almost limitless possibilities in the non-profit sector for individuals willing to give up some of their time and expertise - boards of charities, sports bodies, education, and Government organisations to name a few. These roles can be interesting, relevant, thought-provoking and rewarding. The individuals who take them on are respected and appreciated. This month on the website Women on Boards there are 220 roles advertised and roughly two thirds of these are in non-profit organisations. Most of these roles are pro-bono (i.e. unpaid), but they often cover expenses. As very few of us have the luxury of being able to work for free, the clue is in the term ‘strategic’ - if you are considering this type of volunteering as a route back into the workplace, it needs to be volunteering with an agenda. This could be to take a role that leverages your historical business experience, or if you are looking for a career change, a role where you gain experience in a new sector; or it could simply be to get back in touch with the working world and become current again. 

As with every job search, it’s improbable a CV enhancing role as a strategic volunteer will fall into your lap. It requires re-engaging with your old business networks, getting out there and making new connections; for instance, you could be very pleasantly surprised by what can come from simply being sociable at the school gates. Be mindful too that strategic volunteering roles are ‘proper’ jobs (to get one you’ll need a good CV, references and to deliver at the interview) and these roles carry considerable responsibility. When working on the Board of a charity under the auspices of the Charity Commission or a public sector body that manages Government money, the buck stops with you. Boards must have good governance, appropriate risk measurement and assessment and must sufficiently scrutinise financials and probe the operational decisions of the management. As a good example, the Trustees of Kids Company simply did not apply the necessary rigour required; this is an extract from the House of Commons Committee report into the collapse of the business: “Trustees relied upon wishful thinking and false optimism and became inured to the precariousness of the charity’s financial situation.”

So, assuming you are not solely motivated by the social cause, why strategically volunteer if it’s no easier to get a volunteering role than a paid one and the role comes with a weighty responsibility? Well, the attraction is in the relatively limited time commitment for the intellectual return: the norm is quarterly meetings and their prep, a few strategy days and a commitment to a few years’ service. When you’ve got very young children, time is so precious and we all do our very best to juggle work and family life. For me, at that time, strategic volunteering was a manageable commitment that kept me on the career track. I started with one, then two strategic volunteering roles and this has now morphed into fully ‘going plural’. It means that rather than working full-time for one company, I’m self-employed and I have a number of non-executive director positions with different companies.

I still do some unpaid business mentoring and I have one pro-bono NED (Non-Executive Director) position but it’s less of a means-to-an-end now so I can enjoy it for what it is and the social benefit that comes from it. I lent my time to get ahead and it’s been a win-win journey for me and the organisations I remain committed to.

Jill Ridley-Smith works as a Business Mentor and is a Non-Executive Director on three Boards. She took a career break in 2009 after a successful career in Private Equity with HgCapital and prior to this she held management roles at GlaxoSmithKline and LEK Consulting. She has an MBA from Kellogg Graduate School of Management. You can read more of Jill's return to work story here.

For more information on becoming a trustee, also visit Getting on Board, a charity that helps individuals become new leaders in communities through board-level volunteering. Watch out for more information on their new campaign in early March that is aimed at encouraging women on a career break to take up charity board positions.


Posted by Muriel

How to set yourself up as a freelancer: practical matters

You have landed that first contract, but now it is your responsibility to get paid, set yourself up as a sole trader or maybe create your limited company.  Now, if like me, you were used to giving your bank account and NI details to HR and waiting for your payslip to come at the end of each month, this whole new process and responsibility can be overwhelming.

Freelancing has always appealed to me, working on projects, on my own timetable while still being around for my young family. After a 15 year career in the city, followed by 4 year break, it was time for me to craft a way back into work. I wasn't ready to go back to a big corporate career but was hoping to work in some capacity.

A chance meeting with an old friend resulted in my first freelance assignment. This was a great opportunity to get my teeth into project work and fill in the gap in my CV, but also work in a smaller structure and in a different industry. (I come from the Financial Information industry and this was a venture in the Neglected Tropical Disease field). It’s amazing how opportunities like this demonstrate how transferable skills can be (in my case marketing/communications skills).

One freelance assignment led to another and now I am a happy freelancer.

Once you get that first assignment, you have to decide if you want to become self-employed or set up a limited company. The latter is more complex, but one of its main benefit is that your business and personal finances are distinct, meaning if a claim is made against your company, you are not personally liable for it. You are also more flexible with your finances and may be able to pay less tax. You can find out here more details on setting up a limited company. If you choose this route Companies Made Simple is a great resource for forming your company.

