Returning to Work: All your questions answered

We know how challenging returning to work can be whether it’s a short break for sickness or maternity leave or a longer break to raise a family.

The 4th and final webinar in our February returner series, is a live open session where you got to ask the experts all your questions about returning to work.

We were lucky enough to be joined by Jo Lawrence, Coach and Founder of The Mum Mentor so we've got all bases covered!

Watch our webinar ‘Returning to Work: All your questions answered’, with our expert guest, Jo Lawrence and Ten2Two’s Jo Gregory linked below.

Transcript

Jo Gregory (Ten2Two) (00:54):

So, welcome everybody. Thank you so much for giving us your time this evening. Hopefully most of you know that this is part four of our returners series that we've been holding in February. That's right. We've done four webinars in February. It's been a lot.

Jo Gregory (Ten2Two) (01:51):

I'm really pleased about the feedback that we've had for the first three. Just to recap, we had, Get in the Right Mindset for your Job Search, so reconnecting with your professional self. We had The Practicals of Returning to Work and we also had a session specifically on returning to work, but shifting your career. All of them seem to be very well received. We will be sending out links to all of the recordings probably next week for any of you who missed any of those. But the great thing about tonight, hopefully, is that we are going to be answering all your questions across those topics and anything else that you feel you may need to ask about returning to work. So just to, to introduce myself and my lovely guest, my name is Jo. I’m one of the directors at Ten2Two.

Jo Gregory (Ten2Two) (02:44):

I've been with the company for eight years now. Ten2Two are a specialist recruitment company. We specialize in part-time and flexible work. And because of that specialism, we tend to support a number of people coming back into the workforce after a break of some sort. That might have been to raise a family, it might have been to care for a loved one. It's normally something that has had a significant impact on their life and means that they want to return to the workplace in a different working pattern, be that part-time, flexible or otherwise. And that has led us to really want to focus on supporting people returning to the workplace because we do see that people struggle, with a number of different areas. So hopefully the last three webinars have been useful and today will be as well. Now this evening I'm lucky enough to be joined by Jo Lawrence, who is the Mum Mentor.

Jo Gregory (Ten2Two) (03:39):

Jo has got a very unique way of supporting mums specifically, but everybody returning to the workplace, and she'll be able to tell you a lot more about that later. She is a complete font of knowledge and information and guidance when it comes to returners. And is going to be chatting through some of your questions with me this evening. Now we've not done a live Q&A before, so you're going to have to bear with us a little bit. But our idea for the format is that we have a private Q&A box rather than a chat box. so you can feel free to ask your questions in the Q&A box. I will be monitoring that, and I will be sharing questions that we feel we can add some value to, live with Jo. And we'll be addressing those questions for you.

Jo Gregory (Ten2Two) (04:28):

We only have a limited amount of time. If we don't get to your question, then we will try and follow up with you either directly or as part of the Q&A document that will come out to you hopefully tomorrow. If you have a particularly personal question or one that needs to go into a little bit more depth, then we will share contact details at the end, for both myself and Jo. And we will try and come back to you on an individual basis. So please do feel free to type away in that Q&A box. As I said, it is private only myself and Jo can see it, the other guests on the webinar can't. So you can disclose as much or as little information as you want to. There's no such thing as a silly question. If it is silly we might just not answer it. but hopefully we will be able to provide you with some really useful insight. So I'm going to stop sharing this slide because I can't actually see the Q&A box with it up, so bear with me.

Jo Gregory (Ten2Two) (05:30):

So we've got a question through already. Fantastic. And it's a nice juicy one to get into. So Jo, I don’t know if you want to take a minute before we start just to introduce yourself and then we'll move on to answering question number one.

Jo Lawrence (The Mum Mentor) (05:46):

Thanks, Jo. I shall, excuse me, I am, I've got a very tickly throat, so I've just got a bit of a, a lozenge going on there, so that I'm not coughing and spluttering everywhere, so I do apologize about that. If I do have a bit of a coughing fit, I'll put myself on mute. One of the, I say benefits, but, having young children, I've got three kids, a 6-year-old and 4-year-old twins. And as you know, the germs are rife with that age group <laugh>, so it's just been constant coughs and colds. So, but yes, hello everyone. I'm Jo. and I help mostly mums return to work in a role that lights them up, that’s meaningful and that fits around their, their work life, family balance, whether that is full-time, because some mums do want to return full-time after a career break. But I do specialize in helping mums find that that flexible work life blend, that's going to suit them. So, and I'm delighted to be here tonight to help you with any career conundrums you are currently facing.

