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Hello Bright Minds, I hope you’re on good form and by the end of this episode got a better sense of how you can help yourself find focus, sustain your attention and experience traction. I'm Jessica Chivers, a coaching psychologist, author and developer of the Comeback Community employee experience, of which this podcast is a part.
The idea for this episode has been stirring in mind for some time because focus is a frequent source of conversation with coachees who are returning to work from maternity leave with less time on their hands than they had pre-baby. If you’re not a new parent or a parent at all I think you’ll get plenty from listening to the psychology and my personal hacks that I’m going to share with you.
REFERENCES
Ficca, G., Axelsson, J., Mollicone, D. J., Muto, V., & Vitiello, M. V. (2010). Naps, cognition and performance. Sleep medicine reviews, 14(4), 249-258.Leroy, s. (2009). Why is it so hard to do my work? The challenge of attention residue when switching between work tasks. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 109 (2) 168-181: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0749597809000399
DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to HR - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace
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Hello Bright Minds, I'm inspired to bring you this episode as I've been invited to be part of a 'Human Library' at CIPD's Festival of Work where my title is "How to not burnout as a parent of a neurodiverse or challenge child." Journaling or 'free-writing' as a I call it has been one of my consistently useful coping tools, especially over the last two years, and I'll be talking about that.
I'm talking you through the science of a very specific journaling protocol that has a very significant evidence base in the academic research literature. It was developed by Professor James Pennebaker in 1986.
Here are the links I mention in the episode:
Caremail: https://www.subscribepage.com/comebackcommunityHuberman Lab podcast 20/11/23 A Science-Supported Journaling Protocol to Improve Mental & Physical Health: https://www.hubermanlab.com/episode/a-science-supported-journaling-protocol-to-improve-mental-physical-health
Professor James Pennebaker research: https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/psychology/faculty/pennebak
Emotional and physical health benefits of expressive writing (summary of research findings) by Baikie & Wilhelm (2018) published in Advances of Psychiatric Treatment: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/advances-in-psychiatric-treatment/article/emotional-and-physical-health-benefits-of-expressive-writing/ED2976A61F5DE56B46F07A1CE9EA9F9F
Therapist Uncensored podcast episode 225 with James Pennebaker: https://therapistuncensored.com/episodes/neuroscience-proven-writing-protocol-james-pennebaker-225/
Opening Up by Writing It Down: How Expressive Writing Improves Health and Eases Emotional Pain: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GK5817W/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to HR - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace
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Hello Bright Minds, at the end of 2023 I read about a landmark legal victory for a former Avon Fire and Rescue Service employee, Sasha Acheson, who won her sex discrimination case against the organisation. Reading that piece got me curious about the experiences of female firefighters after they’ve notified their employer that they’re pregnant; what it’s like to have to shift from active frontline duty to something else and what it’s like to return to an environment where you may not have a single colleague near you who understands what you’ve been through.
My guest today is NOT that former employee but a Emma Young, a female firefighter who has a lot to say about what it’s like to be a pregnant woman in the fire service. Emma has a 15 month old daughter and she’s currently pregnant with her second, a pregnancy that she found out about just as she was returning from maternity leave.
You’re going to hear about:
How Emma navigated the lack of maternity policy and the difference a good line manager can make in uncertain circumstances.Lack of knowledge in the fire service around the needs of a person who is put on modified duties.The impact of a disconnect between what organisations say they want to do to be inclusive and what happens in practice.And as ever, my guest’s wobbliest moment as she returned to work, a high point and Emma’s three top tips.
DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to HR - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace
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Hello Bright Minds, my guest coachee today is Sabeha, a first time mother based in London who has returned to work for a Californian tech company. It's a conversation about the tension that exists within us when we want to give more to work and also be present at home - and the specific challenge of working for a US organisation who comes online as your working day is drawing to a close.
How to experience more joy, not just “getting through it” as a working parent.Wanting to work more hours than you’re able to.Discomfort and tension leaving work before you feel ready to, to be with your child(ren)Tensions with our partner about what time we go ‘on duty’ caring for our child(ren)
In this coaching session we explore:
DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to HR - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace
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Hello Bright Minds, my guest today is Yvette Bramley, a woman who describes herself as a full time mum and part time business psychologist. She works with the Quality Team at Lexxic, a specialist psychological consultancy and the focus of her role is ensuring the quality their delivery and reports through training, audits, spot checks and actioning client feedback. She proudly tole me after we’d chatted that was she was always a “weird” kid growing up and hopes she continues being the weird one. She also told me – and I quote:
"Patience does not come naturally to me and I am a control “freak” but it works for my family. However, my daughter has taught me to be more relaxed and spontaneous. I no longer live life focusing on the next qualification or physical achievement. I now live to have fun and experience as much joy daily as possible".
