Is Returning to Work After Maternity Leave a Trick or a Treat?

Anne-Marie's son Harry the Dinosaur

Anne-Marie Walsh shares her experience of maternity leave and coming back to work in Hays as an IT Business Intelligence Consultant.

Almost a year ago, I went on maternity leave from Hays. I was like a kid leaving school for a very long mid-term break.  I was ready to go. Although planning a business intelligence event to coincide with my last day of work, (while being approximately 36 weeks pregnant) was not in fact one of my more einsteinien ideas!

I looked forward to maternity leave, my mind conjured up idyllic scenes of baby massaging, long lazy lunches with other mummies and general bonding bliss with my baby.   I did have some appreciation at that point of the nappies, feeds and late nights but I preferred not to dwell on that. 

Eleven months later and maternity leave is now a distant memory.  What was a bump is now a healthy hearty boy, a little man in the making.  Six months went by in what felt like four weeks.  I remember getting asked if I had to go back to work. I did, but I also wanted to. 

I love my new little man unconditionally.  Weekends are a newfound treasure where all I want to do is chill out with him (sometimes he gets annoyed and insists I let him go to bed). But the working week is great, my head needed it and I needed it. 

You'll be seeing plenty of Halloween masks tonight. But I think we all use masks on a daily basis to differentiate work from our personal lives.  The thing with going on maternity leave and then returning to work is that, for a while, it is confusing as to which mask you should be wearing. 

I wear the work mask and get motivated by getting the right people for the right job.  I also get energy from my client and candidate interaction and finding out about the market changes in the last six months.  They hadn’t changed too much - Oracle and Microsoft business intelligence experts were still highly in demand.

I also get to actually drink a warm coffee (new mums understand a sup of warm coffee while handling a new baby is the Holy Grail) and socialise with colleagues once more.  But in the evenings there is a change.  It is no longer ‘Oh I have worked a very long day I deserve to put my feet up…or do yoga…or some such thing’. Now it’s like a military operation… pick up your baby, make a gazillion bottles for your baby, make other food for your baby, clean up after your baby, bath your baby and try and play with your baby.

A discourse on ‘mindfulness’ is pervasive in health and psychology media at the moment.  It comes from eastern traditions and involves paying conscious attention to experiences as they unfold, so your head is neither caught in the past, or the future, but in the present.  Having a baby taught me to be more mindful.  Instead of wondering what I should be doing now or what I would be doing in ten years I had to be present and attending to a hungry, sleepy and at times, smelly little creature.  This was no time for daydreaming.  Equally, with the return to work it has struck me that one way to negotiate the work life balance is to be more mindful.  So when you are at work focus fully on that and when you are with your little person, give that your full attention. I suspect this may be more difficult than it sounds but a good thing to strive for nonetheless. 

I also figure this can’t be all bad for my little man.  He has a relatively competitive mum.  If I wasn’t chipping away at my own monthly plans I would be monitoring his developmental milestone and putting in some performance improvement measures. I suspect Crèche may be a breather for this baby! Some people choose to be working mums, some choose to be stay-at-home mums, others don’t have a choice.  I want to be a happy mum and for me that involves trying to balance home and work life.  It helps to be working in Hays, an organisation that supports that. 

Coming back to work has had its challenges, yes I am super busy and yes I have had the odd maternal pang of guilt, wanting to extend the weekends….  But I like being busy and I think it makes you value the time you have with your little one all the more.  I also value work more. Being a stay-at-home mum would actually have been a very bad career choice for me.   I always was a nerdy child so I identify with those kids that enjoy leaving school for the mid term break but really are secretly ready to go back next Monday morning.  

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Anne-Marie Walsh

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IT Recruitment Consultant
HAYS Recruiting experts in Information Technology

2 Dawson Street Dublin 2
 T: +353 1 6190505
E: anne-marie.walsh@hays.com

How to find a job on LinkedIn

LinkedIn claims to be the BEST tool to help you land your dream job.  It can certainly help, but it’s not the only tool to help you progress your career, you should also be using Job Boards and Recruitment Agencies. If you consider your LinkedIn profile as your CV you are on the way to finding the perfect job for you.  