If, like me, you decide to go down the sole trader road, the good news is that it’s actually relatively easy and quick and the paperwork that comes with it is fairly light and manageable. The process can still be daunting though.

The first thing you need to do is contact HMRC to register as self-employed. This will ensure you pay the correct Income Tax and National Insurance. It’s easy to do this online:on the HMRC website choose the option “Set up a sole trader”, you will need to create a Government Gateway account and from there follow the instructions. You can use your own name or choose a business name when you start working as a sole trader.  If you decide on the latter, give it some thought (you can’t use Ltd, LLP or plc, so choose something that makes business sense and that is unique. You can check if a business name is available here). More information on how to choose a business name for a sole trader can be found here.

Once you have registered online with HMRC, it takes about 10 days for your registration to come through. And there is no rush. Although it is better to get cracking as soon as you start working (and I concede, it’s probably the most tempting thing to procrastinate), you have time to set this up until October 5 of the second tax year after you have started work (the tax year runs from April to April). You will then be able to do your tax return (another hurdle, but remember one step at the time!). Also it is worth remembering that you won’t pay tax on the first £10,600 you earn in a tax year.

Freelancing has its challenges: it is not as secure as a permanent job, it can be lonely at times, you have to be disciplined to manage your time effectively and you are responsible for declaring your income and paying taxes, but it can also be a way for you to gradually slip back into the professional sphere, take ownership of your project while still having some time to dedicate to yourself or your family.

If you are thinking about becoming a freelancer, do read this post for more ideas.

Happy freelancing!

Posted by Muriel

Answers to some common return-to-work questions

We are often asked lots of interesting questions and thought it would be useful to share our answers to a few of these which we find to be common concerns after a career break.

I've done nothing in my break apart from bring up my children. What do I say about my break on my CV?

We always advise returners to specify that they have taken a career break rather than leaving an unexplained gap. It can be stated simply, with dates (e.g. 2008-date Parental career break), and does not need further detail if you were totally focused on caring responsibilities. It is important to state in your profile statement and cover letter that following your career break you are now motivated and committed to returning to work. In addition, don't dismiss unpaid or low-paid work that you have done during your break which employers could find useful and relevant (e.g. organising a large event, setting up a small home business, studying for a qualification). Finally, if you are getting ready to go back to work, now could be the right time to find some relevant work experience, or to update your knowledge by studying for a qualification, to demonstrate your renewed interest in the field you are returning to.

For further reading:
How to write your post break CV
The 'CV gap' barrier: evidence it exists & how to get over it

I'm an experienced doctor with no wish to return to practising medicine following my break. How do I work out what my transferable skills are and who would find me useful?

We suggest that you approach the question of what to do next in a different way: rather than try to work out where your experience and interests might fit, we recommend that you start with investigating what your personal strengths and interests are so that you can focus on finding work that you will find satisfying and fulfilling. There are a number of books listed on our website which can help you to do this self-analysis. Alternatively, some people find working with a career coach is helpful to support you with working out your new direction.

For further reading:
Setting your career compass: identifying your strengths
How to identify work you will find fulfilling

I've relocated from overseas and don't know how to get started with building a new network.

A useful way to think about your network is that it consists of people from your past, your present and your future. Your past network includes your previous work colleagues, suppliers and customers and school and university class-mates. Even if they are based in your prior location, they might well have contacts in the UK which they can introduce to you. Your current network includes all the people you engage with in your community in your daily life while your future network consists of people you can connect with through new activities you intend to start or training you plan to do. If you have a professional qualification, make sure that you contact the equivalent professional body in the UK to find out about membership, conversion requirements (if any) and networking events. An essential tool for building your network will be LinkedIn so make sure that you create a basic profile and build your online network too.

For further reading:
Five ways to build your back-to-work networks
Top tips for enjoyable networking
LinkedIn - an essential tool for your return to work

If you have other questions you'd like to ask, please get in touch with us or join our private LinkedIn group and share ideas with other returners.

Posted by Katerina

Returning to architecture after a career break

It can seem daunting to contemplate a return to architecture after a prolonged period away. My focus in this post is on where to acquire the knowledge and skills you should think about on returning, and where to find help and CPD (Continuing Professional Development).

We find that people coming back after extended absences often need help in two areas:  building their self-belief and confidence, and updating their technical, statutory and regulatory knowledge.

