This is all good to read, following with interest. I had 15 years in my previous career in finance, reached a peak of demotivation/unhappiness in December '15 and left (I did try for a career break but was refused). Now feeling petrified that I'll never find the same again - I had 3 days, a good salary, but felt there were no prospects.

I really hope to find something that works, and motivates me again.

Similar thing happened to me. Things changed after I had my son - whereas before the "what" mattered more than the "how", the situation reversed. I became a lot less bothered about job title and status, more worried about whether it would be compatible with nursery hours. I decided I needed something that involved no foreign travel, no long or irregular hours, no weekend working, no line management or P&L responsibility, no long commuting, no client contact...and I only wanted to do a four day week. Oh and it needed to pay the bills because I am a single parent...including private health insurance because of needing continuity of coverage for our health conditions. And it needed, obviously, to be something that I was actually qualified for...
I know it sounds impossible and at times it felt impossible. However, via a client of a friend, something eventually came up. It wasn't a grand job title but it was a proper "permanent" job in house and it ticked every single one of the boxes. Furthermore, my new employer has a very good attitude to flexible working and work/life balance.
As it happens, I was promoted after about a year, and have ended up with a bit more pay and some line management responsibility. But it's still very do-able with a small child. It can be done.

I'm a careers consultant too!
I run CVs Etc. and lots of my clients are people wanting to get back into work after time out, sometimes in the same career and sometimes in a different one.
As well as one-to-one sessions I also run group workshops, and action learning sets which are particularly good for when a few people are in similar situations, or wanting similar things, and want to work together to get where they want to be - as you suggested medway.
Check out my little website at www.cvsetc.co.uk and feel free to get in touch to find out more - I'm at sam@cvsetc.co.uk and on 07796 118873.
Meanwhile good luck!

Hi Sophie,
As a local mum and a Career Coach, I've been following the discussion with interest. Theres been some great advice and even a potential job opportunity! I love how women are such natural networkers and nappy valley is such a great forum for local women.
Sophie it seems you'd like to explore your options before you make a decision as to your next step. I agree with 'justanothermum' that it's much easier if you know where you are going, and therein lies the problem for many women. It's the working out what you Want to do that is the key. Exploring the options available in an active way has worked best for my clients. This means drawing up a list of possible work
options, and then 'trying' them out or finding people who do those jobs and chatting to them about it.
As a Career Coach I've been helping mums for over 10 years, helping them navigate their journey to fulfilling work which they can manage around a family. It is a journey. It can take time. But investing some time and space for yourself to work it out can mean a rewarding new start for you.
I am planning to run a workshop in Twickenham/Teddington before the summer break dealing with many of these issues, entitled 'How to find Work that makes you Happy' It's a low cost, affordable way to access 3 hours Career Coaching. If you it anyone else is interested just drop me a line or call for a chat.
Good luck to all of you!

Lila

Lila Veltze
lila@worklifehappy.co.uk
07980 368232

Hi Sophie,
As a local mum and a Career Coach, I've been following the discussion with interest. Theres been some great advice and even a potential job opportunity! I love how women are such natural networkers and nappy valley is such a great forum for local women.
Sophie it seems you'd like to explore your options before you make a decision as to your next step. I agree with 'justanothermum' that it's much easier if you know where you are going, and therein lies the problem for many women. It's the working out what you Want to do that is the key. Exploring the options available in an active way has worked best for my clients. This means drawing up a list of possible work
options, and then 'trying' them out or finding people who do those jobs and chatting to them about it.
As a Career Coach I've been helping mums for over 10 years, helping them navigate their journey to fulfilling work which they can manage around a family. It is a journey. It can take time. But investing some time and space for yourself to work it out can mean a rewarding new start for you.
I am planning to run a workshop in Twickenham/Teddington before the summer break dealing with many of these issues. It's a low cost, affordable way to access 3 hours Career Coaching. If you it anyone else is interested just drop me a line or call for a chat.
Good luck to all of you!

Lila

Lila Veltze
lila@worklifehappy.co.uk
07980 368232

Hello
Lots of people go through this so you're not alone. I recently stopped working retrained and now have my own business in arts. It is a challenging process so I would say that you need to know yourself well to make the right choices.

Are you wanting to leave your current profession or are you wanting to go TO a particular new profession? If the latter, then your decision is much easier. Otherwise you will need to see exactly what it is you want... Time, money, happiness, rewarding experience... Etc. You may find you have what you need and the grass may not be greener but once you know, you can make your own role/business.