Finding a job on LinkedIn takes time, the more active you are the easier it is to build up your connections, as well as establishing your credibility and reputation. Basically, don’t create your profile and expect job offers to flood in!

The key factors to finding a job include:

Is your profile up to date?

Broadcast your skills and talents so that they are easy for recruiters to find.  When searching for candidates, recruiters use keyword searches to identify those who are suited for the job they are responsible for.  If your skills, summary and profile have the right keywords you will be more visible to recruiters. 

Is your profile up to date with your current and past work information?  Write a keyword rich summary about you, your employment history, interests, education, industry and volunteer work. While it's important  to show your professional side, recruiters/employers want to see the person behind the profile as well. 

Update your contact details along with a custom URL: ex: http://ie.linkedin.com/in/rachelashe

Should you have a photo?  Having a photo is very important; people are 7 times more likely to connect with you when you have a headshot as part of your profile.  Take into consideration the reason for having a LinkedIn profile, it's to encourage employers to hire you so putting up a photo of a night out with your friends is NOT the way to go.  Be sure the photo represents you as a professional and isn’t too casual.

Join groups that are relevant to you and participate. Build your reputation and show your expertise by posting in groups, asking questions and giving your opinion.  

Aim for 100% profile completion – completed profiles rank higher in LinkedIn searches.

How to find a job? Have the job find you! 

You might be surprised to know some of the most effective techniques have nothing to do with actually searching for a job on LinkedIn.  You have to position yourself to be found by recruiters and use the resources available such as groups, your LinkedIn jobs homepage, alerts and premium job seeker accounts. Increase your visibility online and help build your professional brand.  If I search for “Rachel Ashe” my LinkedIn profile link appears on the first results page.  If a potential employer has your CV I guarantee they are looking at your LinkedIn profile. It is standard procedure now so double check all your dates and jobs to make sure they match the CV you are sending out. 

Join Groups – this will allow you to grow your network and activity and some groups have a tab where jobs are posted regularly.

Jobs Homepage – Log into your LinkedIn account and click on the jobs tab in the top navigation.  A list of recommended jobs is provided for you based on the information, keywords and skills on your profile.  Use the filtering options on the left hand side to find the jobs that are most suitable.  There is the advanced search tab on the top of the page to narrow down your job search results.

Job Alerts - once you have completed a job search – Save it!  Then create an email alert to tell you about jobs you might be interested in.  It’s easy, straightforward and keeps you up to date on new jobs.

Company Pages – target the companies you want to work with, find them on LinkedIn and follow.  When a company posts a job it’s published as an activity update on the company page and on the careers tab within the company page.  Check out Hays LinkedIn Company Page.

Job Seeker Premium – if you are really serious about finding a job on LinkedIn you should consider paying for an upgraded account.  There are three levels - Job Seeker Basic, Job Seeker and Job Seeker Plus.  The paid account gives you more information on who is looking at your profile and allows recruiters to contact you without being connected.

Once you have the profile set up start looking at how to Write Your Cover Letter, Update Your CV and Prepare For Interviews.  

Get started on www.hays.ie!

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Finally, a solution to the economic crisis!

Is it me or are people much happier and more positive this week in comparison to last week?

While out for a stroll at lunchtime today I couldn’t help but notice that most of the people I passed were either smiling or at the very least presenting a far more cheery disposition than that of the previous week. There was also more of an air of positivity around - people’s strides were more purposeful… more of a spring in their step.

And this glow wasn’t just confined to people in the street, shop assistants also appeared to be more friendly and helpful. Even the lady who prepared my sandwich greeted me differently – “How are you today sir? What can I get you?”  instead of the usual snap “What can I get ya?!?”

So what has changed from last week? Let me see…..

Has our national debt been wiped out? Have we miraculously found another 400,000 jobs returning us back to full employment? Nope.  It’s simply the case of the sun coming out!

