The Wonderful Feeling Of Success
The Wonderful Feeling Of SuccessThe wonderful feeling of success. After a few months of looking for flexible work, I have been offered a contract working 4 days a week. It is well-paid (yay), local (amazing) and super interesting. And my new boss has uttered the words you can work from home if you like. I think inside, at this point, I was jumping for joy.
What Have I Learnt In My Quest for Flexible Working
Use Your Own Network
It’s not what you know, it’s who you know. A cliché but true. In my post on How To Ask For Flexibility, Kate Mansfield, a Career Coach at the company Women Returners (www.womenreturners.com) said, ‘you need to look after yourself as best as possible and you and your networks will always be more powerful than someone else’s.’
Talk to friends, ex-work colleagues, mums and dads in the school playground.
Lead with Your Skills, Value and Experience
In the past, I have opened conversations with, ‘I want to work 3 days a week.’ I’ve learnt that this isn’t the right strategy. Lead with your skills, value and experience. Don’t lead with something that may be mistakenly seen as an obstacle.
Take Action
Get out there. Start building relationships. Sometimes I think we can overthink things. Should I contact this person or not? My advice is to DO IT. If they say no, at least you have tried and you have also put yourself on their radar.
Take action, it builds confidence.
Get Face To Face
Contacting people over email and LinkedIn etc is great but face to face is the way to build relationships.
Tame The Inner Voice – Stop Feeling Demoralised
The journey to find work can be hard and often demoralising. I’ve felt frustrated, annoyed and helpless. I’ve felt that my experience wasn’t necessarily of interest to people.
Learn to tame your inner voice. One of the biggest confidence builders is your own mind. Your inner voice can BIG you up or completely TRAMPLE on your self-worth.
Confidence Is Key
As per above, confidence is important. When you start to feel any of the above emotions – frustration, helplessness – swap out the negative thoughts for more positive, nurturing ones.
Believe in yourself. Be confident in who you are and the experience you have. Control your mind. Maintain positivity.
Be Open-Minded
You might need to consider various strategies when looking for flexible working. Be open-minded and realistic. Are you willing to do 5 days but one at home? Do you need to work full-time, prove yourself and then negotiate?
Skill Up
Be honest with yourself. If you’ve taken a lengthy amount of time out of work, you may need to skill up. A friend of mine worked in the digital media space which is pretty fast paced, with ever changing technology. She set about getting up to speed with the new technology, in turn boosting her skills, employability and confidence.
Are Job Boards Useful?
I didn’t find job boards particularly useful. I have been inundated with job alerts in my inbox, most of which don’t seem relevant, but maybe I’ve had the search parameters set up wrong.
Is The Tide Changing Towards Flexible Working?
If I’m totally honest, I haven’t found this. I’ve still had doors closed in my face. However there is definitely more in the press about the benefits to both employers and employees of flexible working, so hopefully we are going in the right direction.
Looking For A Job Can Be A Full-Time Job
Ok, point number 11. Looking for a job can consume you. I would wholly recommend spending a certain amount of time a day looking for work but also realise the need to do something else. You need time to refresh and re-boot; it’s important for your well-being. Go for a walk, meet a friend for coffee, go to the gym.
Hope my journey has been helpful. I’d love to hear from you about your journey to find flexible work. Email me at lou@womanready.com.
Please see my previous posts on the start of the journey to find flexible work, tips on networking and the frustration.
