Flex success for solicitor Sarah

Solicitor Sarah regularly browsed the job ads but always stopped short of submitting her CV. Here, she explains how Successful Mums gave her the push she needed to make a change – and how she landed her ideal, flexible role.

“I’d been following Successful Mums on Facebook for a while and looking at the Job Board regularly but I was nervous about applying for anything. I realised I needed to nip that in the bud and get myself on a Back to Work course.

I was a corporate solicitor before having children and, because of the nature of the work, had written very few job applications. I’d also lost confidence over my career break, not so much in my professional skills but definitely in terms of IT, which feels like it moves so quickly. I think both of those things were holding me back and I really needed a push to get over them.

Taking a really positive look at my CV with Georgina, our course tutor helped change all that. I realised I was too focused on the eight-year ‘gap’ on my CV, rather than on all the years I’d been working, the volunteering I’d done teaching English as a foreign language and all the other transferable skills I’d picked up.

Georgina gave me the confidence to just put ‘career break’ on my CV, add a couple of transferable skills, and then move on. And, actually, I ended up having interviews with two different organisations – and neither even asked about the career break.

The course spurred on my job search because I had to do my homework. I had to come in with my CV and do certain things before my 1 to 1 with Georgina. It was actually during that coaching session, when we were taking a detailed look at my CV, that I came across the charity I’m working for now. I’d worked with them years ago on a project, so I looked them up and discovered they were advertising a vacancy.

The job was a great fit, so it was well worth the effort of applying – and I was delighted to be offered the role!

I’m really enjoying being back at work. I have to commute but I’m doing two-and-a-half days a week spread over three days and my employer has been really flexible. The commute is outweighed by the job, though, and it’s so nice to feel like a grown-up again and organise things that aren’t all child-based!”

If you’re returning to work after a career break and your job search needs a boost, book your place on our Back to Work course HERE.