As Head of CPD at the RIBA, I have a strong belief that CPD and lifelong learning will not only keep you up to date, they can change your life and offer personal and professional benefits.  And thus, using CPD tactically to prepare for your return can make the landing smoother.

The skills specific to the practice of architecture you might need to brush up on are around new legislation (for example the new CDM Regulations), regulatory updates, planning law and planning changes, new forms of contracts, procurement, changes to the building regulations and new ways of working (digital design and construction, including Building Information Modelling)

Keep in the know by reading trade magazines, especially the free online versions: AJ, Building, Building Design, Construction News and Blueprint. A couple of hours a month reading RIBA Journal can keep you up to date on a wide range of issues. Websites I consider essential are Dezeen and Arch Daily. Don’t miss essential information on the RIBA and NBS websites: sign up for weekly bulletins, or bookmark the websites. Take part in the discussion on the RIBA’s Facebook, Twitter and Linked In pages.

There is a great deal you can do online, like doing a MOOC. What in heck is a MOOC? It’s a Massive Open Online Course – always free, generally offered by a university, and with thousands of courses available. I myself did a MOOC on music theory through the Edinburgh College of Art. I was one of 70,000 people around the world enrolled. The best MOOCs – like the one I did – have live chat and collaboration integrated. Start here with Coursera. 

However, MOOCs aside, I really recommend that whenever possible, you get together with other people for information sharing, learning, support, help and just enjoyable socialising.

For something more formal, the RIBA’s core CPD seminar (core seminar programme) offers seminars in 13 cities throughout 2016 (two venues in London, at the RIBA in Portland Place and at the Herman Miller showroom in Aldwych). The ten seminars relate to the ten core required CPD topics, with a current, topical take on what you need to know. Our free CPD Roadshows are relevant and valuable learning and free to attend.

The November GuerrillaTactics small practice conference and Speed Mentoring event are essential, and includes a day of CPD.

And finally, your regional RIBA office, and RIBA branches are essential points of contact, events, CPD, networking and more.

A few other industry groups for networking, events and mentoring: Chicks with Bricks  is a proactive network connecting young women in the construction industry to their female peers and role models. 

The National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC) encourages  individuals to pursue, establish and sustain successful careers in the construction industry. They organise regular events across the regions focusing on networking, education, site visits, skills and mentoring. 

And don't forget your local Chamber of Commerce for networking, training and more.

The RIBA team is here to help and advice. I can be personally contacted at joni.tyler@riba.org or on 020 7307 3697. I can hopefully either help you myself, or refer you to one of my expert colleagues here in London or at one of our 11 regional offices.

Written by Joni Tyler, Head of CPD, RIBA

Be flexible about flexibility

This week I contributed to a Guardian online live webchat Q&A on improving your work-life balance. It struck me that the vast majority of the questions people posted were on job flexibility: how to find it, how to ask for it and how to make it work once you have it. 

A flexible interesting job can seem like the Holy Grail if you're a working mother, enabling you to find time for both work and family with the stability of an employed role and without running yourself into the ground. Unsurprisingly, questions about how to work flexibly feature regularly in the conversations I have with women returning after a career break. 

I've found that many women get off on the wrong track. They translate a desire for flexible work into a rigid quest for a part-time job, 3 or 4 days per week. Yet if you just look at online part-time job ads, you're likely to get disillusioned very quickly. Of the 10,000+ 'family-friendly' jobs advertised on Mumsnet today there are only 37 in the part-time category, 12 of which have a >£30k salary. Timewise are doing their best to change this, but the numbers of higher-level part-time roles on their job board are still limited. 

This doesn't mean that flexibility doesn't exist at a more senior level, even in large corporates. In my conversations with organisations, I hear an increasing openness to flexible working and a recognition that many (if not most) of their more senior employees do work flexibility in some shape or form. But flexible rarely translates into 3 days part-time. In most cases, it's more about full-time hours, but with flexibility about where & when you do them.

Don't rule this out - considering flexible full-time jobs as an option will greatly increase the range of positions available to you, and many women have found the work-life balance they want in these type of roles.

Types of Flexibility

Here are some of the most common options; think whether any (alone or in combination) could create an attractive working pattern for you:

Flexitime
Typically this means that you choose when you start and end work. This can fit well with parents of school-age children wanting to make the school pick-up. One returning banker negotiated an 8.30-3.30 schedule for a senior wealth management role, where part-time work was seen as out of the question.