I stay motivated by surrounding myself with like minded people and have started a drinks evening for creative small businesses in my area.
As we get older and have our families we do have to realign our needs and desires within our situations. I think that role does exist for you, but you have to decide what it is and may have to shape it for yourself.

Having gone through it, I am happy to chat so feel free to pm me. If not, I hope you find happiness and balance and wish you the very best of luck with your choices. Xx

Hi Sophie,

My firm ( a boutique investment bank and fund manager) is currently looking for a part time marketing manager/ senior marketing manager. The hours are flexible and I think could be 3/4 days or every day with reduced hours to suit school run etc.
I know it is not a change of career but might be suitable if you would rather be in house again?
Do PM me if you want more details. I was planning on posting the job on here anyway as it would be perfect for a mum wanting to go back to work part time.

Stephen Mansbridge is a very experienced career coach and he would be happy to talk with you. Call him on 07534 258826 or email him on stephen.mansbridge@onehitconsulting.com

Tell him Julian (ex coll) suggested

Hi Sophie
I'm in a similar position to you so can't help too much except to say that I'm also trying to embark on a career change after many years in the CIty. I've found the Careershifters website quite interesting for inspiration if you have a look at that. They have coaching programmes which I've yet to do myself but hope to doin the future. Would be happy to have a chat off-line if that helps too.

Hi Sophie...I know your dilemma very well so I hope this helps...After going back to my business job part-time when my son was 1, I felt pretty miserable and demotivated - motherhood changed me and I just wasn't as interested in what I was doing any more. I have worked in business and publishing for 20 years so I knew I had a lot of transferrable business experience. I also have a diploma in art therapy working with children and have worked with children in schools with emotional difficulties and I was part way through an MA in child psychotherapy when I had my son 3 years ago but I didn't want to complete this. So I decided to make a massive change too and I did some research and invested in a local franchise business teaching yoga to children and I chose this particular business because it is heavily invested in helping children with their development and with physical and sensory regulation and because I could also work with children with special needs which is all stuff I know a lot about from my child psychology training. Plus I'd been practising yoga myself for c20 years. It has been the best thing I have ever done. It may sound like a leap but it blends all the things I love and have experience in. I run my own business so am involved in all aspects of running a business. I teach children yoga and mindfulness which is the most rewarding thing of all and I manage my own teachers. Having a franchise business too means less risk as I have invested in an established business with the support of many women round UK who are already running similar businesses and of head office. Financially I've had to survive on a lot less income for the first year as business has been building but I only work c3 days per week and my business is constantly growing and I am so much happier. Life/work balance is great because I teach mainly in nurseries and schools so can have hours that fit well with looking after my son. I think franchise businesses can be well worth investing in if you find one that fits your interests and that is set up well. I'm really happy to chat further to your or anyone else who's posted here about setting up a new franchise business x

I posted about a similar topic recently as well - definitely in the same position as you..

http://www.nappyvalleynet.com/mums/view ... ch#p181300

Watching closely

I am in exactly the same position. Currently 2 months off finishing a 1 year contract and really want to change direction completely. New job must be flexible/ part time and be paid (but salary does not have to be the decisive factor) but apart from that I am totally open to suggestion/ ideas. Are there any career coaches out there who may want to run a paired session ( we could feed ideas off each other)...

Watching closely

I am in exactly the same position. Currently 2 months off finishing a 1 year contract and really want to change direction completely. New job must be flexible/ part time and be paid (but salary does not have to be the decisive factor) but apart from that I am totally open to suggestion/ ideas. Are there any career coaches out there who may want to run a paired session ( we could feed ideas off each other)...

Hi wise mums. Hoping someone can help me or point me in the right direction. I'm stuck in a severe career rut, and really considering a change. But I have no idea where to start. I've got 10+ years experience working in the city but have been running my own business (investment marketing) for 4 years now. I love the flexibility it gives me, but my motivation is starting to slide... I have some lovely clients, but realistically none of them will hire me in house, as I'm more useful to them (and cheaper) on the outside, so I don't really know what to do. Part of me thinks a complete career change might be in order, but that's a daunting prospect.
Ideally I want to find something that pays ok, allows a bit of flexibility (perhaps PT) and that I enjoy. But am I a fool for thinking that exists? And how on earth do I go about starting the search?
Would be very interested to hear from anyone who's been in the same boat and can point me to any resources that can help me...