Jo Gregory (Ten2Two) (07:10):

Conundrums, I can't even say it, career conundrums. There we go. Yes. Our digital person's going to be very excited about that little faux pas. He'll try and edit that out for us. Excellent stuff. Thank you so much Jo. So the big question that has been posed to us already, ‘I'm struggling to remember the past work me, how can I connect with my old self?’ Now this is a question we tend to hear quite a lot, and I don’t know about you Jo, but I think that there are a lot of different things that we can suggest here for this individual and for everybody else listening. Do you want to start by answering from your side?

Jo Lawrence (The Mum Mentor) (07:50):

Yes, this is a common fear, hesitation and, you know, it is difficult to remember the pre-child you. Often career break mums, their sole focus was career, before kids. and they feel like they may drown in that environment now. So my main tip here is to start dipping your toe back into things like networking and just reaching out to past connections. So, people you used to work with and whether that's you've still got their work email and you want to organize a bit of a coffee chat or if you are on LinkedIn, which I really recommend that you are, that you can start to make those connection requests with people who were in your field, even people you may have worked with 10, 15 years ago or who were on your university course and, and just put yourself out there without feeling too, too vulnerable. You know, we're not saying go launch into, some virtual networking meetings where you've got to show up with your face, but just sort of refreshing your LinkedIn profile that's going to help you start to feel like you are getting back on career track. I don’t know how what you say about that, Jo.

Jo Gregory (Ten2Two) (09:35):

Absolutely. No, I would, I would agree. I think, reaching out and connecting is a really good way of being reminded from external sources, you know, who you were when you were at the workplace. Just going out for a coffee with people who you used to work with or jumping onto a, a remote conversation. Other things that we find help, can be really, really practical drivers as well. So sitting down and writing your CV, nobody enjoys doing it. I'm not expecting you to relish the idea. but it can be a really great opportunity to reflect back on your career and remember the things that you did, especially the things that you did well, or projects that went particularly well that you were involved in, because those are obviously the ones that you are going to want to highlight on your CV.

Jo Gregory (Ten2Two) (10:23):

So you are killing two birds with one stone in getting your CV up to date and also being able to delve back into that past. So we would always encourage seeing returning to work or any job search, encourage you to see it as a project. So allow time for it, set time aside. Know that this isn't something that you're necessarily going to be able to do, you know, whilst running around with your kids while they're at the park or, you know, caring for your partner or whatever it is that you've been doing in your career break. You need to carve out time for this project and for yourself, to be able to get back into the workplace successfully. Other things that you might want to do are reach out to wider professional networks. So if you've been out of touch with your particular discipline for a while, maybe there have been updates.

Jo Gregory (Ten2Two) (11:18):

So a good example would be human resources. Maybe there have been updates in legislation that you can read up on, maybe that there have been changes in whatever's, you know, kind of, kind of trendy in HR. You know, there's always different ways in which things are done or research into people management and just starting to read journals, get back into the sector or the discipline that you were previously in, or indeed if you want to change your discipline, researching that new discipline can bring back that professional self. You know, without sounding cheesy, it's, it's like riding a bike. You do just have to sort of launch yourself back into it and it will start flooding back.

Jo Lawrence (The Mum Mentor) (12:05):

Yes. If I can add there Jo as well. It's quite common, especially for mothers to have that sort of, that identity shift of, you know, actually who, who am I now? So doing a bit of work on your beliefs, you know, what matters most to you in life at the moment and the career coach talk, is values. So working out what your career values are, and by that I mean, when you go to work, or you sit down at home and, and start working from home, what, what is it that's going to, make you feel fulfilled and that you've, you, you've got, you've got a purpose again that, you know, you're not just mum anymore. So things like, you know, is this creativity, that you highly value creativity in, in not even just career, but it in your life. Now, what hobbies do you do that light you up? And think about the skills and qualities that you, that you use whilst you are, you are, you're doing those hobbies that you enjoy. And then try and think about those in a, in a work setting, so that you can sort of not force yourself to remember your pre-children self because you are a different person. So, making peace really with the fact that you are, you've got a different identity.