Working from home (remote working)
Increasing numbers of professional roles don't involve being in the office all the time, reducing commute time & meaning mothers no longer have to miss important school events. Kate, a lawyer and mum of four featured in our success stories, found a role with a public regulator which was mainly home-based. Even within large corporates, you may now be able to work from home on a regular basis (e.g. every Wednesday), or to find a company culture where the team works from home on an ad-hoc basis whenever this suits the individual and the business.

Compressed hours
You work your weekly hours by starting early and finishing late on 4 days to create one day off. This is more likely to suit you if you don't have young children, maybe if you want to continue to have time for voluntary work, hobbies or other activities.

Extended holiday leave
It's not only in the education sector where you can enjoy extended time off to manage the school holidays. In the web chat the HR Director from Deloitte said that they had introduced Time Out, where employees can request an unpaid block of 4 weeks leave each year. Taking unpaid leave can suit the business too if summer is a quieter period for them. If the lost salary is a problem, look for companies who allow you to accrue leave from overtime to use as 'time off in lieu' when you want it. 

Finding a flexible role

Finding a flexible job is more about learning about company culture and effective negotiation than combing the online job boards. Timewise research in 2015 reported that only 6.2% of UK roles over £20k salary are advertised as flexible. However they have also found that 91% of managers are willing to discuss flexible working possibilities during the recruitment process. See our previous post for advice on negotiating flexibility.

And if you still see part-time work as the ultimate goal, remember that once you're in a company it's much easier to develop all forms of flexible working schedule (helped by the new right to request flexible working legislation). Most of the senior professionals featured in Timewise's Power Part Time List didn't start in part-time roles but reduced their hours once they were established and could make the business case for doing so.

See also previous post: How do I find a high level flexible role?

Posted by Julianne

Life after a returnship. Q&A with Credit Suisse Real Returns 2014 participants

What happens to participants after a returnship programme? How do their careers develop and are they happy in the longer term to be back in the corporate world? We spoke to Adriana Ennab and Sinead O'Regan who were part of the first Credit Suisse Real Returns cohort (April to July 2014) to learn about their experiences since the programme. They also have some great advice for future participants. [If this inspires you to apply for the 2016 Real Returns programme, get on to it quickly as the deadline is this Sunday 17 January. See here for details]

Adriana, what is your current role and remit?

Currently I am a Director in the Public Affairs and Policy Department in London. The team advises senior management and select clients on policy and regulation affecting Credit Suisse’s strategy, its clients, Private Banking and Wealth Management and the Capital Markets. We maintain an active dialogue and advocacy effort with policymakers, trade associations, regulators, and international standard setting bodies. The team covers a broad range of topics including Prudential, Securities, Tax and Political Risk. Given my former background in Securities in my previous life, my initial remit was covering Shadow banking, Collateral and Margin requirements on OTC Derivatives.

What are your reflections on what you gained from the programme?

I have gained my independence again. I remember who I was before I took time off to raise a family. I am confident and feel fulfilled in a different way than the fulfilment I got from raising a family. I feel like I am in control of my life. I learn something new every day and I also teach something new. I am able to help others through mentoring. I also feel like I am able to be a great role model for my kids managing to work and raise a family.

How has your career developed since the programme?

When I began my new role at the end of the programme, I started with a blank page. I knew about the markets back in my day but had no idea about the world of Policy. I have been learning daily and building my knowledge. As mentioned earlier, my original remit was securities focused as that was where my previous experience was. I now cover areas such as Digital and am working on the bank’s Brexit committee as well other exciting projects.

What advice would you give to future returnship participants?

I would advise you to not box yourself in. Do not only think of the job you did previously but what your skill set is, what are your strengths and how can you transfer those. The team working on recruiting for the Real Returns programme did more than any head-hunter I had spoken to in the past. They did not try to place me in the same role I had before but looked at how I could transfer the skills that had made me successful previously into a new role. I would also recommend reading the papers daily and keeping up to speed with trends in the market and current affairs. If you have time, take classes that could help you get up to speed faster when you start. Excel, PowerPoint, coding-anything that you feel you are a bit behind the curve on. Not only will that help you once you get a job you will also feel like you can hit the ground running.

I would also suggest asking questions once you land at Credit Suisse. There is a very open door policy from management. If you do not know, ask. Learn as much as you can about your area, your division, and the bank. Meet as many people as you can. Find a sponsor. Attend all the workshops that you can, use all the fantastic resources at your disposal at the bank. Join the networks available. You have much at your disposal at Credit Suisse but it’s up to you to take advantage of it!

Sinead, what is your current role and remit?

