I don't know what to do with my life, please tell me how you found your way back into jobland?

[cashmeremafia]

That's it really. I used to work in the City but we've moved to the UAE. I was a Sales Trader. Because of the current banking crisis and the long, long hours + entertaining & conference circuit I cannot go back to that.

How did other mums re-orientate themselves? How did you find your new job? What piece of advice can you give me?

My dc is 4mths old. I don't want another baby straight away and am looking at going back to work in 6mths, but I have no idea what I want to do. I feel so useless.

If you were a Sales Trader, I don't think you can be useless! I work on a dealing floor and the few female sales people/traders that we have kick ass. You can't be a female in banking and survive if you're no good!

Could you return to banking but work in a different role? I understand that could feel like a bit of a step down but some of the more support-orientated roles pay well but don't come with the very long hours and no entertaining. I'm thinking Operations/Finance?

Or maybe this could be a good time to realise that working in the City is shite and you could look for a completely new career. If you're not strapped for cash you look could at something more fulfilling like teaching. I'm guessing you have a degree so you'd just need to do a 1 year teaching course. The hours seem ok and you at least get good holidays.

Enjoy DC while you get the chance!

Thank you lovelymama, I appreciate your kind words. I feel a bit floored and jittery going back to work. Don't know why but my confidence is a bit down as if I'd lost my balls

I'm very mindful of dd and spending time with her. You work on a dealing floor? Wow, you must be seriously skilled at time management! I haven't actually thought of back office, Ops, etc. I wouldn't mind a change at all, as long as I get back into employment.

Somehow I feel I have an early midlife crisis, like I'd like to try something new but I am such a one-trick pony I don't think I can work anywhere else but Financial Mkts.

I can't be the only one that wonders if that's all there is. Are there any stories of why and how mums changed their career paths?

One Trick Pony is not the kindest-to-self way to look at it CashmereMafia You mean, you're good at your job in your existing sector

So, whilst you could go to college, train to be an astronaut, set up a cake-baking business etc one argument says it's sensible to stick around in the area you know and are already successful in.

Back office is one good idea. Another idea is joining the Freelance/Self-Employed thread on here - ie becoming an independent consultant. In order to (really) bring the bucks in doing this you have to have (a) an acknowledged expertise in your field already (which it sounds like you do) and (b) some contacts who''ll give you work to get you started (then you can branch out from there).

It's a bit of a learning curve - you have to be able (or not afraid to) sell yourself for a start, work out how to manage projects, how to charge, how to deliver them on time and so on ...

,,,but first of all you have to work out what skill or knowledge you have that you can sell, who you'd sell it to/who would buy it and how fast you can complete.

I don't know much about banking etc but I imagine there are lots of little specialisms (or deals?) that require extra work to be done that there are not enough full-time staff to cover?

As for potential customers. If you are in UAE you could start by thinking quite big about this IMO. Potential customers:
British firms in UAE
British firms in UK who want to trade either with UAE or other Gulf businesses or British firms
UAE firms who want help doing business with the Brits

I say 'firms' not banks as there may be an interchange there as well - firms may need help dealing with big banks.

Once you've done one successful project you can start putting yourself about whilst chatting at some of those Friday brunches/Jumeirah BBQs etc.

I could go on ... but I am a bit of a bore on this subject. Anyway hope this helps

Find the back of an envelope and start sketching out your plan now - you'll be raring to try it out before 6 months is up

MrsBaldwin

cashmeremafia feeling jittery is par for the course as a new mum. Your LO is taking all your attention right now and its a very big new job. When do you need to go back to work? Why not get out and about first try going to the gym for a class or library for story time. Then see if you can time manage with a little one. Volunteer it might get you mixing with other people that can give you some new ideas. Try volunteering in something not child related so you don't get trapped in Mummy talk while your away from LO.
I didn't go back to work until Ds was 9 months. Then only two days a week in a very undemanding role. Got my house & work timetable together. Now I work 9 hours per shift three days a week. Work longer hours when there is a demand always unpredictable. Have childcare sorted to cope with those occasions.
Good luck

Oooh Cashmere, I'd listen to MrsBaldwin - she sounds like she knows what she's talking about! Loving the ideas.

I'm still on maternity leave but due to go back to work full time in May when DS is 1 year old. Dreading the early mornings, seeing my son for only 1 hour per day etc. Does that make you think that banking might be a good industry to get out of?!! I wish I had the courage/financial stability to make a big change to my career but I'm not ready yet - hope you have more 'balls' than me to do something fun and different.

cashmeremafia, do you still have contacts in your old company? What state is your old company currently in? I am sure that as a previous employee, you have a known track record and they might be more amendable to a role change since you are known quantity.

After a year at home for my maternity leave, I felt useless and terribly unconfident as well. So you are not alone. You have also cultural disorientation to deal with. You must believe that you have valuable skills and personal qualities that will make you an asset to an employer. Easy to say, but it is true

I took what I would describe as a 'middle office' role, in my City law firm, switching from 'front office' for more family friendly hours but utilising my past experience in the role so that I did not need to start from scratch. I tried looking in the open market for a spell, but I found that roles advertised as pt were poorly paid and those that were well paid were ft.