Jo Gregory (Ten2Two) (14:03):

Absolutely, absolutely agree. I mean, we have so many candidates come to us saying that they've had a career break and they're now looking for something completely new and completely different from what they did before, because what they did before no longer aligns with their values, because of this seismic shift that they've had in their life. You know, be that having kids or whatever it is that's led them to their career break. So yeah, taking some time to connect with those values and, and move forward possibly in a new direction can be a way of connecting with your professional self, but maybe your new professional self rather than relying on going back to the old version of you. We’re getting loads more questions, so I'm going to move on to another one. Again, my apologies if there are ones that we don't get to, but we will try and address all of the questions that we can.

Jo Gregory (Ten2Two) (15:00):

Now there's quite a lot of questions coming through <laugh>, saying that they're back at work already and they're getting home and they are completely burnt out, unfortunately, although I would love to be able to give you advice on your wider kind of lifestyle, that's really not what tonight is about. Tonight is more about supporting you in your journey back into the workplace. So I could rattle off some sort of life coaching advice to you, but I could do with that sort of advice myself to be quite honest. And I'm sure that Jo is the same, you know, the juggle of life is something that, you know, we're, we are not necessarily here to talk through, in any great detail. if you do have questions around getting back into the workplace and ways in which we can support you, then we'd be more than happy to ask answer those. One of those questions that's come through.

Jo Gregory (Ten2Two) (15:57):

‘How do I prepare for psychometrics?’ So just to put some context around this, psychometric testing for those who don't know is an additional method that some employers use, which is normally posed in some multiple choice questions that can be sent to you via a link, or you can fill out on a piece of paper even. and those answers will provide an insight into a number of things about the candidate. So it could be the candidate's core kind of communication styles, it could be linked to their values, it could be how they respond in certain situations, different psychometric assessments will assess different areas. These are becoming more and more popular, and they can make people a little bit nervous. So Jo, I don’t know if you want to take this one on. Do you have thoughts on how people can prepare for psychometric assessments?

Jo Lawrence (The Mum Mentor) (16:58):

Yes. There's lots of free assessments online, whether they're your personality or work style, strengths, and sort of question multiple choice questionnaires that will help you, like, give you an idea of, like their situational, like what would you do in this situation? And then from your answer, it then will generate your strengths, for example. So, I do have, I've got a blog on the best free online self-assessments to work through, to give you a bit of an idea of that increased self-awareness. And I think just going through just doing those tests is quite sort of cathartic and doing them in a non-stressful, environment first before having to do one under the pressure of possibly, you know, the outcome is whether you are going to get through to the next round of interview. So I can, I can put you in the direction of, of that blog that there's about four recommended, tests, that you can do for free online, obviously. Excellent stuff. Yeah,

Jo Gregory (Ten2Two) (18:35):

We can definitely share the links to Jo's blog in our follow up tomorrow. I mean, from Ten2Two's point of view, I think, yes, I think practicing psychometrics that are available to you online is a good idea. Most of these psychometric tests are very, very clever. You know, they're written by psychologists. They, they ultimately get to the nub of who you are. So I would say just try and be calm and answer as honestly as possible when you're going through the psychometric assessment. Employers don't tend to use them as a finite decision-making tool. They're normally something that accompany their decision making and support their wider insight as to you as a candidate. So it's not like it's right or wrong, it's just another tool that they can use to get a better understanding of you, who you are and how you would fit eventually if you were to be successful in securing the role with their wider team.

Jo Gregory (Ten2Two) (19:35):

So please don't worry too much about them. They're not there to trip you up. A lot of people might think that they're there to try and make you make a mistake or to kind of put you into a box, but they are genuinely there to give employers a slightly greater level of insight, into you and your character, and the way in which you communicate and fit into a wider team. Another question that's come through, to do with the specific job search is ‘struggling to apply for jobs once reading the job description’. And the person who asked this, you can correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm making the assumption that this is the, the person spec that you're reading, the list of requirements that they have against the role, and being a bit daunted by that list.

Jo Gregory (Ten2Two) (20:23):

Maybe, maybe you meet five out of 10, or maybe you meet seven out of 10 of those lists of requirements and, and that's stopping you from wanting to hit apply. This is again, really, really common. We often, have long conversations with clients about the very long list of requirements that they have on their person spec, and encouraging them to really be a little bit more specific or a little bit more, particular about the key ones for them rather than listing 20 different things that they're expecting a candidate to be able to provide. We would always say that you need to apply for things that you feel confident in being able to achieve, but also the person spec is the ideal candidate, and the chances of an employer finding an ideal candidate who hits every single point on their person spec is very, very unlikely. So if it is a role that you feel confident in, in terms of the content and your experience, I would throw your hat in the ring. You know, there is absolutely no harm in going forward for it and not letting that person spec put you off of making the application. Jo, what are your thoughts?

