Finding Part time work:
Case Studies
Part time in marketing
My neighbour works 2 days a week
from 9:30 to 2:30. She has all school holidays
off work and her days can be flexible if something
comes up with the children. She works in Marketing.
How does she do this? In this case, she has previous
experience with the company so they know her skills
and talents. She is paid by the hour so they get
what they pay for. She is flexible, so if there
is a period where there is no marketing project,
she can cut back to a day a week, and perhaps
pick up more later on.
The company get the skills of an experienced
Marketing professional for a few hours a week.
They don't need a full time marketer, so it works
for both parties.
Part Time in Finance
and IT
In my own experience, even before children, I
had a part time role. I have 12 years experience
in IT in the Finance Industry and I was working
as IT Manager for the Property business at AMP
Henderson. I decided I no longer wanted to work
full time and with the support of my partner and
the help of a Life
Coach, I resigned from my role. When I resigned,
however, I suggested that I could be available
part time to ensure a quality handover. My boss
went away and thought about it, and ended up offering
me a part time role, three days a week.
To get my part time role, all I needed was confidence
in my own skills and ability and the guts to ask
for it. Add to that the fact that AMP has a good
reputation for being family friendly and I was
on a winner!
But think about it from the employer's perspective.
They have a resource who knows the organisation
and has the specific skills they require. They
are tried and tested and have a good reputation.
Why would they want to lose that employee and
have to go through the cost of recruiting someone
new, with the risk that they don't work out?
There is the issue of backfilling the two days,
but if the organisation is creative, there are
some good options. There may be a more junior
staff member who wants the opportunity to step
up. This way they can take on more responsibility
with the full support of an experienced person.
Another option is to hire someone to job share,
who is in a similar position of wanting a part
time role, or looking creatively at the team structure
and perhaps hiring a full time junior for the
cost of the two days of the senior role. All it
takes is a bit of creativity and the support of
the organisation.
Part time in HR
A friend of mine started a new job at Christmas.
She is working 3 days a week in HR, with the option
of one of those days becoming a work from home
day once she is settled in the role.
This friend has two children not yet at school
and she has found a lovely day care on the way
to work, which makes it easy to drop off and pick
the children up.
One thing she said which stuck in my mind, was
that she now really enjoys the two days she has
home with the children during the week, she enjoys
the domestic side of things. The balance of work
and home life makes both more enjoyable.
How did she find this job? In this case, through
a standard advertisement from a recruitment agency.
Part Time in the Travel
Industry
One of the mums in my Mother's Group works in
Marketing in the Travel Industry. She has two
children under school age and she works 3 days
a week. She will happily tell you that she needs
those three days a week in order to survive the
4 days a week at home with the kids. She enjoys
her work itself, and the other things that come
with it - the adult conversation, the coffee breaks
where you get to drink a hot cup of coffee, the
lunchbreaks where you can just pop to the shops.
So how did she get this role? She was working
in this industry before having the children, but
she changed companies when she went back to work
after baby number 1. Her new job was found though
a recruitment agent.
|
