To think that there are no well paid family friendly careers?

I earn £60k plus bonus as a lawyer - I could, I guess, theoretically move to a larger for far more money, but I’m in a pretty small firm with a ton of flexibility and that is genuinely family friendly, rather than just paying lip service for the brochure. Don’t rule law out, you just have to pick the firm right!

I am a financial advisor, self employed, complete flexibility, it is hard at first but sounds like you are not desperate for the money like most of us starting out so time is on your side.

I have worked exceptionally hard for five years and finally now can breathe and am usually doing 10-3 most days and picking which clients I want to work with and ,are sure they align with my values.

the exams are not cheap though and there are six to complete.

DM me if you want to chat further about things s I don’t revisit posts or my replies often.

good luck whatever you do though.

Could you set up your own PR agency? Working from home, seek out one or two companies to work with, with the view to increase clients and expand as your children get older and you get more spare time. If income isn't crucial, tglhat is perfect to start to build up your clientele and income, without being desperate for high income from day 1.

That’s not relevant to my post ( nor necessarily the original one ) what I was asking is WHICH careers ( if any at all ) offer that flexibility once established. Nowhere was a referring to magically having children and stepping into those careers. I’d simply like to know if they exist at all !! ( in my experience even some extremely well paid, well qualified careers are not in fact, family friendly if you step away for a few years)

Have you considered training to be a florist?

If you can secure contracts with local hotels, for weddings, communal spaces, and pre order bouquets for rooms you can secure a good income with flexible working, and in time you could expand your business.

What is your degree in? You can do too ups for certain subjects?

Doesn't it take 7 years ?

I think it's that everyone has a different definition of what family friendly means

Many posters define it as never having to use any childcare which isn't my definition

I define it as - can do a school pick up at 3 once a week as an adjustment to my hours, can between DH and I make every school event, 6 weeks annual leave. I'm not fussed about using wraparound/some school holiday clubs

Single mum, I work as a writer for a charity (mostly funding applications but other writing work too). FTE is £50k, I’m 0.6. Fully home based, I do school drop off and pick up every day and can make every show, sports day etc. Block out calendar for personal stuff as needed. Occasionally log in after the kids go to bed but not expected. Role would be around £40k FTE for a new starter but I’ve been there 10 years and benefited from pay increases.

AI has slashed the number of training contracts available as a lot of docs and research tasks can be pulled together much more quickly now by qualified lawyers. If your kids were older you would know that there is such huge pressure now on the graduate job market such that many very qualified young people who can give their all can’t get a position, Oxbridge etc graduates included. Someone who trained 15-20 years ago did it in a radically different environment. I would not go into law now unless you really can be prepared to work full time and log on again after your kids are in bed etc a number of years.

This was me, but I did it by switching to consultancy during those years which I could do because I had an established career. Early career was long hours and little control.

I think OPs best option would be to find a way to use her existing skills and experience rather than starting from scratch, eg freelancing. It's obviously harder to guarantee a particular income but can be great for flexibility.

I can’t imagine this flexibility would exist in any organisation sadly. You could do bank work in care or shop work but this would be minimum wage . Welcome to the world of working Mums!

You could sign up to an agency immediately and choose which days you're able to work around DH's job. When doing this you see so many different places and it's a good foot in the door to seek permanent employment which the company will already be aware of and somewhere you enjoy. Xx

No, what people are saying is that you can't walk into a brand new career at a high level without experience or relevant qualifications.

There are well paid family friendly careers, just not at entry level! That's not surprising or new.

So many variables in your question- many people here saying “ yes of you stay at it whilst your children are small” to me doesn’t equal family friendly; also well paid needs to be defined. I’d love to hear from anyone who is earning say £80k plus; doesn’t need a nanny, was at home till their children started school and can do some scho pick ups/ never miss a school show ( not saying those jobs aren’t out there - but if so pls share for upcoming generations!!! )

I should add she is VAT registered so invoicing over £90k a year.

Hi OP,
the industry has moved on a lot, I think you would be able to work in PR, from home. I'd set up yourself and start working for a few small companies that you like.

Ensure you charge yourself at a proper hourly or daily rate.
Perhaps a different category to what you know, but I am sure you can carve yourself out a lovely role working for people and brands you like, from home, and have the flexibility of hours you like.

I currently employ somebody on a monthly retainer who works just like this.

@Careerhelppp I can relate, my situation is similar although I should probably start my own thread.

I am desperate to get back to work but it’s hard to find anything at the moment. Do you have any big companies based locally? That would cut the commute time and in my experience a bigger company can accommodate flexible working patterns better.

No, you don't need to. There are a few career change academy's that train Financial Advisors and support you to start and grow a business (usually as a partner of that organisation). You wouldn't usually be an independent financial advisor to take this route. I think its a good second career, as you understand more about your clients when you have had a previous career, and not necessarily understanding personal finance as well. You can also make yourself a niche supporting people who work in your previous industry. Women are also in the minority as financial advisors, but more women want to work with a female. So there is lots of potential.

You wouldn't earn £50k from the outset, it could take 2-3 years to get there depending on how hard you want to work and some luck. You'll have a period earning very little and then erratic earnings. But if you can manage that with your husbands high earning job and are prepared to build the potential is much bigger.

And if you are self employed you are completely in control of your schedule. So up to you if you schedule in work meetings or putting the kids first. Obviously by prioritising family you could slow your business growth, but the option for flexibility is absolutely there.

Happy to chat more if you want to ask any questions about this industry, probably best to send a message as I don't want to put too much personal information on here!

The only people I was ever envious of when slogging my guts out as a jnr lawyer were the women I knew who were hair dressers/beauty therapists. Is that something you might consider?

I’ve spent many years as an expat and in every location there were some that set themselves up working in their own home or travelling to other expats. Whether they were the highlight queen or the brow star, they worked flexible hours, with women they liked and were able to charge a small fortune.

many of them on returning to their home countries opened their own salons and all have been enormously successful.

you can qualify quickly, and there’s a million ways to make it work.

I lucked out 3 years ago when I started a new comms job that I'd found on LinkedIn - I started on £40k. Before that I had been a journalist working at a specialist magazine. I now have a fully remote job that would not exist in my region, working for a learned society. Very happy there because they treat their staff very differently than in my previous sector. I had set up a search on LinkedIn for editorial jobs in my area, and it turns out that this trawl also sends you remote jobs from other parts of the UK. I'd 100% recommend doing this as it will throw up stuff that you might not find on other job search sites.

It's a myth that high income careers are not family friendly. That's largely perpetuated by shitty employers or shitty men who do not want to look after their children or contribute to housework.

My DH earns £130k – he does all school drop off and 2x pick ups a week. He attends every school event, and regularly takes time off for child sickness and appointments etc. I earn £65k and do the same.

We both work full time – 2x a week from home, 3x a week from office. He has a 30 minute commute, I have a 1.5hr commute. He works in finance. I work in the media.

They’re shrinking by 10,000 roles but I’m sure they’d love to have OP come into a senior role with full flexibility and not much in the way of experience.

I’m a civil servant too. On just shy of 70k, work flexi hours (do work later if there’s a crisis etc, but it’s not expected, and that’s not often). I can work 7.30-3.45 if I like. Most of our team go and collect DC from school as a late lunch and log back on for an hour. Went to all assemblies and sports days. Great pension. They also do part time, part year working. I started off less senior and worked my way up whilst raising kids, largely on my own.

To be honest I have no idea what the pay is like, but for flexibility and using existing skills you could consider something like being a driving instructor