Archive for 'Work-Life Integration'

Taking a career break. A Gen Y view on the traditional career ladder

As part of the new generation of workers, which will have to work possibly until the age of 70 or even longer, why not have a different take on the career ladder and progression?

A different take
I am currently on a career break. This break has possibly been one of the best career decisions I have made in my working life as a corporate lawyer in London. As part of the new generation of workers, which will have to work until the age of 70 or even longer, my suggestion is why not have a different approach to the traditional career ladder and chill the pace? This is not to say I am not serious about my career. I am very serious about my career. And my career break. I am a very serious person altogether and this not part of an unfocused quest to find myself.

Having the ultimate stressful career and working oneself to the bone has lost its appeal somewhat. Gone are the promises of inflated salaries, disproportionate 6 figure bonuses, quick-fire progression to the top for the hard workers and becoming wealthy by “climbing the property ladder” at lightning speed. The recent recession has stripped my generation of these types of golden opportunities that were the blessings of our parents’ time.

Trade-off
So what is the trade-off? Work less. Enjoy life more. Find a better balance. Why spend weekends typing furiously into a Blackberry, or sitting in the office, with futile hopes of making partner 6 years after qualification or receiving a massive bonus to buy that house in Richmond? Those days are gone, pal. So, in short, what is the point? Oh yes — do it for career satisfaction and general life and emotional fulfillment. Yeah right.

In a move that has surprised my London bosses, I am relocating to Dubai. I will be doing the exact same thing but in a hot climate where I can go to the beach after work. This is not to be considered as part of my career break, more of a tactical and strategic career move, a very exciting one, specifically to increase my market value.

In between the London and Dubai jobs, I have chosen to take some time out and travel the world a little. Hardly intrepid explorer type stuff, no treks to Antarctica or climbing Everest, but just take a few extended vacations to forget what working is like. And it is totally fabulous, like being a wealthy gap “yah” student, who is infinitely more mature, worldly and appreciative of a) everything they are experiencing and b) most importantly, the time off from the grind.

Benefits
I feel relaxed, energised, excited, well-rested and ready to start in the next phase of my career (well — after I complete the next phase of my traveling). However, the most important thing to remember about a career break is that eventually the travel fund runs out and all good career breaks must come to an end.

Well. Until the next one.

Gen Y lawyer wishes to remain anonymous.

Balance: Survival skills for the single professsional Mother

Professional freelance writer and unemployed, single mother. Two phrases that you hardly ever find in the same document together, never mind the same paragraph. The two are as common as a mixture of oil and water and, it seems to me, that there is a defined meniscus between being a consummate professional and being a mother.

Career break?

For many years I was in middle-management. Aiming to be a high achiever, delivering results, meeting deadlines. I was devastated when I lost my job in 2010; due to a change in the economic climate my firm simply could not justify keeping me on any more. To many, a redundancy is worse than a sacking, as you know that you have not done anything to deserve being taken out of the workforce. Worse than that, my job supported my two children, provided their home, their childcare, their sustenance. I hadn’t used my degree in many years and had no experience in the field of Biochemistry that would lead to a job with an equivalent salary. My balance had been thrown overnight. Obviously I thought about taking a career-break, but I was yet to find out what I really wanted to do with my life. I took some time out with the kids, and it gave me clarity.

Adapting

I don’t think I ever went through that period of wallowing. I’m certain that at some point I thought that I needed to adapt, and that the family would need to change. It seemed, rather suddenly, that I wasn’t going to accept defeat. I had always written, that was something that could be done without sacrificing my time with the children. Doggedly I started freelancing, writing tech articles, submitting and using my knowledge of sales to get paid for them, very slowly repeat work started to build up, and people came to me. Two years on I have an email inbox the size of Nepal, and have been able to justify a change in careers, uprooting my family and taking a drastic cut in finances. But it has all been about determination and balance.

The future is bright

I am first and foremost a woman with an opinion. But, a woman with children. I strongly believe that a mother will strive harder to achieve for her children whether she be a morning cleaner or a CEO. In the UK unemployment rates for women are at their highest for 18 years. Women are making a choice to stay at home with their children, but that doesn’t change the can-do attitude of the vast majority of us single mums. In my humble opinion high-achiever and single-mum go hand in hand. Raising a happy family, and pushing yourself to the best of your capability; the most fulfilling job in the world.

Shan Ellis is a published author, freelance writer and trainee journalist, a single mother to two young children, she enjoys the challenges of daily life, and strikes a balance between professionalism and telling it like it is. She has written for The River Paper, and is currently working and writing for the Eastern Daily Press. Also published by: Pure Poetry, The Scarlet Sound, Mills and Boon, Seducing the Myth and Metastwnsh.

Follow onTwitter: @awdures

Just for Fun

 

Liza Donnelly is a staff cartoonist for The New Yorker Magazine and author of fifteen books.

Her new book is When Do They Serve The Wine: The Fun, Folly and Flexibility of Being a Woman (Chronicle).

You can visit Liza at her website and at her blog.

What Works for Working Mothers

Indra K. Nooyi, accomplished mom and CEO of PepsiCo, spoke at the BlogHer ’11 conference last month in San Diego.

I nearly ran to the session.

What could this mother of two children, a woman who came to the United States with $50 in her pocket, and became the overseer of brands like Tropicana and Pepsi and leader to 300,000 employees, teach other working mothers about solving the work life balance dilemma?

Maybe Nooyi would answer the working mothers career riddle, something I craved as I sat thousands of miles from home. I was there both as a professional and as a working mother.  While the “professional me” was excited to connect with women writers while on assignment, the “mom me” was guilt ridden.

Mom, Follow Your Dreams

Days before I boarded the 737 to San Diego, my son asked me to quit my job so I didn’t have to travel.

I explained his suggestion was not plausible for many reasons. Chief among them: I enjoy my work. Still, I was torn.

Nooyi told the BlogHer crowd she knows the feeling.

The question of work/life balance is both agonizing and genuine, she said.

“We all play so many roles…It’s not easy.”

She recalled how she missed Mother’s Morning Coffee at her daughter’s school several times.

Her daughter would remind her of the slight.

Nooyi asked her daughter if she wanted her to quit and stay home but her daughter did not answer as she assumed she would.

She told her mother to follow her dreams.

“I have never forgotten that answer,” Nooyi said.

Nooyi’s hope for other working mother types is that the blogosphere will become a support system to share ideas on this issue.

Solving the Work-Life Riddle

So what does work for working mothers?

Here are some suggestions:

• Erin Tierney, an international sales and marketing executive based in Massachusetts and just back from Rome, uses Facebook and Skype internet video calls to keep in touch while relying on a strong family support system. “When I am away I will Skype home and be able to see and speak with my daughter. This past trip I also uploaded photos on to Facebook so my parents could show her where I was and what I was doing/seeing.”
• Career strategist Jacqui Barrett Poindexter, based in Texas, encourages clients, many of whom are working mothers, to delegate and to let go of things that can wait or that others can do for you. One client, for example, chooses to outsource certain personal and professional responsibilities like marketing communications or house cleaning so she can spend real, unfettered time with her kids, Barrett Poindexter said.

“She still steers the ship of decisions behind articulating her personal value proposition and delivering on her business commitments, but she also entrusts business partners to return to her chunks of time and energy to take care of her primary priorities of family.”

What works for you?

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