Practical, honest advice for UK working mums on managing a career alongside family life. Covers flexible working rights, returning to work after maternity leave, negotiating pay, dealing with redundancy while pregnant, and making the most of your professional skills as a mother. Written from real experience, not corporate HR speak.
Are you tired of promotions passing you by? Do you wish you were more respected by your colleagues and your boss?
It takes more than doing the job to stand out in the workplace. Here are some tips on becoming irreplaceable in your workplace and getting a promotion.
Being mistreated at work can make life stressful. Forever feeling anxious and unable to relax because you know that your boss or colleague is always just one step away of turning that knife again can make an already hectic life as a working mum feel impossible.
So, do you just walk away, or should you show your employer that they shouldn’t mistreat employees, so they don’t do it again? The legal way to do it (as much as the thought of wiping output the company’s entire computer records may seem like worthy payback!) is to take them to a tribunal.
Congrats! You’re going to be a mums, and what exciting times you have ahead. Unfortunately, while your family, friends and colleagues may be excited for you, strangers on your commute probably won’t share the joy…
So, how can you make your commute to work as stress free and comfortable as possible?
Everyone is talking about Tom Davey in the Olympics – even when he and his diving partner Peter Waterfield missed out on a medal, all the spotlight was on golden boy.
One of the biggest problems that people have when it comes to making the most of the working day is that they simply have bad time management. This is something that hinders many mums from ever achieving their full potential success in life and something truly needs to be done to correct that.
Most people will admit that they have trouble with this problem but successful people will talk about how they are able to master the art of managing their time, squeezing more ‘time’ into the normal 168-hour week.
There are two things that you can do to manage your time better and to use your 24 hours to the fullest:
We all have our little foibles, and bosses are no different. But how can you tell if your boss is just a little different or hates you?
How far can the comments go, and how schemes deep rooted are the incidents you’ve been receiving really go? Is it just a case of poor communication, or does your boss just not like you?
Here’s how you can tell if your boss hates you:
No matter how good you are at your craft, there really is nothing like being able to have a mentor who can help you turn your expertise into a financial success.
Most business owners and successful online entrepreneurs will admit that a mentor was a big part of their success.
A lot of people feel like they can do everything on their own and this is something that can lead to a lot of problems. An enthusiasm to get stuck in and get your hands dirty is great, but do you have to learn all the hard lessons the long way, making avoidable mistakes along the way?
Job interviews are a two-way thing. You go to showcase your skills, show them the type of personality you have and that you can fit in and work well with the existing workforce a d you also go to see if the employer is the right one for you.
If you go fully prepared, the experience will be less daunting and you’ll look like the true professional you rally are.
Preparation is key – and that’s why we’ve got 40 common interview questions you’re likely to be asked at the job interview, so you can prepare for them in advance:
Looking for a job can be very enjoyable – honestly, if you know what to do and have the right skills to showcase on your CV and at job interviews, it can be a doddle. Ask anyone who isn’t and hasn’t ever struggled to get a job.
If that reality doesn’t sound like yours, then here are some things you need to bear in mind when you go for job interviews. These tips might sound simple, but, you’d be surprised how many people make a mistake without thinking much about it during job interviews and then wonder why they don’t get the job time and time again.
Although money shouldn’t be the most important factor in the career decisions we make, it often has a big impact on our lives. How much money we earn will dictate where we live, the lifestyle we enjoy, the schools our children attend, the type of holidays we go on (if any) and how and when we will retire.
When you work for someone else, you have a limited amount of control over your salary. You negotiate your starting salary and then you are usually given increases at your employer’s discretion following annual reviews and promotions… and during these austere times, some employers have put a pay freeze on, so even that small increment every year has been taken away.
Do you want more control over your salary? It’s. It impossible – credit crunch or not, many people are still earning more money. The trick is to understand your value and learn how to increase the value you provide to your employer.
So, are you ready for that bug pay rise?Here are five ways to start increasing the value you provide at work and ultimately, the salary that you earn:
Few jobs are gained without a job interview these days, so if the propsect of a job interview sends you into a bit of a panic, you’ll need to know how to manage that in a positive way to show your potential employer that you are the best person for the job.
Sometimes it’s the simple things that need tightening up, but they can still cost you your job. That’s why it’s a good idea to speak to someone and practise your interview skills so you don’t fumble when it matters the most!
