to wonder why there are not more part time jobs?

[Dottydooda]

Looking for jobs after redundancy from my 3 day a week role - I'm managerial level. I knew it would be hard to look for something part time again but if I hear another agency rolling their eyes and saying 'they're like gold dust' ....

Surely a part timer gives value for money (free hours etc) plus loyalty in return for flexibility? Why is everyone so fixated on traditional hours?

I've only been looking for around 1 month - am I being overly pessimistic at this early stage?

It's good to hear some of your other stories on here about how you got part time eventually.
Agree I think interim/temp route may be the answer initially.
MavisG - interesting idea as well, thank you! I may well mention this to the agencies!

I get the free hours thing too. If you work 20 hours a week and you do 2 hours a week unpaid overtime that's 10% extra. If a full time employee (40 hours a week) does 2 hours unpaid overtime that's 5% extra. Plus as someone else has said, there are just more hours that the p/t person might have to work compared to a f/t.

I have a part time job but only after negotiating after maternity leave, which seems to be the main way to get such a role, sigh. It means if I ever want another job the best way to do so would be to work fulltime first and then have another baby!

I do think there should be more part-time roles. Sure, some especially in senior management require full-time work (I think my own job does tbh, I have to do a lot of overtime to manage), however many jobs don't need to. Eg a small-to-medium sized company that wants a social media manager or marketing executive or similar. They could pay someone to do it fulltime, or they could decide their budget would be better spent if they got someone to do it for just 20 hours a week, even if it meant fewer leads were followed/or that social media stuff was only done in the middle of each day. Or they might want someone who would normally be too expensive to take on, so they offer them fewer hours.

Many many jobs can be done in four days rather than five but getting employers to consider that is hard work. Asking for part-time hours upfront can end up with auto-job-rejections, even in roles that could work part-time with a bit of flexibility.

I've been job hunting for over a year and I find the biggest issue is actually finding jobs around school / nursery hours as opposed to finding something part time, loads of part-time jobs going if your able to work nights, evenings and weekends.

I have ended up having to accept a weekend job for now as I couldn't go without any form of work for any longer and its going to cause no end of issues. On the bright side it is a fantastic job and I've received loads of training and qualifications through them.