I am currently working in the Compliance and Regulatory Affairs group. I am responsible for contributing to various team initiatives, such as the Risk and Control Self Assessments process, which leverages my previous professional skills

What are your reflections on what you gained from the programme?

Most importantly, the Program gave me an entry point back into the corporate work environment. It was always my intention to return to my professional career as soon as all my children were in full time education, but after a four-year absence and four children, I knew this wasn’t going to be easy. The Program was the perfect opportunity to test drive a return to work and I valued the excellent support, mentoring and training immensely, both from within my team and the Program. It gave me a chance to re-fresh knowledge and re-use technology, all in a safe environment. Over the course of the Program, I felt that I was brought back to the level of professionalism and understanding that was standard for me in my prior position. It was also a chance for me to try something new by working in a new industry which would not have been possible outside of the Program. My background is in Accounting and Tax and I qualified as an Irish Chartered Accountant and member of the Irish Institute of Taxation. Prior to my absence, the bulk of my career was spent with Andersen and subsequently Deloitte within their respective taxation practices in Dublin, Luxembourg and laterally London and my most recent role was with Deloitte London’s real estate taxation group specialising in tax structuring of international real estate funds. Although it is a complete change of industry, I have found that I have been able to leverage my previous professional experience and knowledge. At the end of the Program, I had built up valuable relationships both within and outside the team especially the network of my fellow 16 ‘Real Returners’ as we supported each other throughout the Program.

How has your career developed since the programme?

The program was a great start and I have remained in the same team, now as a permanent employee, becoming more integrated, building relationships both within and outside the team and taking on more responsibility as my confidence and knowledge has grown.  I have also been able to combine the role very well with family life through a great part-time arrangement. The biggest hurdle for me in making a return to work manageable was the school holidays, especially the long school summer holidays. So I agreed an arrangement giving me a 4 day week and extra holidays. This works very well and gives me one day a week on a Friday to organise the house and extra time to spend with the children during the holidays. I am looking forward to my future within the team as we grow and continue to tackle new and interesting work.  I am delighted with the direction my work has taken and could never have imagined that I could combine a great job and family life so well.

What advice would you give to future returnship participants?

Make full use of the program’s amazing training, networking and mentoring opportunities, as the Program passes by very quickly. Use the Real Return cohort and alumni as it is a great resource and ready-made network, this is invaluable in the initial settling-in period as there will be good days and bad days! And going forward, they are a great point of contact in the different sectors throughout the bank

Any other comments?

I can’t recommend the Program enough, it has given me a chance to come back to a corporate working world that I thought was behind me.

Posted by Julianne

Will you stick to your New Year resolutions?

Every January it is hard to avoid the talk of 'new year - new you' wherever you look. For women on a career break, the new year is often a time to set goals and make plans for returning to your career or re-inventing yourself. All too frequently, however, your initial enthusiasm and drive can quickly wane, everyday life takes over and the project of returning to work becomes too hard to pursue.  

Why don't resolutions work?
There are four key reasons why new year resolutions fail. It is usually because they are one or more of the following: 

1. too general and vague e.g. find a part-time job; do more networking
2. too big and daunting e.g. retrain for a new career in x; work out what to do next
3. unrealistic e.g. land a new role by Easter
4. not sufficiently action-oriented, with little idea of the steps required for achievement

All of these factors can lead to a rapid drop in motivation, as discussed by Julianne in her post on maintaining New Year motivation at the start of 2015.

A new approach
I was reminded of how often resolutions fail by a friend challenging me about how I would achieve my stated resolution 'to create more space for myself'. When she asked how I would achieve this, I had no answer. Her question forced me to acknowledge that my resolution was too general and vague and that I hadn't taken the step of converting my idea into action. I saw failure looming!

Her suggestion was to try a new approach to make the resolution stick: do something specific, simple and quick and do it daily for a month. By doing something new, even for only five minutes each time, on a daily basis, I will be able to make tangible progress on establishing a new habit. This approach is backed up by psychological research into how new habits get established. Linking the new behaviour to a specific cue, such as 'on waking' or 'before dinner' can also reinforce the habit formation.

Your 5 Minutes a Day return to work plan
How could you use this 'specific, quick and daily' approach to support your goal of returning to work? Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Research useful updating or skills-development courses
• Read a relevant news/journal article or book chapter
• Connect with old and new contacts on LinkedIn
• Read &/or contribute to a professional post on a LinkedIn Group
• Email a contact to set up an informal chat
• Work on a single section of your CV or LinkedIn profile

Of course you are likely to frequently spend more than five minutes a day, if returning to work is an important priority for you. However, by following the principle of doing a small thing every day, you will get into the habit of creating time to work on your return, so avoiding the common trap that everyday life gets in the way. This means that you cannot fail to make progress and will find it much easier to stick with and achieve your resolution by year end.