Yvette is my most energetic guest yet and you’re going to hear about:
Why KIT days are a brilliant thing to do when you’re on maternity leave.Getting comfortable with changing your mind about career development activities you simply don’t want to find the time and energy for now you’re a working parent.Recognising how successful you already are and remembering to question self-talk that suggests otherwise.COMEBACK COACH is part of a broader package of support that we call the Comeback Community employee experience. It’s a blend of online resources, coaching, live expert Q&As, career development tools and line manager support that we deliver in organisations such as ITV, Lily’s Kitchen, GAM Investments, Federated Hermes, Veolia and more. Find out more and help us start a conversation with your HR team at www.comebackcommunity.co.uk/introduce.
DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to HR - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace
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This short “JUST JESSICA EPISODE” is about managing rumination, how to keep healthy habits going when you’re consumed by work and the psychology of mindful meditation. It’s inspired by a particular coaching conversation I had one Tuesday a few weeks ago. I put these episodes together myself without the lovely Chris cleaning up bumps in the sound or adding in the swanky intro and outro and I hope you get something from it. If you do I’d love it if you shared it with someone else who you think might like it too.
Click here for "DAILY CHECK-IN" tool you can download and print for your wellbeing.The meditation mantras I mentioned in this episode:
Hummee Hum – The Other is you by Mirabai Cieba (12 mins) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CFI0hslXv8
Ramadasa by Satkirin Kaur Khalsa (12 mins)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrVewRvqNrE
The article I mentioned about meditation and the DMN on the Mindfulness Association’s website: https://www.mindfulnessassociation.net/science-of-mindfulness/meditation-and-the-default-mode-network/
DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to HR - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace
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Hello Bright Minds, this is a very different episode to anything I’ve done before. Brian is a chap whose energy, openness and actions around supporting fathers I’ve admired on LinkedIn for quite some time. Throughout the time Brian and I have been in each others’ orbits he’s worked for Amazon as a Program Manager in Luxembourg, whilst also training to be a coach. In June last year (2023) I spotted a very candid post from Brian about expecting to be made redundant so I got in touch to offer my condolences and to tell him how much I liked reading what he was writing about what he was anticipating and we started swapping voice notes. I do love a voice note!
I asked Brian whether he’d be up for coming on the podcast later in the year when he’d made his comeback and then a thought occurred to me: why don’t we document, through voice notes, what’s happening for Brian on the run up to redundancy and what happens next. I do all of this with you in mind dear listener – I’m constantly thinking about how I can bring you ideas, insights and tips to make your comeback smoother, easier and more enjoyable. I’m also always wanting to bring you the hard stuff that people are going through and the emotions they’re experiencing as a way to give you hope when you’re going through similar struggles.
At the end of the episode you’re also going to hear from Dr Madeline Stevens who is the author of Strategic Redundancy Implementation: Re-Focus, Re-Organise and Re-Build. She knows a lot about how to help people through redundancy.
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DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to HR - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace
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Hello Bright Minds, my guest today is Michaela Thomas, a clinical psychologist I’ve been really looking forward to chatting to because we’ve been batting voice notes back and forth for about a year and then I heard Michaela on a podcast I’ve been lapping up over the last 9 months (Kate Moryousef's ADHD WOMEN'S WELLBEING) that was the galvanising stroke to get Michaela on.
I originally wanted to have a chat with Michaela about how to keep partner/spousal relationships feeling good once you have a baby and go back to work and the pressure ramps up drawing upon her own lived experience as well as her professional insight. She’s the author of a book called The Lasting Connection – which is about developing compassion for yourself and your partner - and has a podcast called Pause Purpose Play. I’ve since learned that Michaela also has a special interest in perfectionism and she has an ADHD brain and is starting to do more work in that area too. Given my recent diagnosis of ADHD and our growing interest in neurodiversity as a coaching team my mind I thought wow, let’s get Michaela on to talk about her return to work and all of these things. So, you have an extra long episode today because there’s so much I wanted to chat to her about.
If you like what you hear from Michaela then you can find her on Instagram @the_thomas_connection and Facebook @TheThomasConnection.
