Eat Your Cake found and placed me in a part-time position that was challenging, interesting and that gave me the flexibility to work from home. Everything you could hope for in a job! This part-time role allowed me to spend more time with my young son while continuing to build my career CV and skill set. It also allowed me to find the time to work on those projects that I always talked about doing - as a result I was able to publish my first book in June 2008.
When I first thought about going back to work after having my baby girl, I felt very scared. How I was going to cope with a demanding and challenging job and a new member of the family? In the events industry there is a culture of long hours and weekend work which I could no longer do. I thought I was going to have to sacrifice my career in order to raise my daughter.
Luckily for me, I found Eat Your Cake through an industry network contact and after my first meeting with Azita, I knew things were going to get better. She was keen to listen to what was important for me and helped me to widen my horizons with suggestions for transferring my skills to other fields and sectors I had never considered before.
By restructuring my way of thinking, Azita was able to put me in touch with AC&C London, my actual employer. AC&C was happy to have me working part-time and flexibly around demanding family life. I now work 3 days a week in central London and I could not be happier. I decide on a weekly basis which days I will work from our central London offices and when appropriate when from home. I love being back at work and having the demands of a challenging job cause I know that I do not have to sacrifice my family in order to progress in my career.
Working part-time and flexibly has meant that I can use my knowledge and expertise in a more focused way and today I am more efficient. Furthermore, outside of traditional office hours I am still contactable with modern technologies (Blackberry, internet mail access) and this has meant that I am able to work around my busy family life without sacrificing either my daughter’s childhood or my own happiness. I believe, it is also because of my part-time/flexible working arrangements that I am always keener to go the extra mile for the company as I know they care about my life and commitments outside of work.