For further reading
How to form a habit - BPS Digest

Posted by Katerina

When life speeds up .. slow down

It's that manic run-up-to-Christmas time again: finishing off the year's projects, fitting in school end-of-term events, making holiday arrangements and somewhere in-between finding presents and writing cards. If your To Do list is feeling overwhelming, you can best reduce your stress levels by acting against your natural instincts ...


Pause and Breathe

• Resist the urge to race around and do three things at once; instead consciously slow your pace and focus on doing one thing at a time. Often we pride ourselves as Queens of Multi-tasking, and a whirlwind of activity can feel productive. However cognitive research has found that it's far more efficient for our brains to focus on just one task - we tend to complete it faster, better and with less energy (here's the science behind it, if you're still sceptical: Multitasking Switching Costs).

• Rather than not stopping from the moment you wake in the morning to the moment you collapse at night, take 5 minutes once or twice a day to sit quietly, slow your breathing down and do nothing (yes, not even checking your emails). Our minds need time to recharge, otherwise our energy gets more and more depleted until we reach collapse point. Even a short pause can break this cycle.

You can build these actions into habits through regular practice. This will enable you to better manage your energy levels all year round, at home and at work - these tips aren't just for Christmas!

Season's Greetings

Thank you for following our Back to your Future blog. We hope that we have been a source of advice, support and inspiration to you this year.

We're taking a festive break for a few weeks and will be back in the New Year!

All Best Wishes for 2016 from The Women Returners Team

Posted by Julianne

Dipping your toes in the social media pool

Today we introduce Muriel Clark who will be a regular contributor to our blog. Muriel has joined Women Returners as our Digital Media Expert, following her own career break. She will be managing many of our online communications from now on and we are delighted to have her on our team.

After a 4 year career break and no Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest or Twitter accounts, I felt out of touch with social media platforms. While I was contemplating returning to work, I realised I had to do something. I had to jump in. So I embarked on a mission to familiarise myself with social media and develop a professional credible online profile.

If you are looking to get back to work and are Twitter shy or LinkedIn adverse, fear not, you can teach yourself a few basic things that really can help to kick start your career.

Before you start, it is worth assessing your online presence by “googling” yourself. Potential employers will check your online credentials. With this in mind, and if you have been prolific on Facebook with personal matters, consider removing inappropriate posts.

LinkedIn and Twitter are the best tools for building your professional network and staying current with relevant information. Start by building your profile on LinkedIn. This can be daunting, but start with a skeleton of your CV, an outline of your career, your interests, education and volunteering experience. Read our previous blog for details on how to set up your profile, develop your network and job search on LinkedIn. Your new network will be invaluable for job searching, gaining references and endorsements and getting introduced to new contacts.

Twitter is another useful platform to rebuild your professional network. I know what you are thinking. What shall I tweet about? Well, you do not need to tweet to get started; you can adopt a rather passive approach that will show your areas of interest and more importantly keep you abreast of real time news on topics, individuals and organisations that you have carefully chosen. You can be a follower (on Twitter that is) and that’s fine for now.  Look at potential employer campaigns, find out about their current issues, research topics related to women returning back to work and employment diversity. Follow your favourite publications. Once you are confident, you can start “retweeting” useful information. And if you get the twitter bug, you might start tweeting your own thoughts before you know it.

Social media is not rocket science. Embrace it as little or as much as you want. You can make the most of social media without having to post something groundbreaking every 5 minutes. It is about embracing an effective medium to revive your career by growing your network and uncovering a new world of opportunities, sharing content as you see fit and not falling into a pool of information overload.

As for me, I have gained confidence and expertise in social media by doing the above and completing courses which were paramount to revive my career in marketing communications. I was lucky to be part of the Back2BusinessShip course (sponsored by Golin, Starcom Mediavest and F1), an excellent programme for women wanting to go back to their PR/Media/Marketing/Communications careers. I have completed comprehensive social media online courses (more on courses in a future blog). And thanks to my expertise in social media and refreshed marketing communications skills, I have recently joined Women Returners as their Digital Media Expert. 