**Michaela is going to be joining me on Tuesday 21st May 2024 12 NOON for a live Q&A on HOW TO LIVE & WORK WELL WITH AN ANXIOUS MIND AND OTHER MENTAL HEALTH CHALLENGES. The Q&A is part of the Comeback Community employee experience programme and once our clients have had first dibs we open spare spots to all absolutely free**.
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DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to HR - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace
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Hello Bright Minds, my guest today is Lianne Baker, Head of People & Culture at Enfuse who had surprise baby number three last year and we caught up at the end of her five month maternity leave. Lianne is an award-winning People professional with over 15 years’ experience working within TV for Endemol, publishing for Condé Nast, recruitment, hospitality and now for Enfuse, a digital transformation management consultancy. Since joining Enfuse Group, she has been focused on culture and engagement, bringing in forward thinking and inclusive policies. Enfuse Group is recognised as a Great Place to Work, Top 5 Best Companies and best new Management Consultancy at the MCA Awards.
Lianne has previously spoken up about the importance of flexible working to enable parents to parent as well as have a career in addition to writing various articles of managing IVF and Fertility treatment alongside work.
You’re going to hear about:
How to have smooth harmonious relationships with family members who care for your children.Wanting to work during maternity leave and how to communicate that to your team.Tips for returning to a new role and/or a new organisation after a period of extended leave.Owning your decisions and tuning into what’s right for you and your family.Knowing your worth and feeling good at work.And as always the wobbliest moment and peak moment of my guest’s return to work experience.
DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to HR - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace
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Hello Bright Minds, my guest today is Ros Kwok, a woman I was introduced to after asking one of the wonderful Partners at our past podcast sponsor, Rayden Solicitors if she had a client who had had to return to work due to a change in financial circumstances following divorce. Thank you Emily Watson for coming up trumps in less than 24 hours! And you’ll also hear from Emily at the end of the episode where we talk through several questions about divorce, spousal maintenance and arbitration.
**LINK TO "MOTHERS WALK" on 8/3/24 for International Women's Day**Ros is originally from Singapore and came to study in the UK. She became a stay at home mum after she had children and when her youngest went to nursery she took a part time job in a nursery and after four years became a freelance photographer. When the divorce happened she was told to get a proper job, was forced to sell all of her photography equipment and then made 50 applications for jobs, and got only one interview. That interview was with John Lewis – I love JLP sooooo much – but even that didn’t work out. Fast forward to today and Ros IS working for John Lewis and she’s worked her way from an entry level role to being a fashion merchandiser and instagmmer for JLP.
Today Ros is thriving and this episode talks about how she got there. I think many employers are recognising just how destabilising any big life can be for their people and divorce is right up there. If you’re going through divorce or it’s on your mind I’m sending you all the love because I know how hellish it can be. I’m a child of divorced parents and I have people around me going through divorce at the moment. To you all I send love and hope, more of which at the end of the episode.
DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to HR - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace
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Hello Bright Minds, my guest today is Andrea Byrne, one of the faces of ITV News and a past coachee of mine. She anchors the BAFTA award-winning daily news programme Wales at Six, as well as ITV’s national bulletins. This includes ITV Weekend News, Lunchtime News, Evening News and News at Ten and Prince Harry is among the many high-profile names she has interviewed.
Andrea also presents the current affairs programme Wales This Week; hosts her own fertility podcast ‘Making Babies’; and is a Tedx speaker. She has recently been nominated for several broadcast awards for her documentary work.
She is an ambassador for ‘The Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme’ and a Non-Executive Director for Hockey Wales. Andrea is married to Wales and Lions legend Lee Byrne. She is passionate about wellbeing and pioneered the introduction of Mental Health First Aiders in ITV’s newsrooms.
Remembering how good you are at your job before you start back.Why it’s a good idea not to expect too much of yourself when you first return to work.It not being selfish or wrong to want to have time to yourself or not liking every moment of parenthood even when your child was very hard ‘won’ as Andrea’s daughter Jemima was.Pitching to be involved in projects and activities that are outside of your role.The time it takes to adjust to working parenthood.And a few random bits about the psychology of perfume and what wearing stretchy clothing does to our minds.We do also talk about baby loss and miscarriage towards the end where Andrea shares something harrowing that happened to her when she was about to do a very significant day of broadcasting.And as always you’ll get to hear the wobbliest moment and peak moment of my guest’s return to work experience as well as her three top tips for returning to work after a break.
Away from the newsroom, she is a keen yogi, a novice stand-up paddle-boarder and a budding novelist!