Jo Gregory (Ten2Two) (21:45):

Oh, you're still on mute, Jo <laugh>.

Jo Lawrence (The Mum Mentor) (21:48):

Sorry, I muted myself because I'm having a bit of a cough, a coughing fit. it's so easy to go down a bit of, a rabbit hole with, with looking at job adverts, I think because if you are looking at them, I always say, you know, don't look at job adverts or job descriptions blind, as in, oh, I think I might fancy doing that job as if I want to change careers. and then you have a look at the job spec and the descriptions, and you go through and you're like, oh my gosh, what is that? No, no, no, no, I can't do that. What's this? What? And then you're sort of, you're talking yourself out of it whilst you are looking. So I sort of reverse engineer it. Yes, it's useful to do some job description research,

Jo Lawrence (The Mum Mentor) (22:49):

If I prefer to start the other way round. So if you can work out, a sort of a research checklist of what exactly you are looking for in terms of yourself, your I call it your career personality and, um,

Jo Lawrence (The Mum Mentor) (23:16):

So your career personality is made up of your, your values. So what matters most, your strengths, you know, what gives you joy, what your unique selling points are, what you are the go-to person for, your non-negotiables. So when I look at a job, it's got to offer me this opportunity, that opportunity or, you know, you know, the practicalities of, you know, the geographical place it is. And then once you've got that clear in your head, you, when you go to look at job descriptions, you've got your bit of a checklist with you so that you can look at the description and then refer back to, does this meet my needs? So that you are, you are not trying to convince yourself that you could do that. The first thing is, is this job going to offer me what I think I want and then go to trying to fit yourself into the job first. See if the job fits you. Then if it doesn't, you don't need to apply for it.

Jo Gregory (Ten2Two) (24:39):

I think that's a brilliant way of looking at it - really turning the tables on, on how you approach it, and it's a really empowering way of stepping into your job search. And again, it's something that we would always encourage people to do is to really spend some time, although it seems counterintuitive, actually narrowing down the roles that you want to apply for rather than scatter gunning, and making sure that exactly as you just said, Jo, that they fit you rather than trying to make you fit them. I think that that's wonderful advice. We've got lots of chat going on in the Q&A, so my sincere apologies that I haven't been able to come back to all of you. We’ve got some people who have had quite considerable career breaks, and one person who's saying that they're considering doing a course, in order to help them get back into work.

Jo Gregory (Ten2Two) (25:34):

You haven't specified, but I think that you mean a professional course in the discipline that you want to, to either reenter or, or enter, rather than a course about getting back into work. In our experience, is it worth it or is it just best to get back in the workplace and start earning a, a big question there and it can have lots of, if buts and is an obviously personal circumstance comes into things, I would say, as I'm sure a lot of you know, it is a very difficult market at the moment. and candidates stepping into fields that require certain qualifications. So finance, HR, and so on, not require but benefit from certain qualifications. if you are able to afford it financially, if you're able to afford it, in time commitment, then getting those qualifications and undertaking those courses is always going to be worth it in the long run.

Jo Gregory (Ten2Two) (26:33):

However, that is caveated with, ‘if you can afford it financially and timewise’, we understand that, you know, you took a career break for a reason. That reason may be ongoing. You may not be able to launch yourself into something as full on as a course. The other way you could look at it is to reenter the workforce and then speak to your future employer about their support in securing a course. There's lots of employers who will offer a loan or a full payment of a course if they're comfortable investing in an employee to that degree. They may also give you time off to complete the course, or an opportunity to take unpaid leave. So there are other ways of looking at finding the time and the money to be able to undertake the course. And again, as Jo said, it might be something that you even weave into what it is that you are expecting from your next role. Many employers will advertise that they are open to sponsorship of courses, in the job ad. So maybe that's something that you see as non-negotiable, and you make the decision as to whether you're applying for role based on whether the employer would support you. Do you have any further thoughts around that, Jo?