Posted by Muriel

Anticipating the empty nest

Last month my youngest child turned 18 and I suddenly found myself in the position of being a parent of two adults. While this has been a long-anticipated state, my focus has been on my daughter's multiple celebrations not what her new adult status meant for me. Now, as she prepares to follow her brother to university next year, I am finally contemplating my empty nest.

In reality, I've been preparing myself for this stage since my children were born. Indeed, it was the fear of facing the prospect of an empty nest which ultimately propelled me into action with returning to my career, along with my desire to make a difference to society in some tangible way. When I retrained as an executive coach eleven years ago, I didn't have a clear idea of where I would be going with my new qualification or how I would rebuild my career. But I was clear that I wanted to be engaged in work where I could lay foundations for a time when I would be freer to focus more on my own work than my family responsibilities.

My return to work was small scale at first. I was content to work with just a few clients and to continue to put the majority of my energy and focus into my family. As I gained experience (and with it confidence in my abilities) and my children grew up, I actively sought more clients and even accepted the occasional overseas assignment. Self-employment allowed me to forge a new career while retaining the parental role I wished to have. At the same time, it hasn't always been easy and I had plenty of self-doubts along the way. The next major step I took in building up my work role was co-founding Women Returners, which has unintentionally provided another buffer to the empty nest effect. Our business and network are rapidly expanding, with the time and energy commitment that entails, as my involvement with my children's lives is decreasing. 

If you're also motivated to return to work by the looming prospect of the empty nest, the good news is that there are many more routes back to work than existed even 10 years ago, with the arrival of returnships and our innovative supported hiring approach. Companies and government are also acknowledging that returners are a neglected population who have skills, training and experience which are valuable. If you are seeking ideas and inspiration for how to return to work before your children fly the nest, take a look at the success stories on our website and the blog posts in our advice section.

Posted by Katerina

Carla: Returning via the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Returning Talent Programme

With the launch of the 2016 Bank of America Merrill Lynch Returning Talent Programme, we caught up with Carla who told us all about her experience of the 2015 programme. 

I recently returned to work after a long career break, to the Global Banking and Markets COO group at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. This was made possible through my participation in their 2015 Returning Talent Programme. 

After several years of staying at home to raise my children, I began to think about returning to the workforce last year.  During my break, I had stayed active with a couple of board positions and a small accessories business, which I founded and ran. However, as my children grew up, I was eager to return to a full-time corporate role.  Previously, I had worked as an Institutional Equity Salesperson and I wanted to find a position that was a good fit for my skills and experience.  However, when thinking about my return and job search, I was unclear about other areas in financial services to target and unsure how to market myself as a candidate. 

The Bank of America Merrill Lynch Returning Talent Programme helped me to address these uncertainties. The conference and follow-on coaching workshops not only provided me with advice and information about the job search process but also gave me the tools to consider what types of role and organisational workplace would suit me best. This reinforced my decision to target a clearly-defined role at a large established organisation. I also benefitted from the talks from senior female leaders, which offered exposure to different areas of the bank and a means of developing networking contacts.  Just as importantly, taking part in the Programme was also a great way to meet and connect with other returners. This created a back-to-work support system for me, which I had found difficult to do within my regular social group and school network.  

My advice to other women wanting to return to a City role is:

• Be resilient and open-minded to new and different opportunities
• Take the time to understand what type of work will best suit you
• Commit time to your job search – putting aside a couple of days a week was essential in keeping me focused and active
• Focus on returnships and other returner programmes, like the Returning Talent Programme. These are an ideal platform to restart your career with a high level of support and resources from the organisation.

I am delighted to be back at work in a full-time role in financial services. My family has adjusted well to my new schedule and I would definitely encourage others considering a return to take the step. 

If you would like to apply for the 2016 programme, follow this link. The closing date for applications is Friday 18th December, 2015.

Posted by Katerina

How to avoid living with regrets

Any of these sound familiar ...?

I should have chosen a more flexible career
I should have spent more time with my kids when they were babies/teens
I should have carried on working rather than giving up my career
I should have spent more time with my mother/father when they were ill
I should have taken that job opportunity
I should have stayed in better touch with ...
I should have studied [..] instead of [..]

On top of guilt, regret about past actions or choices can be another way in which we endlessly beat ourselves up. 

Fear of future regrets can also stop you from making important life decisions. If you're thinking about going back to work, you might be worrying that you will regret spending less time with your family, or alternatively if you're considering taking a career break, you might be afraid of regretting 'giving up' your career. 

How can we manage regret? A good start point is understanding more about why it exists and what is most likely to trigger it.

