Career-Mums

Attention working mummas!

Are you currently in employment, self-employed or on a career break living around the High Wycombe & Henley-on-Thames area?

Volunteers from Ella’s Kitchen have been trained to be mentors. This means they know how to create a safe, confidential space to build a mentoring relationship, ask great questions, listen well (without judgement) and offer support and advice.

They don’t have all the answers; they’re not the perfect working mum (she doesn’t exist!) but they have a desire to support and help others, lending a hand to other mums in this community mentoring programme.

What to expect:

Through working with your mentor, you will have a confidante who can help you overcome any barriers or obstacles that may be stopping or getting in the way of you thriving in life as a working parent. Mentoring skills include getting to know you and exploring options that may be available to you in your current situation. By having regular sessions over a 6-month period, your mentor can support you on your journey. Mentoring relationships can be special and have a lasting impact on your life.

Find out more here… https://career-mums.co.uk/project/ellas-kitchen/

Mums helping mums is a community mentoring programme set up in memory of Ella’s Kitchen Managing Director, Cath Empringham, who sadly died in 2020.

As a working mum herself, Cath was all too aware of how challenging it is to balance work alongside family priorities. She was passionate about supporting other working mums and created a trailblazing working culture at Ella’s Kitchen where parents can thrive in their careers.

The mentoring programme matches volunteer mentors – all mums working at Ella’s Kitchen – with mums in the High Wycombe & Henley-on-Thames community to support them to thrive as working parents.

Mentoring helps people to become the best version of themselves – overcoming hurdles and finding ways to fulfil their needs and dreams.

Click the link below to get involved! https://career-mums.co.uk/project/ellas-kitchen/

UPDATE FROM SALLY & NISHI
Co-founders Career-Mums CIC

After 7 years of running Career-Mums, we have made the difficult decision to wind down the business.

During this time, we’ve both been on an amazing journey together, supporting and inspiring many women in their careers and family life.

Over the past few years, we’ve been heavily reliant on public funding to run our Work Restart Programmes. The funding has been predominantly via European Social Fund Community Grants, which has now come to an end and so will leave us without our main source of income for the foreseeable future.

We started the business after we’d both experienced career breaks, motivated by our frustration of not being able to find suitable, flexible employment, to work around our families’ needs. As our children are now growing older, and we’ve both evolved our own professional and career interests, we feel the timing is right to let the next generation continue to make the workplace more inclusive for working parents and carers.

We have worked with lots of amazing women during our Career-Mums journey. We have influenced the progression of women in their working life – whether helping a mum into their first role after a career break or enabling a female leader to move into their next senior role.

We set up Career-Mums at a time when there were few others working in this field and now we’re delighted to see lots of resources and understanding available for women returning to work after having children – an expansion in returnship programmes, career coaches for mums, more flexible working opportunities – there is still much more to be done and we look forward to watching further progress.

So, you’re probably wondering what‘s next for each of us …

Nishi will focus on running CM Talent – initially set up as an offshoot from Career-Mums helping employers with gender diversity initiatives – and now expanded to be an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion training and consultancy practice. Find out more www.cmtalent.co.uk

Sally is creating a new coaching business, Nudge Forward, focusing on developing leaders - to be launched in the Autumn. To find out more about her services join the mailing list - link in the comments.

We’ll be keeping our Career-Mums services running until the end of September ensuring we continue to support all our current clients – there’s lots of useful information, short career coaching programmes and free resources available at www.career-mums.co.uk.

We’ll be closing the Career-Mums Club Facebook Group on Friday 8th July. We’d like to thank everyone who has been involved in engaging with this group over the years.

We’d also like to take the opportunity to thank all the wonderful people who have been part of our Career-Mums journey including our clients, programme participants, and champions – we really couldn’t have done any of this without you.