This got me thinking....what power this natural force has over the Irish people’s psyche. If some nice weather can make such a positive difference in peoples attitudes, why haven’t we been taking advantage of this when its comes to Government strategy? It’s worth a shot!!! Wouldn’t we stand a far greater chance of negotiating a better Croke Park deal if we held emergency meetings this week rather than on a dark, dreary wet week in November? ( I am sure some of those people I passed at lunchtime were members of our union movement!).

Imagine what could be achieved if we brought the Troika and representatives of the ECB over here this week? They say there is no better place than Ireland when the sun is out. Let them get a feel for the real Irish 'cead mile failte' in overdrive. I’d say we would cut a far better deal.

But let’s not stop there. Imagine if the Island of Ireland was located on the west coast of America? We probably would have never have gotten into this bloody economic mess in the first place!

Am I placing too much trust on the affect of the sun on Ireland OR could this be the way forward?


Eamonn Wren
Finance Director
Ireland

HAYS Recruiting experts worldwide
Dublin

T: +353 1 619 0528
E: eamonn.wren@hays.com

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The Mid West – The Basket Case of Ireland

If Ireland was recently considered the economic basket case of Europe, (although we hope perceptions may be beginning to change), is it a case that the Mid-West is the basket case of Ireland?  As a proud Limerick man having grown up, received an education and spent the past 12 years working locally, it pains me considerably when I read negative press about this region.  Negative press however tends to focus on the ‘image’ of the city, on the McCarthy Dundons et-al and although damaging from a tourism point of view and even potentially from an investment point of view, I’m pretty confident that this has little to do with the woes of the region.

The mid-west has been let down at the highest possible level for a considerable period of time and the finger of blame lies squarely at the foot of successive Governments.  Not much point I hear you say in laying blame, but if we are to move forward we must identify the issues and assign responsibility to those who are in a position to make some real changes.

The Mid-West is generally defined as Limerick and surrounding counties; it refers to the city and county of Limerick, Shannon up as far as Ennis, North Tipperary and parts of Kerry as far as Tralee.  The Celtic Tiger brought one lasting benefit to the region as it did to most of Ireland - it provided us with a road infrastructure that, while not perfect, is much advanced from 20 years ago.  The downside of course to the improved road structure is that it has gotten a lot easier for people to work and study away from Limerick; and sadly that’s what’s happening.

Back to the responsibility bit, - Shannon Airport.  For many years the Government forced Trans Atlantic traffic to utilise Shannon, which seems to have artificially supported a relatively successful airport. However, once that crutch was removed the airport has gone into freefall.  Having been there on two occasions recently to fly to London, I was horrified at the departures lounge! Is it closed today I asked myself, where is everybody else? Where is Ryanair?  God knows O’Leary flies us into some obscure airport destinations around Europe in the guise of flying to Paris, Amsterdam etc. surely given our aforementioned location and road network Shannon offers a better prospect to passengers than Faranfore in Kerry which is currently the ‘regions’ airport of choice for Ryanair?

Minister for Transport; Leo Varadkar has just announced plans to separate Shannon Airport from the Dublin Airport Authority and bring it together with Shannon Development in a single entity.  While this has to be seen as good news, particularity given the fact that its current debts of €100m will remain with the DAA, it is equally somewhat disconcerting when one reads the line in the press release;

“There is still a lot of detail to be worked out around the new structure and operation of the new entity, but today's announcement is undoubtedly a major step towards creating a new entity which will act as a catalyst for growth for the wider region in the years to come".

Worryingly there appears to be a trend with this particular Government around making announcements and then 'figuring out the detail' afterwards and we need only remind ourselves of many such topical issues recently which simply, have been chaotic at implementation.  However the approach appears correct so lets firstly get Ryanair back in (give it to them if we have to) but lets get footfall into Shannon. The benefits for the region for business and tourism go without stating.