Not sure if you are looking for flexible pt working but that was what I wanted.

Dear MrsBaldwin, thank you very much for your wise counsel. You certainly know your way around this issue! I haven't actually given any thought to freelancing. Mainly because I've always worked for a big corporation which allowed me to have a buffer i.e. even if a month was bad I'd still get my salary IYSWIM.

starbear, thank you too, I think what you and MrsBaldwin said could work in sync, maybe I should start out doing charity work in my field of expertise if I can describe it as such, that would allow me to network and continue to give me experience and food for thought on a daily basis and when I feel ready I could fly solo.

My old company is basically gone as I knew it. From a desk of worldwide 60 odd people there are 2 left. Yes, it's a battle field. Having taken gov money they are as good as history.

Blueshoes, thank you for your kind words. Yes, I feel like I don't know if I can still hack it. I still have my client list, hedgies, etc. But that sector will see major restructuring and lots of regulation. Maybe a regulator would be a good idea. Or private banking, I mean I know all the products many of which I traded myself so that knowledge must still be there under all the nappies and babysick DH's company will pay for an arabic course for me, just found that out! So excited, something new.

I do think PT is the only option, my DH is useless without me

LM, yes, I think banking as we know it is a dead horse. I also wish I had different skills to the gift of the gab but I don't. Always admire people who can write, paint or work with their hands. But I can dream I guess...

Thank you for all your helpful messages, I feel a lot better. An idea is forming and as soon as we have found a home I'll see how much I can make of it.

cashmere, private banking sounds like an excellent idea. One of the rich client groups left still standing are those in the Middle East. My firm, which has a global presence, is sending lots of people to the Middle East - so I imagine there is still work there. And these clients are always interested to pick up cheap assets in the UK. Big up your UAE experience. I think you can write up a very convincing CV.

"I also wish I had different skills to the gift of the gab"

You are joking, aren't you!?
In the current climate what any and every company needs is turnover. You know, sales. Generated by salespeople. Those with the gift of the gab ... can you see where I'm going with this?
Good salespeople are as rare as hen's teeth - if you can do it then you will always be in demand.

agree, purit. Gift of the gab, making people feel at ease, entertaining, are very valuable skills, especially for client-facing roles.

The profession I was in, law, is very technical but I have seen less technically proficient people promoted over more technically proficient because of these skills, which translate into 'rainmaking' to rake in the business.

Do not underestimate your softer social skills. Plus you also have technical skills in your knowledge of the financial products. A heady combination, I would say

I pinched this from the bankers thread that blueshoes is also participating in.
Cashmere, it might give you food for thought. I think we don't value soft skills but they are as valuable as the figures and qualifications. I work in a very different field, two blokes have just joined us one has upset the team with his big size 9's, the other listens, makes suggestions and does the research. Who do you think I would rather work with and do favours for?

spokette on Tue 17-Feb-09 08:34:44
Squiffy, I employ guys with firsts and PhDs from Oxford and Cambridge and my organisation is replete with people with those type of qualifications (me included) so those type of people with outstanding CVs can be found anywhere, not just in the hallow vaults of banks.

However, having those type of qualifications does not necessarily mean that you have the the other important qualities that makes a highly valuable and wanted employee. Being able to work as part of team, thinking laterally and creatively, communicate verbally and orally, being sensitive to the needs of others (a quality I suspect is alien to quite a few bankers), working flexibly, being self-motivated as well as industrious, demonstrating probity in their work and interaction with others [banks? )etc.

The myth that bankers are a special breed who deserve their oversize salary packages is just that, a myth.

ah, purits, I hear ya, I just sometimes look at what I actually CAN do and it's not really any skill per se, no gifted hands or brilliant poetic mind, etc. I can sell ice to penguins but what if all the penguins have drowned? (as in my client base (hedgies) has gone tits up) Thank you for the pat on the back. Before I did the OP I just felt like everything (incl. me) had changed so much there's nothing I can go back to and nowhere else to go professionally.

Blueshoes, you're right re the client base in UAE, at least it's sticky money and my Dh is in the biz so I'll at least get taken to client schmooze ups, I'll take it as an opportunity to network plus we'll do lots of entertaining I suppose. Thank you for cheering me up. It's so hard to look back onto who I was before I fell pregnant and had bubs, it's so different now I thought. I appreciate you showing me what I have to tweak to move on.

starbear, cheers for the hint. I can understand your choice We had quite a few of those guys, too. I'll check out the thread.

CashmereMafia - if you get to the point with your Arabic lessons that you can talk to clients in that (commercially valuable) language you will be able to double your rates, I'm quite sure! I don't know a great deal about learning languages - but you have to have a facility for it, I believe, and it probably takes a year's total immersion to get to a fluent standard. You could add 'fluent Arabic' to a longer-term plan though.

Regulator - yes, you could do, although depends on your patience-with-bureaucracy-and-slowness levels and your love (or not) of politics.

Good luck!

Thak you MrsBaldwin, I'm in region and starting Arabic classes in 2 days

Thanks for cheering me up and giving me such solid and well thought through advice!! You should coach people, lost sheeps like me!

Take care x