Jo Lawrence (The Mum Mentor) (28:02):

yeah, it's, it's a tricky one because I sometimes when you are thinking about doing a qualification or a refresher or a course, sometimes it's that little bit of self-doubt just tapping you on the shoulder and saying, ‘you haven't done this for a while’, or ‘there's going to be other people more qualified than me’. So, it's probably a good thing to, to do so that I don't feel as, you know, that I'm not lacking in confidence when I apply. So I think if you are looking at a course, you've got to be strategic about it. What is your long-term aim? and that's difficult to know, isn't it, when you first start, start looking. But if you're going to invest in yourself, I'd say you're going to need to do a bit of work on yourself first to find out what it is that you really want to do. And that's going to be within your remits and your ability to achieve your goals before just taking a punt on, ‘ I'm going to do that course 'cause it sounds good’. Again, it's sort of stepping back and trying not to panic and think, oh, I better do this course. because then if I put it on my CV and I apply for something that's in that field, I'm definitely going to get an interview.

Jo Gregory (Ten2Two) (29:47):

Thank you. we've had a couple of questions around the - this is something I get very passionate about, so you'll have to excuse me if I rant slightly - around the negative connotations of part-time, within the workplace, and how to address those, avoid those, deal with those. So it, it <laugh> being that we are part-time specialists, it’s an area that we, are very, very passionate about. and the clients that we work with come to us specifically because they see the value and the benefit in part-time employees. Often I understand you can negotiate into part-time. You can be given part-time as, the follow-up of a request for flexible working. And it might not necessarily be the company culture to embrace part-time, as something beneficial. However, there are a few things that you can pull out of your toolbox to make sure that you are demonstrating just how valuable part-time could be.

Jo Gregory (Ten2Two) (30:59):

First of all, not referring to your time away from the office as your day off. You know, the fact is it's not a day off, it's not annual leave. You are doing what you are contracted to and paid for by being in the office for your part-time hours. The fact that your colleagues are in there more, or are in there different, is completely inconsequential to you and your job. You know, as long as you are meeting your parameters within the time that you are engaged for, none of the rest of it should matter. That’s all well and good I understand if you're working solid days, if you are working a, a 10 to two pattern for example, or maybe you're finishing at three o'clock to go and do the school run, sometimes it can be more visible that you are getting up and leaving at an earlier time than your colleagues.

Jo Gregory (Ten2Two) (31:52):

and that can sometimes result in comments or a felt negativity. Again, I wouldn't feel apologetic for this. I think almost the worst thing that you can do is to be outwardly apologetic. You are not doing anything wrong. You have engaged under these terms. You know, you are paid for the hours that you are there for. Hopefully the business that you work for, your employer, are supportive of those terms rather than anything else. But if you do find that colleagues are being less supportive, then again, just making sure that you are diligent in the time that you are at work. And obviously if it gets to a point where it's uncomfortable escalating it to somebody who can support, whether that's a HR department or your line manager because it's really not acceptable for anyone to be made to feel uncomfortable because of the terms under which they're engaged. Jo, I don’t know if you've got anything else to add to that.

Jo Lawrence (The Mum Mentor) (32:52):

Definitely in the context of, mums returning to work after maternity leave, for example. This is a common worry and fear that moms returning, they're not going to be seen as committed as they were before having kids, for example. And what I say here is exactly what you said, to refer to your, when you are not in work as your non-working days. Yeah, so, oh yes, ‘I'm, sorry, I can't do that meeting on Friday 'cause it's my non-working day’, or ‘I'm unavailable on Mondays, as I'm not contracted to work then’ so that you don't have to go into, ‘oh, it's my day off’ or that type of thing. The other tip there is, it's setting your boundaries, and, really owning your boundaries. So, small things that can sort of increase your confidence there within in the office.

Jo Lawrence (The Mum Mentor) (34:07):

or if you are in a bigger organization, you know, on your email footer, ‘my working days are this, that and, and what have you’. And you can even put your, you know, the times that you are working, and you know, just to, just having that, being confident enough to have that dialogue with colleagues about, you know, your caring responsibilities. And, yes, okay, I'm leaving now at three o'clock to go and do this. so and what doing with your evening today? You know, when you go at five, half five or what have you, and try and sort of make a bit of light of it there. I

Jo Gregory (Ten2Two) (34:57):

Think that's, that's great advice. you know, not, not taking it too seriously and, and trying to have a play with it is, is really brilliant advice. As is the, the sign off. I always keep thinking I need to add my working times to my email sign off and I never do. but many of my colleagues, and many of the candidates that we place when we follow up with them, they do have lovely little tags saying when they're working hours are, and it's just brilliant because it's so clear. There's no apology for it, it's just a matter of fact, and out there for the world to see. So thank you for that. A nice practical question here for you. Where should I look for work? How daunting is it in today's world, the different avenues that there are to actually look for a job and, you know, the number of different portals and websites and job boards.