These days many of us are holding on tight to our jobs – even those who want to leave aren’t looking for jobs to move on to because of the economic climate the impact it’s having on the job market.
So, what you may experience is some angst in the workplace sometimes – people who really don’t want to be there making life a misery for other people because they hate their job.
Whether you like it or not, interpersonal skills play a big role in the office. However, not all of us are aware or have the ability to get along with people at work, and these days it’s essential that you try harder to make things work, or face being miserable for a sizeable portion of your day, and week. Here are some suggestions on how to get along with others:
Are you finally ready to move on with your life and take the career change plunge? While it may sometimes feel like you are the only one in the world trying to change your career when everyone else seems settled in theirs and loving what they are doing, the average jobseeker actually changes careers seven times during his or her lifetime.
So what are the options for successfully making the transition to a new career? Here are some mum-friendly career change options to consider:
Congratulations – your CV has done the talking for you, and you have been asked to attend a job interview. Now you get your chance to prove that you’re the best person for the job.
There are many things that you can do that can take some of the pressure off during an interview. The way that you behave is one of the most important. It’s not all in the words that come out of your mouth, but often has a lot to do with your body language.
Interviewers are not just wondering if you are skilled enough for the job, they are often wondering if you would fit in nicely with you the rest of the team. Your personality is a big part of your interview and can make all the difference in you getting the job or not.
Here are some of the things that you should pay attention to during an interview:
For many people, going to job interviews is the single-most stressful part of the job search process.
At job interviews, any number of things can go wrong (and some without you even knowing!) and a big part of being successful is avoiding simple mistakes.
Here are some of the most common mistakes that are made during job interviews:
For decades it was one of society’s biggest taboos: the bride with the baby bump having a shotgun wedding.
And of the avant-garde brides who would admit to being in the family way, few of them, if any, would have dared walk down the aisle in a white dress. But times, it would seem, have changed.
In 2009, an estimated 20,000 brides in Britain were pregnant on their wedding day, accounting for 10 per cent of all first-time brides under the age of 45. Celebrities who have openly embraced this in recent times have included Lily Allen, and others include Jennifer Garner and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Traditionally, most brides try to lost a few pounds to feel more confident (or from stress) on their big day, wearing the dress of their dreams. But for pregnant brides, all the best will in the world won’t shrink a growing baby bump. So you need some maternity wear for brides that can accommodate a growing baby bump. Watch the following video to get some great tips on finding bridal wear when expecting:
Job interviews are an opportunity to find out if you genuinely want to work for an employer – and get a sense of the type of manager you’ll be working for . So, as much as you’ll be answering interview questions, you should also go to the interview armed with questions that you have for your recruiter, too.
Try to have three or four questions ready to ask the interviewer that will demonstrate your interest in the company and show that you have given some thought into working for the company.
If you have get your research right and are thorough, a question or two should come to mind. If you have been able to come up with some ideas that relate to the problem, throw them out to see how the employer reacts.
The answer in short is no! Quitting a job is a choice that successful people often have to make. This article gives some helpful tips on how to leave a job without leaving a bad impression. Don’t burn a bridge when you are building your career.
We’ve all dreamt about it at some point in our lives – being able to tell a boss we hate to stick their job where the sun doesn’t shine. If you haven’t felt like that before, or dreamt it, then you are blessed!
But seriously, when it comes to resigning from a job, you have to do it the right way. Many industries are incestuous, and someone always know someone else so the last thing you want to do is commit career suicide with unnecessary rudeness that gives someone enough ammunition to scupper any chance you have of getting another job!
Sometimes it’s an easy choice to leave a company. However, one of the most important choices that you can make in your career is to leave your current employer in the right way. Like any other relationship, there are faults and virtues with every company. At the end of a relationship, people tend to focus on the faults.
Have you heard about George Osborne’s budget and the pressure it will have on working families? You only need one working parent in the home who works a decent salary to start feeling the effects of the tax penalties (and he’s even reduced the threshold for the higher rate of tax, so if you were okish before, you may still feel the pinch!).
So, for many mums, the reality has hit home – it’s time to either start looking for a job, start looks for a job with more hours, or a job that pays a lot more. And that means making sure your CV stands out from the rest.
Yes – it might be tempting to print it on bright red paper or fluorescent paper (remember those days?), but there’s probably a barrage of applicants who are going to do the same, and it looks tacky anyway. Plus, with a lot of empowers recruiting online these days, you might not even have an option to print at all!
