If your industry demands full time when did you go back to work? Or did you decide not to...?

[MarshaBrady]

If you had a break from work to be a sahm and the only option to you was to take a new role which was full time, what age were your children when you decided to go back?

Or if you are still sahm, when do you think you will. Will it be easy to get a job after x years break?

How did you find making that decision? Tell me all about it....

I am in this dilemma currently and I am so divided about it, it's eating me up!

I went back to work 3 days a week, I have 4 kids aged from 17 months to 6 years old. The problem is that they can't find me a role to fit 3 days and it is looking increasingly likely I will have to up my hours to 4 days minimum. This would effectively mean doing a full time job in 5 days, which leaves me with the feeling that I might as well go full time.

I am keeping my fingers crossed I can stay part time until my 3rd child is at school and my 4th child is 3, which is still 1 year and a half away. But if I have to go back full time, I don't know what I'll do. It depends what role it is, I might give it a go and see how I can get it to work and how I will feel in that situation.

HTH

Hi Emy and Orissiah. I am also working out salary needed to cover nanny and leave enough £ on the salary calculator. Tax is so high.

Too many of my female colleagues who are also mothers went PT at my old firm but still ended up doing FT (for PT pay). They may as well have gone back FT.

Yes if I do it I will look in to nanny share. A friend is starting full time in April. And we may do it. Although getting to her house may be a bit of a pain. (she has found the nanny). Or I find one and advertise for share.

I agree about being very good at work, better than others. My mind boggled at the sheer waste of time in some cases. People on crappy fb sites, lounging around. If I am efficient I usually get some leverage. Last time I did a whole project from home; after proving I was efficient and responsible, and good of course. Trouble is I have to go through that painful bit first in a new job.

But yes. I was so happy to have done those projects, and for them to be on my CV, could be good again.

I'm in a FT dilemma - I am at the end of my ML and know I can't return to that role due to long days and 4-hour round-trip commute since we moved house, esp as DP has an equally demanding job with same commute.

I've been for an interview for a local full time job. On paper, it's an amazing role and a great move for me. However, the idea of not spending time with DS who is almost 8mo is crippling me. I don't need to go back for the money, it's more for the stimulation of an office environment and progressing my career - being at the interview really felt positive and if I didn't have DS, I would be biting their hands off to make me an offer, but as soon as I saw DS again, I felt so guilty.

If, as the recruiter leads me to believe, my potential employers are very keen on me and make me an offer next week, I'm tempted to be honest with them and say I have been torn apart by the thought of leaving DS full time and could we try a part time trial period (I'll blow my own trumpet here and say that I am massively efficient and organised as my current job is exponentially more demanding than this one would be) as another lady on the team with children works part time. They have been 1 staff member down for a while and are coping, so to have me there for even 3 days a week would I'm sure make a huge difference to their workloads.

Really heartwrenching, much more than I thought it would be as I had been quite keen to go back to work - but now that the option is almost a reality, my convictions are changing!

OffsideRule - can you try the FT role for a trial (eg the duration of your probation period) just to see how you feel? Just don't let on with your boss/colleagues that you are trialling them...

I feel the same as you offsiderule. It's one thing to look with rose-tinted glasses at the thought of speeding around doing a great job. But then actually leaving ds with a nanny, well last time I crumbled and didn't do it. It is hard.