Jo Gregory (Ten2Two) (35:52):

So you will be glad to know that if you, either search for or wait until we reshare the link for the practicals of job searching, we could have an entire slide dedicated to where to look, and how to really structure your search, from a very practical point of view so that you don't get completely overwhelmed, and lose track of what you've applied for. Just to take you through some basics, there's a number of routes, that you can take to find a role. I think that Jo's advice of really pinning down what it is you are looking for before you dive into this is a really, really good idea because it can be overwhelming and you can be quite tempted to scattergun and just apply for lots and lots of roles. Although that feels like you what you should do, and although, you know, people say it's a numbers game, actually, it can be quite disheartening because if you spend your time applying for many, many roles, you'll lose track of what you've applied for.

Jo Gregory (Ten2Two) (36:57):

You might make a fool of yourself if somebody phones you and starts talking to you about a job that you don't remember applying for. and you are often disempowering yourself because you are just putting yourself out there for anything and everything, rather than you really being in the driving seat of what it is that you want to do next. So once you've done that, once you've got a clear idea in your head of what it is that you want to do, there's a number of different ways that you can address the market. Obviously I'm going to start with coming to an agency such as Ten2Two. Genuinely we love supporting candidates. We've all been there. We’ve all made a return to the workplace, often under very different terms. In fact, I don't think any of us now were historically recruiters, not agency recruiters anyway.

Jo Gregory (Ten2Two) (37:46):

So we've all had a bit of a career shift as well when coming back to the workplace. So we do love hearing your stories. We love being able to support you on your journey. And we do spend a lot of time working with our clients, making sure that the roles are genuinely part-time, making sure that they're genuinely going to, genuinely going to work within the business, under the parameters that they're advertising. So agencies are one route and you will get that middleman, in the agency experience and that can be really helpful when it comes to negotiations or uncomfortable conversations with your potential employer. It can also give you a good idea about things to do with the job and the employer that you might not be able to pick up on from a job spec or an advert alone. So agencies can be incredibly useful tools in your job search.

Jo Gregory (Ten2Two) (38:36):

You might also want to use job boards, places where jobs are advertised, so local newspapers, if there even is such a thing still, or local Facebook groups often advertise roles. What I would suggest, if you're going to go down the slightly wider route of applying through different online avenues is to keep a log of what you've applied for, who you've applied via, and any further communication that you've had. Just so you've got a nice easy place to refer back to. This can be in a nice, job search notebook that you buy yourself. I'm a big fan of Paperchase. I think that everybody should have a pretty notebook on their desk. or for those of you who love an Excel spreadsheet, make it into an Excel spreadsheet, however you want to manage your project. but it's definitely worthwhile trying to keep a track of the applications that you've made.

Jo Gregory (Ten2Two) (39:30):

Other ways of applying include LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a great way to apply for jobs because obviously you've got the employer page that you can refer to find out about the employer. You can surf around who's already working there, you can find out a lot more about their culture, so on and so forth. Direct with an employer, if there is somebody specific who you would really like to work for, they advertise their jobs on their website. Now that you need to be quite laser focused about and need to know exactly who you're applying to. But again, it's a brilliant way of really getting the jobs that you want next if you know exactly who it is you want to work for. If it's a particular discipline, then that discipline may have a governing body or a journal that is produced and that may be a very good source of job adverts.

Jo Gregory (Ten2Two) (40:27):

and one of my actual favourite ways of job searching, especially for people who happen to have caring responsibilities, is utilizing your personal network. You know, let it be known through the school gates or through the nursery pickup that you are looking for work. Don't be shy about it. You never know who might also be looking for work or who might work somewhere that has a vacancy or who owns a business and they're looking for somebody to come on board. You know, you shouldn't be shy about it. You shouldn't feel embarrassed about talking about it. There are so many anecdotal stories I could tell you of people who have been registered with us and then, have phoned us and told us that they've got a job through somebody who they met at the school gate because their neighbour was recruiting or it, it's just a wonderful, wonderful source of being able to secure a role. And often these people will know you on a social basis so they will know the genuine you, and will be able to support you out of the goodness of their heart or the real benefit to the organization that they're recommending. I don’t know if you've got anything else to add to that, Jo.