We are all well aware of the committee put in place by the previous Government and chaired by Denis Brosnan of Kerry Group, fame, the committee who continues to work on the implementation of a much needed strategy to combine Limerick City and County Councils.  Their work is ongoing and thankfully the decision to combine both councils is now irreversible with much of the implementation already started.  I was pleased to attend a recent IBEC conference and to hear at first hand much of the work that is already done.  It’s an enormous task, but if done correctly, will be the blueprint for many similar amalgamations throughout the country.  You really would have to be from Limerick to realise how crazy the current structure is with the HQ of the county council in the same car park of one the largest shopping centre complexes in Munster but due to boundaries drawn up many many years ago, the area is in the County. And a short trip across town, one finds the proud offices of the city council with their very own dedicated resources replicating their country cousins!

Regeneration continues at pace - many of us wonder what its doing! The cry from the regen people is that it’s not all about helping the disadvantaged communities of inner city Limerick. Yes that’s a big part but equally its about revitalising the city, getting footfall back into town, reenergising the streets.  The problem with this is the noises are right but there is little to be seen on the ground.  Regeneration appears to be having mixed success within the disadvantaged communities and where the investment is going to come in terms of rejuvenating the city remains a mystery to me and many others.  The philanthropic prowess of JP McManus, Chuck Feeney & Co. while always an ace in the pack for the region, is of little benefit without a clear plan, and without clear direction.  Until someone takes hold of where all this is going then I cannot see where ongoing meaningful funding can come from.

Industry is of course our biggest issue in the region, its not all bad news here thankfully but our challenges are linked to much of the above.  We have, over the years managed to grow and develop successful indigenous and multinational companies, many of which seem to stem from the progressive move of the Sean Lemass era when the Shannon Free Zone was created, leading to a culture of American multinational companies setting up in the region.  While many of those companies from the late 60’s / early 70’s have long since departed, it’s interesting to see that amongst our flagship companies today such as GE, Analog, Stryker, Dell, Genworth and others, close examination will trace their roots directly back to this period.  Its shocking however that a Fianna Fail led Government for 13 years with cabinet representation from Limerick failed to substantially move the region forward economically and to replicate in any way what was achieved in our two rival regions of Galway and Cork.  Cork the Pharma capital (not to mention the rest) and of course Galway the Med Device capital…..what has the Mid-West? A spatter of manufacturing, some med device, some ICT, some aircraft leasing, some Financial Services. All brilliant in themselves and all very welcome but lacking in something to ‘hang our hat on’ as a region.  I sat at a breakfast meeting in the city recently and listened to Minister Michael Noonan address this very issue, he highlighted much of what I have said above and told us that his office rang Barry O’Learys’ office (CEO IDA) every 2 weeks and asked “is there anything for Limerick? That’s the Minister for Finance’s answer, not because he himself is a Limerick man, I respect he has a duty to the entire nation, but how can the Government policy for the mid-west be, ring the IDA every fortnight to ask them “if there is anything for Limerick”?

At the same briefing the Minister talked about the Governments policy to build a sound economy for the future, investing in education and developing the knowledge economy. Where have we heard that before? Yet every third level institution in the country continue to beg the Government for funding; that they cannot possibly deliver what is required with a decreasing investment year on year, coupled with an even heavier burden being placed on students as government assistance to study from undergrad right up to PhD all suffer the consequence of cuts? Luckily for the region we have an established University, two outstanding Institutes of Technology, a teacher training college that is renowned nationally and internationally as well as a number of other third level institutions that all provide a wonderful service. However, it’s equally concerning to hear of the challenges that each of these face, particularly around funding.  In an ever-increasing competitive international market it’s more than concerning how far down the rankings Irish universities are in general.

The mid-west has what appear to be amongst some of Ireland greatest challenges as a region, some things are being tackled but the degree of rhetoric versus actual action coming from Government and their appointed agencies is very worrying.  Lots of announcements, lots of noise, lots of figuring out the detail later! Its time to have joined up thinking before the entire region gets left behind.   

Someone need to take responsibility, we need a Minister for the Mid-West.

Bobby O'Connor Business Director
HAYS Recruiting experts worldwide

T: +353 61 435 750
E: bobby.oconnor@hays.com 

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