Psychology of Regret
Regret involves blaming ourselves or feeling a sense of loss about what might have been. Like all negative emotions, it exists for a reason. Regret is useful if it encourages you to re-evaluate your past choices and then galvanises you to refocus on what's important or to take a different path. Regrets can be a call to action - pushing you to pick up your career or to spend more time with people who matter to you. Neal Roese from Kellogg University, who has studied regret among younger people, found that overall they see regret as positive as it motivates them to make changes. You can also be encouraged to take action by fear of future regrets: one of the factors that strengthened my decision to retrain in my 30s was that I knew I would regret it if I didn't give it a go.

However, there is a powerful potential down-side. If you have limited opportunity to change the situation, which is more likely as you get older, regret can be destructive - leading to self-blame, frustration, an inability to make decisions and sometimes even to stress and depression.

Our greatest regrets
Thomas Gilovich at Cornell University spent a decade studying the psychology of regret, mainly by asking people to look back over their lives and to describe their biggest regret. Over the long term, 75% of people regretted not doing something more than the actions they had taken, even those which had led to failure and unhappiness. The top 3 regrets were not working hard enough at school, not taking advantage of an opportunity and not spending enough time with family and friends. 
Psychologist Richard Wiseman explains the rationale. It's far easier to see the negative side of a poor decision you made than the consequences of something that didn't happen. You can see the tangible results of making a bad career decision on your life now. However, if you didn't accept that job offer, then the possible positive benefits are endless and it's easy to fantasise about the great life you would have had if only you'd made the right decision at the time.

How to tackle regrets

If you have regrets about actions you took or didn't take in your past:

• Recognise that everyone makes mistakes, and that the best thing you can do is to look forward. What actions you can take now to correct the situation: go back to study/retrain; take small steps to restart your old career; make more time for friends; make that phone call?
• If you can't take corrective action, Wiseman suggests "Ring-fencing Regret" to create a more balanced perspective. Imagine a ring fence around the 'what might have been' benefits that you keep thinking about. Instead of focusing on these, think about 3 benefits of your current situation and 3 negative consequences that might have happened had you taken the action that is causing your regret.  

If you're worrying about future regrets from actions you want to take now:

• Remember that you're more likely in the long-term to regret the things you don't do than the things you do
• Seize the opportunities that come to you and take small step actions rather than procrastinating: make the time, face your fears, try things out. This is the best way to prevent looking back in 10 years' time and thinking "I should have ..."

Refs & other reading

59 Seconds, Richard Wiseman. One of my favourite books on how psychology research can change your life, including a chapter on regret

The Psychology of Regret. Online article in Psychology Today

Prone to procrastination - tips to help you move forward. Another blog post

Posted by Julianne

How 'strategic' volunteering can support your return to work

If you've been out of the workplace for many years, we often recommend that you consider strategic volunteering, but it may not be clear to you exactly what we mean by this or how it can be a route back to work. For me, strategic volunteering was a crucial step in getting back to work after my career break; I reflected on this during a trustees' meeting this week (taking time out from Women Returners). As with so many people who take a career break, I had lost any sense of myself as a professional person possessing management and leadership skills that would be of use outside my domestic role. Through joining a charity board, in a non-executive role, I had the opportunity to rebuild my self-belief in a variety of ways:

• talking with other professionals, as equals, on matters of strategy, policy and operations reminded me that I knew about this stuff!
• taking on specific projects, such as overhauling the financial reporting systems, was a concrete opportunity to contribute and make a difference
• feedback from my colleagues was positive and encouraging (in contrast to the normal complaints from my children)
• I learned that my different way of looking at matters (from being the sole female and not steeped in the charity's historical way of operating) was valued.

What separates strategic volunteering from the other unpaid roles you may have taken on during your break, from class rep to community volunteer, is that the work you are doing creates a platform for your return, either through refreshing or developing your skills, or by being an entry route to a new role. 

Strategic volunteering comes in many guises. These are examples of other people who've used it as a starting point for their new career:

• Jill volunteered as a business start-up adviser which allowed her to create a portfolio career with a number of NED positions.  You can read her story here
• For Suzanne, being PTA chair was a perfect way to revive her dormant people management and influencing skills (there is nothing harder than engaging a group of volunteers), allowed her to be creative in a public arena and gain experience in presenting and speaking to large groups. A bonus was that getting to know her co-chair led to them setting up a business together when their term of office ended.

You can read some other inspiring examples in our previous post: Finding your way back through strategic volunteering.

If you have a story to share, we'd love to hear it!

Posted by Katerina