Jo Lawrence (The Mum Mentor) (41:41):

No, that is very thorough. No <laugh> completely, completely agree with, with, with all of those. Yeah.

Jo Gregory (Ten2Two) (41:47):

Wonderful stuff. Well, somehow we've got through 42 minutes of chatter, and I am again, sorry that we haven't addressed a large number of the questions, that have come through. But just to close for this evening, I want to thank everybody for joining us, for throwing your questions into the pot. I'm just scrolling through them now and I will be busily typing away with responses to all of you tomorrow. As I said, either individually or through the Q&A document that we put together. I'd like to thank Jo Lawrence so, so very much for joining me this evening. Your guidance and advice has been absolutely priceless. I really do hope that our listeners this evening have taken something away. Now Jo's business, the Mum Mentor, offers a really wonderful, and easily accessible return to work course. And for those of you who've joined this evening, she has a very special offer, which I'm going to bring up on screen for you in a second and hand over to Jo to tell you all about. So bear with me while I just quickly find it for you.

Jo Gregory (Ten2Two) (43:00):

Jo, do you want to tell them all about you.

Jo Lawrence (The Mum Mentor) (43:02):

So

Jo Gregory (Ten2Two) (43:02):

Course and your offer?

Jo Lawrence (The Mum Mentor) (43:04):

Yes, I have a six module online course that has videos and PDF workbooks for you to work through at your own pace. I would really like to, sorry, sorry, that just disappeared, has it come back again. I'm

Jo Gregory (Ten2Two) (43:27):

Sorry. Yeah, and the presentation has failed people. I'm so sorry.

Jo Lawrence (The Mum Mentor) (43:31):

It's fine. and, if you would this, so this return to work course is to help you make your own impactful career comeback on your own terms. It's not a course about how to find a job and, you know, the practicalities, it's more so working out the ‘who am I now’, ‘what do I want’ and ‘how am I going to get there’? So there's some personal development activities in there so that you can, get your non-negotiables together and, and get your work life wishes, I call it your career compass. Really get your career compass, you’re focused. and then there are some practicalities of, how to, you know, write your CV and updating your LinkedIn profile. So there's some worksheets and tips on, on that. And I do offer the first module of that online course as a bit of a freebie.

Jo Lawrence (The Mum Mentor) (44:43):

it's always good to have a bit of a try before you buy. So module one of the career comeback course is all about what matters most to you now and it focuses on what your values are, what are your work life mum values. So yes, this is focused around, like career break mums. so the language in there is very focused around mums. It's not saying that, you know, it doesn't have to be like you are a mom of, you know, children who are like five years old. If you are a mom of children and who are, you know, teenagers, what have you, it it's still going to be, it's still going to be relevant to you. So, as you are wonderful Ten2Two followers, I would love to offer you a discount on that course if you were to take it up after having a look at module one. and there's a code there for you. So you've got a week or so to, you know, sign up to the free module, work through it and then if you think it's right for you, by all means, reach out to me with any questions you have or if you would like to discuss the, you know, the, the cur the course further. My email will be on the next slide. I think Jo.,

Jo Gregory (Ten2Two) (46:11):

Wonderful stuff. There she is, Jo at the mummentor.com. Just so that you know, all of this information will be sent out to you on an email tomorrow, so don't worry about scurrying around and, and grabbing a pen now. It will all come out to you via email tomorrow. Thank you so much for offering that really generous discount to our attendees this evening. The course material is so, so valuable. It is so useful, you can do it at your own pace. It’s a really, really unique way of, accessing some really valuable coaching. So thank you for that. I'm not going to keep you for too much longer. I know that people have got busy evenings to go and attend to. I've got a lovely cup of tea that I can hear being made in the background, so I'm quite excited about that.

Jo Gregory (Ten2Two) (47:01):

Thank you ever so much again for joining. If you do have the time to leave a quick review for us, then that would be wonderful. You can do that on our Google or on our Facebook or indeed you can pop it across to us on an email. If you've got any follow up questions, my contact details are there as well. And they will also be on the follow up email tomorrow. We are genuinely here to help. As I said, most of us with Ten2Two have been through this journey ourselves. We know it's not easy. and we would love to be able to support you guys in getting back into some meaningful work. So without further ado, I'll say goodnight. Thanks Jo.

Jo Lawrence (The Mum Mentor) (47:44):

Goodnight everyone. Thanks for having me. Bye-Bye.