Career Development and the Maternity Journey

Your career may not be at the top of your priorities list when you’re having a baby, but it is understandable if you are, to whatever extent, concerned with the status of your job role during the maternity journey.

To successfully manage your career before, during and after maternity leave, you’d probably like to meet the following aims:

• Being confident and happy about the pregnancy throughout
• Staying fit and healthy
• Not being unduly stressed by your job/boss/organisational requirements
• Staying in touch throughout maternity leave at the level you wish
• Having discussions about work options in a spirit of flexibility and sensitivity
• Returning to work willingly and looking forward to re-entry

At Position Ignition, we believe there is a three stage process involved in achieving these goals:

1. Preparing for leaving
2. Holding onto options
3. Re-entry

Take a long-term view when you’re preparing to go on maternity leave. What are your future work plans? If you wish for the part of the company you’re involved with to really flourish in your absence, be sure to equip your stand-in with all the information, tools and advice possible. If you’re considering shifting to a different business area within the organisation upon your return, it’s not too early to mention this to your boss.

Similarly, if you think you may decide to leave the business or role upon your return to work, indicate to your employer that this might be a possibility, as it could make things easier later on.

Whilst on maternity leave, keep hold of your options by checking in with your organisation to the level of frequency that you wish. So much depends on the birth of your child and how things pan out for you, the baby and the family. These things are impossible to predict and it is even harder to know how you’re going to feel as your new role as a parent emerges. It is therefore valuable to keep as many choices on the table as possible, until you’ve reached a point where you’re comfortable with making a decision.

There is an assumption that people on maternity leave will return to their previous role and slot right in. The law underpins that position. Therefore, this is where the work you undertook in preparing to leave comes into its own. If you indicated to your employer that you might not be returning to their company, they will be more prepared for confirmation of this.

There will be a lot of options you may want to evaluate, as well as different elements of family life and career objectives that you’ll want to balance. Never forget that there is help available, in a variety of forms. What support and guidance does Position Ignition give to women on the maternity journey? Our Career Guides can support and guide you throughout, through an understanding of your particular situation acquired by spending one-to-one time with you and getting to know you well. Your Guide would be checking in with you periodically throughout your leave. This ensures the work issue is kept on the radar, but also in the appropriate perspective.

By the time you give birth, your Guide would have built up a great understanding of all aspects of your capabilities and values, which will be useful if you’ve decided to leave your pre-maternity workplace and would like professional, personalised support in finding a new job or a new career.

In order to supplement your work with a Guide-or if you choose not to work with a guide-reading can be very valuable. It’s becoming increasingly easier to source and read good value material. For example, our eBooks ‘How to Get the Job You Want’ and ‘100 Essential Career Change Tips’ contain practical advice, easy-to-follow steps, takeaway tips, and inspiration for all types of job searchers and career changers, including mums and soon-to-be mums.

www.positionignition.com

Similar blogs:

• Pursuing a new career direction after a career break
• Transferring skills from motherhood back to the workplace
• Returning to work after a gap