Professional women's alternatives of totally Opting out

[RosebudIncubator]

My kids are almost 4 and 2.5. Recently I have been asked by lots of freinds, family and even distant aquaintences what I'm planning to do. (Last year I managed a major house refurb and extention, which is now finished, so they are looking what I get upto next :o )
Having been a business consultant working all hours, all over the country, after having DD I was "offered" to return 5 days a week, as the job "could only" be done 5 days a week. I left the job and have enjoyed my time off, doing my projects, looking after kids, etc.
One thing that has started to occupy my thoughts more and more is- surely there are a lot of professional women, like me, who have opt-out of the workforce. That is a huge brain drain.
Are there any cooperatives, networks of such women? Places where women can find projects that fit around their family life and keep them in touch with business?

wow, never thought of going down that route. really interesting, thanks.

whimsicalname thanks for the tip. Did not think about the research councils.... I will keep scouring the research councils, findaphd.com and other sites.

Exactly same position here, ex big 4 accountancy partner. Things I have considered: interim management type roles, compliance type role ie non client facing, either within firm or for professional body, non execs, start ups. But these are difficult to find. Haven;t actually done any of this as I like being at home at the moment - worked until 3rd child born so feel I have earned a break. Currently just do a bit of voluntary treasurer work.

I'm surprised Xenia hasn't been on this thread yet to give all you ex-professionals a slap, what you've all done is her worst nightmare!

God knows.

I have been for an intrerview today for a job at a fraction of my previous salary. It was a nice straight forward role that I thought would fit well with children and not be too demanding given the lengthy career break I have had. Then I started costing it out tonight . I will be working my backside off for very little financial gain and missing out on my children's holidays if I take it/get offered it.

Historically, men have run companies employing men with stay at home wives. We have all moved on but company culture hasn't. Most companies are still stuck in the dark ages and work is getting harder and the hours are getting longer.

I don't have kids but am contracting and said I would stay if I could work four days a week. They agreed. The extra day has literally revolutionised my life. I now feel sorry for the guys I work with as many of them complain they don't have enough time for their family, fitness, etc.

I guess the only way things will change is if staff start voting with their feet or setting up companies specifically with the remit of offering proper family friendly jobs.

I would find contract work as a consultant harder to juggle than a part time full time stable job. How do you arrange last minute childcare? I live in an area of london where you have to be on a waiting list for over six months for your child to have a place in a nursery and after school club are full. I only have one friend who has remained a management consultant (in outsourcing so there's lots of travelling) and she has a full time live-in nanny (she now lives in Switzerland).

I wasn't a consultant but a support staff (bid manager) for a consultancy and I won't go back to the same job because I often had to work very long hours at short notice. I am going to retrain to become a teacher (my husband retrained when I was pregnant with DS2 and he now teaches in a local primary school).

FannyPriceless/RosebudIncubator and anyone for whom this may be of interest - I am currently working as a Director for a large wellknown brand but have decided I need to do something about obtaining a greater work life balance, enabling me to see in the process of setting up such a network of consultants/associates right now Please contact me if you're interested!

Right, apologies that last message made little sense (not a great start!)

Here's how it should have read:

FannyPriceless/RosebudIncubator and anyone for whom this may be of interest - I am currently working as a Director for a large wellknown brand but have decided I need to do something about obtaining a greater work life balance, enabling me to see my two DDs and am in the process of setting up such a network of consultants/associates right now.

Please get in touch if you're interested!

This is wonderful, yes there are such places! I have launched one myself a few months ago, as I couldn't find one I liked: www.mumandcareer.co.uk, and one of the things my communitysite does is offer lots of links to other places you can go.

I can recommend:
workafterkids.co.uk
www.motheratwork.co.uk/default.asp
www.motherswhowork.co.uk/
Even though you might not work now, they will have lots of encouraging ideas and inspiration, blogs etc. on the topic of finding a good job.

If you are thinking of starting a business, there are loads of mumpreneur-type websites, but the most serious one is probably www.women-unlimited.co.uk/

If you are thinking about changing your career, do go and look at careershifters.org

As I have just launched I would also love lots of help with building Mum & Career into something like mumsnet, but with it's own flavour, focussed on professional, ambitious type of people. So do come and have a look, and join in if you fancy to make it into something great for professional mums. Also it would be great to hear if this is the sort of thing you were looking for. And happy to help further if it wasn't.

Seoraemaeul - Hijacking is okay, I do that, one thing makes you think of another that's perfectly fine, and emotions around working/not-working can run high! Mine did. Let me share my experiences.

I myself used to be a business consultant, moved countries just after having a baby and tried various things:

• 4 days a week in a not so challenging job - which was wonderful got me back into workmode but started to be less fun after a year or so, also coping with others doing the fun work wasn't easy
• full-time in a challenging job, worked really hard, no social life, no sport, only weekends with my son, but it was my dream job! I was determined to make it work, had my DH's support and a nanny. I was hoping the job would get easier, and then more flexible, but instead was made redundant due to economic downturn. Looking back I don't think it was worth it, somehow. I am glad I tried though.
• free lance in the same area and now my own webcommunity, www.mumandcareer.co.uk in a new attempt to try to have the cake and eat it too. And..help all those mums around me find their ideal work life balance too. I believe this last option will be it. And for the past year it has worked really well. Just have to manage my own timeline and ambitions, as not working full-time slows things down considerably. But it is wonderful to finally not have to explain to someone why my child is more important than my work. I decide, with my DH of course.

The best way to find out what works is try things out. Your children will need different things at different stages too, best thing would be to have a job that flexes as and when you need it. Good luck!

Reggie100
I'm a bit late to this party but I'd be interested. How do I contact you?

OP, I totally agree.

I'm a lawyer in the City (no DCs yet) and I know many, many female City professionals (including me) who are scratching their heads trying to work out how to transform their 60 hour-a-week job into something that uses their skills, and might enable them to see a bit of their DCs and not be completely exhausted. Not necessarily part time, just not 60 hours a week.

Surely there must be some clients who would be willing to accept service that was available 9-5 rather than 8-10, in return for lower rates? They would get access to seriously good professionals at lower cost, in return for having to wait a bit longer for their advice. Maybe I will set up my own law firm...

mickb thanks for bumping this thread, it has some really interesting info on it.