Helping mums to get back into the work place

Volunteering can help you change your life and those around you

​Raising a family can be our biggest joy and our biggest challenge. For women, the role of being a parent often involves choosing whether to go straight back to work after maternity leave or to stay at home full time. There is, of course, no right or wrong way; only the way that works for you and your family.

For those women who do decide to be a stay-at-home mum, two years can pass or ten, and then you find that you have to go back to work out of financial necessity, or you want to fulfil other needs outside of your role at home. But what do you do if it’s been so long that the thought of walking into an office, a classroom or a boardroom makes you feel nervous and insecure? Well, there’s a middle ground: volunteering.

Improve your job prospects

Volunteering when you have to go back to work for the money can seem counter intuitive, but actually it can be a very sensible way to play the long game when it comes to your career. When you go on an extended break, industries often move on. Technology and social media, for example, are having huge impacts on certain sectors, including hospitality, retail, secretarial, finance, charity, education and medical. By volunteering with a local community project or a nation-wide charity, you are showing that you are proactive, developing new skills, and you are keeping your experience relevant. It is also an opportunity to make contacts that can provide references and networking opportunities. You may find a paid job at the organisation, use the skills that you have gained to find a job elsewhere, or even start your own business.

Feel good about yourself

And then there is the small matter of confidence. You’re proud of the achievements that you made in your career before you started a family, but you’re not sure you know how to be in a work environment anymore. Offering your time and your services can help by giving you a renewed sense of purpose and a taster of being back at work without throwing you in the deep end.

Find what engages you

You may not even want to go back to the high-powered high-stress job that you had before and have other interests that you want to explore. Getting involved gives you the opportunity to find out what you are passionate about: vulnerable children, education, women’s health, disabilities, mental health, supporting the elderly, foreign domestic workers’ rights. Your priorities may have changed, but your enthusiasm and passion surely have not and perhaps you will even discover a new career path.

Whatever your reasons for volunteering, whether it be to bolster your cv, feel better about yourself, or figure out what else interests you, you will have certainly have had some fun and made a few new friends.

Author

Emma Nobes