If you want to contact either of us to talk through your specific needs for career coaching services post-September contact [email protected] or [email protected]
Connect with us on LinkedIn:
Nishi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nishimehta/
Sally: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sallydhillon/

Here's our latest update from the Career-Mums team focusing on ways to boost your career in the future

https://lnkd.in/efey9yXJ

REQUESTING FLEXIBLE WORKING - WHAT WE HAVE TO SAY ...

It’s no surprise to those of us trying to juggle a busy family life with a demanding job, that flexible working can be a gift.

Knowing we can work from home when we need to, choosing hours and location to suit is fast becoming a new way of earning a living for many.

So, what if it’s appealing to you but not on offer in your current role?
How do you approach your boss about building flexibility into your everyday working life and get the option that works best for your family?

Check out our blog (in the comments below) where we explore ways to take the leap with those non statutory requests and seize a working week that’s right for you and your family.



https://career-mums.co.uk/talking-to-your-boss-about-family-needs-and-flexible-working/

As the Easter school holidays begin, we invite you to think about connecting with your family members.

Being listened to is one of life’s greatest gifts.

When someone hears you, offers empathy and kindness, they offer an opportunity for human connection to be strengthened.
Maintaining strong connections with our families offers us a chance to maintain our own, inner strength. Building resilience for those difficult times and teaching our children that interaction isn’t just about choosing the right emojis.

When our clients ask us how to stay connected with families with so little time or energy, we gently remind them that you don’t need grand gestures and sweeping declarations about the importance of familial bonds to maintain connection, (although clearly you can do that too if you want to); often it’s the little gestures that say “I’m thinking of you, I understand and I’m here for you”, that offer us the chance to connect and are paramount for our wellbeing.

Read more in our blog https://career-mums.co.uk/the-importance-of-family-time-staying-connected/

Big shout out to the PTS team for leading the charge with the appalling state of childcare provision for working parents in the UK… taking the childcare petition to Downing Street today ahead of Mothers Day




https://www.facebook.com/1600676346836911/posts/3068285160076015/?d=n

We're often asked for advice about how to speak to managers about changing hours at work or how to ask to work from home more regularly.

There's often fear behind these questions - fear of not getting the answer they were looking for, fear of impacting on future opportunities and fear that maybe you're not committed to your role.

Everybody needs some level of flexibility at work ... so here's our latest blog to give you some inspiration to ask for what you want.



https://career-mums.co.uk/talking-to-your-boss-about-family-needs-and-flexible-working/

On International Women's Day 2022 let us take some time to think about the plight of the women of Ukraine - displacement, separation, violence, families torn apart, trauma, uncertainty, homelessness, despair .... it's absolutely heartbreaking 💔🇺🇦

We're sharing this newsletter from Caroline Criado Perez which details charities focused on supporting women and girls in these tragic circumstances along with an education around the gender inequalities of war.

Invisible Women - Helping Ukrainian Women on #IWD an estimated 60,000 women were r***d in the three-year Bosnian conflict and up to 250,000 in the hundred-day Rwandan genocide

Great to see our Coventry & Warwickshire Work Restart Programme featured in the local press. We have a small number of places to fill, if you are a local resident, aged 18+ and not been working for 6 months or longer .... this is for you

Kenilworth business aimed at getting women in and around the town into employment wins funding for new free programme Career-Mums' Work Restart Programme is aimed at supporting women who’ve been out of work for at least 6 months to be ready for a return to work - 16 places are available to be applied for

What a fabulous way to round off the working week ... hearing that a client has been offered her ideal job.

This client has been her own boss for the past 15 years and after lots of careful consideration decided she wanted to return to employment ... and it's happening!

Through our coaching support she got clear on what she wanted from her future work, refined her CV, polished her interview technique, built her resilience through the ups and downs of job search and now celebrating her successful outcome

We couldn't be any happier for her

Happy Weekend xx

This week we've added a couple of additional recruiters to our popular list of Recruiters Specialising in Flexible Working ... clearly there is a growing demand for talented people who want and deserve flexible working arrangements.

Take a look here https://career-mums.co.uk/recruiters-specialising-flexible-working/