In this conversation with Andrea you’re going to hear about:
DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to HR - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace
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Hello Bright Minds, and welcome to the start of season six of COMEBACK COACH. I am so pleased to be back sharing stories and coaching sessions about returning to work and onward career development after a break. My guest today is Joanna Jacobs who took a career break straight after maternity leave from Vodafone. Prior to that she was living in Shanghai and working for Sainsburys, sussing out whether China would be a viable market for them and now she’s the HR Director for UK Twinings Commercial. In between Vodafone and Twinings she experimented with a few things including the library assistant role (which wasn’t for her!)
If you are thinking about taking a career break or you’re on one now you are in for an energising treat because this is a conversation that shows it IS possible to have a gratifying and stretching career after a significant career break.
You’re going to hear about:
A useful way to think about your career break when you describe it to recruiters and potential employers.
The power of experimentation and doing dramatically different work to what you used to do.
How to set about finding a new role in the sector you were in before.
Also Jo’s wobbliest moment when she returned to work and her top tips for coming back from a career break.
DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to HR - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace
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Hello Bright Minds and welcome to another JUST JESSICA episode of COMEBACK COACH where I’m reflecting on three things that have been top of mind for me lately that I think could be useful to you too. I’m a coaching psychologist, author and founder of The Talent Keeper Specialists which is home to the Comeback Community employee experience of which this podcast is a part.
A few weeks ago I went away for three days, two night by myself to my favourite hotel in Cornwall. It’s something I booked in September – when they were doing an offer - in anticipation of needing a break from home. None of the girlfriends I asked to go with me could commit and so I decided to book to go solo. And this solo trip brings together three things I wanted to mull over here:
Knowing your needsThe power of a solo trip to develop your intuition How to focus on your career as well as your jobIn this episode I mentioned an article on Psychologytoday.com and our COMEBACK CONVERSATION live Q&A listings.
DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to HR - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace
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Hello Bright Minds, my guest today is Phil Bush, a Credit Control Manager for Euromonitor International in London where he’s worked for 17 years. He responsible for managing a department that collects unpaid debt for the business and minimises financial risk to the company. He lives in Brighton with his partner Jo and their 15 month old daughter Sadie. He’s a runner who has been very keen to do the London marathon and finally this year got to do it after applying and being unsuccessful for the previous 8 years. He’s also a community-minded man who volunteers for the charity Fairshare.
Why he took a sabbatical not Shared Parental Leave.How he supported his partner's return to work (to a new job).The difference having a supportive partner makes to a woman's return from maternity leave.Coping with hospitalised baby.What a 'supportive' employer looked like for Phil.Volunteering whilst on sabbatical.Feeling strange separating from family to go back to work after intense months together.Finding a new normal as a family.Deciding to have counselling to deal with the shock of an ill child.
We talk about:
DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to HR - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace
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Hello Bright Minds, my guest today is Gemma Hill, a Heart FM radio presenter whose maternity leave was covered by non other than the formidable Anna Whitehouse AKA Mother Pukka but even still she says, maternity leave was still pretty terrifying.
Not being instantly delighted that you're pregnant3am worries about going on maternity leaveHaving a bl**dy brilliant maternity leave coverMiscarriageHow staying in touch with work can reduce anxiety about going back
We talk about:Gemma started on air age 20 on stations around the Midlands and the North, before hanging up her headphones to pursue what she calls “a real job.” She was a national sales manager for a construction company for 6 years living in London with a stable job, a pension, maternity pay, but binned it off to chase the dream again when she was offered a job in Birmingham on the Free radio Breakfast show (for which she did her demo in Pat Sharp’s towel cupboard.) After a couple of years she made her move to Heart, where she did the breakfast show across the west midlands for 3 years before moving to Drive. That’s where she is today and where she was when she found she was having a (surprise) of a lock down baby.
DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to HR - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace
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My guest today is Andy Lancaster who took three months leave for planned eye and shoulder surgery from a job he loves at CIPD Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. We count CIPD among our clients and love working with them.
Andy champions and leads the vision for innovative workplace learning and has been at the heart of CIPD's transformation to digital and self-directed learning, with its professional development opportunities now accessed in over 180 countries.
He has more than 30 years’ experience in learning and organizational development in a range of sectors and has a research Masters' degree in instructional design. He regularly speaks at conferences, writes, and contributes to research in evidence-based learning. His award-winning book “Driving Performance Through Learning” is published by Kogan Page and he is currently working on a new book on social collaborative learning called: “Organizational Learning Communities” which is due out in 2024.In this episode:
How to prepare for leave as a leader of a big team.Why being vulnerable is good for us and the people we lead.Coping with brain fog and pain management.Three aspects of returning to work: the physical, the mental and the social.The unexpected good that can come out of sick leave.Why we shouldn’t rush to pick up exactly the same job we had before we went on leave.The difference between being resilient and being a hero (and why none of us should be heros).
DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to HR - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace
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Hello Bright Minds, my guest today is Kerry Hickman, a past coachee of ours at Ramboll. Since qualifying as an Accountant at 21, she’s had a very broad commercial career in Accountancy, Audit and Financial Management before landing in roles that manage Sales & Customer Insight. She’s travelled across sectors including consultancy, media, FMCG, currency and public sector, and worked both in the UK and internationally.
Being made redundant when you've just come back from maternity leave.Working with a career coach - why, what, how?Using LinkedIn to find openings. opportunities, learn and expand your network.How to set about landing a quality PT role.
We talk about:
Live Q&A tickets mentioned in the episode for 31/10/23: HOW TO HOLD YOUR BOUNDARIES AND WHAT IS A GOOD ENOUGH PARENT?
DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to HR - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace
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Hello Bright Minds, today you’re going to eavesdrop on a one-time coaching conversation with "Zara" (not her real name) and get some expert tips on making a career change from Natasha Stanley at Careershifters. I said I'd include a link to the 8 week Career Change Launchpad experience that I talked about with Natasha that 3000 people have been through over the last 10 years.
My guest coachee today used to be a diplomat and we’re talking at a point when Zara has applied for roles that she’s overqualified for and although she’s been invited to interview she hasn’t secured the job. After her last interview she was told they were not convinced she would settle and were concerned that she would leave because of the nature of the work and the income.
2:32 Coaching conversation with Zara.
EPISODE MARKERS
38:50 How to make a career change with Natasha Stanley, Head Coach & experience designer at Careershifters.org.
51:51 Three summarising tips for making a career change.
54:04 Tips for people who have been on a career break and want to change careers.
56:28 Zara's update one month on from our coaching session.
DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to HR - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace
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Hello Bright Minds, my guest today is Cecily Motley, an accomplished entrepreneur with a proven track record of growing companies and brand building in competitive markets. She is the founder of JustParent, a new company working to close the gender pay gap by helping small companies offer more paid parental leave.
Previously, Cecily co-founded Motley London, a VC backed, direct-to-consumer brand making world class design affordable. Whilst she was there she was both the pregnant employee and the CEO trying to put good parental leave provision in place. Which led her to her next venture. She lives in London with her husband and two year old son.
You’re going to hear about:
Putting yourself under stress at work before you give birthWorrying about what people will think of your commitment as you become a parentWhat it’s like to be a venture capital backed entrepreneurWhy it’s good to define your leave period and stick to it Not finding your tribe on maternity leaveThe positive power of a partner who takes shared parental leaveWhat Cecily hopes her new venture, JustParent, will do for the take-up of Shared Parental Leave among men who work in SMEsAnd as always the wobbliest moment and peak moment of my guest’s return to work experience.REFERENCES FLAGGED IN THE EPISODE
If employers really want to increase the uptake of men taking Shared Parental Leave, here’s how: https://www.talentkeepers.co.uk/employers-fathers-taking-spl/The single best thing you can do for mothers in your organisation right now: https://www.talentkeepers.co.uk/the-single-best-thing-you-can-do-for-mothers-in-your-organisation-right-now/ What do business leaders think about SPL: https://www.talentkeepers.co.uk/business-leaders-shared-parental-leave/Expectant fathers at work: https://www.talentkeepers.co.uk/breakingthebias-iwd2022/
DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to HR - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace
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Hello Bright Minds, my guest today is an HR leader who recently returned to a new job in a new organisation after being bereaved. Having met at university Helen Rowell and her husband Mike married in 2015 and went on to have a son together, Alfie, who at the time of recording is five.
In March 2022 Mike was killed in a skiing accident, leaving Helen to raise Alfie alone. One of the many decisions she needed to make was how to approach her career. Up until that point she had worked full time for a global bank, progressing to Director level at the age of 33. After a period of leave Helen has now returned to work having made some radical changes.You’re going to hear about:
Choosing the attitude that’s going to help you the most.Remembering who you were before the bereavement.How employers can support bereaved colleagues including the importance of a bereavement policy.Signs you’re ready to start thinking about returning to work.Deciding to start a new job, in a new organisation.The difference a brilliant line manager makes to your self esteem.The joy and purpose Helen found in setting up a charity, Brightest Star and why she started The Widowhood podcast with Rosie, another young widow.
DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to HR - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace
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