Working Mummies Support Group #2

**wysiwyg** · May 2nd, 2014, 05:00 PM

I got the job! ! Money is rubbish (well in comparison at least to last position) but I am hopeful could be start of a new era of job satisfaction for me :-) really good news is it starts the 12 th so I have next week off.

**Mother Goose** · May 2nd, 2014, 06:39 PM

Congratulations wysiwyg!!!!!!

**Mumma T** · May 2nd, 2014, 06:40 PM

I got the job! ! Money is rubbish (well in comparison at least to last position) but I am hopeful could be start of a new era of job satisfaction for me :-) really good news is it starts the 12 th so I have next week off.

congratulations! That's fantastic

**Teeki** · May 2nd, 2014, 06:41 PM

Hooray wysiwyg! Fantastic news, enjoy your week off and I hope the job satisfaction is sky high

**MummyNaomi** · May 2nd, 2014, 11:10 PM

Yay - that's awesome wysiwyg!! Go you!!

Hope the job is really enjoyable x

**peanutter** · May 2nd, 2014, 11:36 PM

thrilled for you, wysiwyg!!

**Frangipani Lou** · May 2nd, 2014, 11:59 PM

Yay Wysiwyg!! I had a really good feeling you'd get it. Congratulations!

**wysiwyg** · May 6th, 2014, 01:09 PM

Thanks everyone - I am spending this week trying to get everything done on my to do list that has sat there for about 6 months. New car seats is order of the day but I have to say I think the information out there is completely confusing once you get past the baby stage - I wish had never looked into it, but last time I just went and bought the EzyCombo on the basis of the CREP result and have always hated it in out little car and DD has never really liked it either - so I was determined to do more research this time but I think I may just be more confused than I was before.

Yesterday I lost my library card 30 mins after getting a new one, and then locked myself out the house, then forgot to take the bag of books back to the library only 2 mins after I had packed it - the children were at daycare so I can't really blame them as usual, I hope I pull myself together for next week. Today had to take DD to art class with DS still in his PJ's and me only half dressed :-) He through a tantrum about a milkshake because we normally always go for milkshake while she is at artclass so in the end we were in the library cafe with him in his PJ's (he had a dressing gown on so very obvious) and me with my PJ top on under my jacket and my jeans, oh well the more people go out half dressed the more acceptable it might become :-)

At the library I picked up a book called "Work Women Want" - I found it a depressing read - the tagline was " If you have ever asked how to make decent money but still care for your children, I wrote this book for you." - - it seems it was written for people who want to party plan, have a spouse who earns enough that they can risk investing it, or just want a bit of 'extra money' but are not dependent on it. All the solutions in there were very stereo-typically female - great for a few I am sure but didn't really even touch on the real issues of what in my mind is "Work Women Want" - which is really whatever sort of work they want but not for a massive amount of hours each week. There was a section on part-time work though which was helpfully divided into negotiating part-time if you already have a job, and trying to get one if you don't already have one (which it did acknowledge was difficult).

**wysiwyg** · May 6th, 2014, 06:09 PM

Had a bad feeling about this job this arvo and then got a call about new start date - is now 26th, hope it isn't all going to fall through, not sure I will feel settled about it till I start now. But as long as it does happen another week off is good, and then have second week of my Cert IV in training and assessment- so it is a better start date for me really.

**Kazbah** · May 7th, 2014, 09:01 PM

It's hard, good one on the job offer WYSIWYG!

Work Women Want: work which is flexible and uses our qualifications, and allows us to use our minds and intelligence. Work which is pay at the same rate as men. Work where we aren't assumed to be taking leave as soon as we get the job, but also where it is flexible and allows us to be paid enough to be a sole income if we want.

Anyhows. So I had my interview. Went well. Waiting for 3rd interview. Bit of a kerfluffle where the video hookup they booked was neither a video room nor booked. So my interview was voice only and interrupted by a pile of people coming into the room half way through which was booked. Doh. Bright side: I can wear my interview suit for next time.

**wysiwyg** · May 8th, 2014, 07:34 AM

It's hard, good one on the job offer WYSIWYG!

Work Women Want: work which is flexible and uses our qualifications, and allows us to use our minds and intelligence. Work which is pay at the same rate as men. Work where we aren't assumed to be taking leave as soon as we get the job, but also where it is flexible and allows us to be paid enough to be a sole income if we want.

Anyhows. So I had my interview. Went well. Waiting for 3rd interview. Bit of a kerfluffle where the video hookup they booked was neither a video room nor booked. So my interview was voice only and interrupted by a pile of people coming into the room half way through which was booked. Doh. Bright side: I can wear my interview suit for next time.

Good luck Kazbah - I had a phone only interview for my first job here in Australia - it was sort of weird because you can't gauge anything from expressions etc. but like you say has its perks like wearing whatever you want etc

**Teeki** · May 21st, 2014, 11:03 AM

Have you heard anything yet Kazbah?

I'm nervously awaiting a call from my boss. I said any time after 10:30 but he hasn't been able to reply because he's been on the road all week. Realistically I think it will go well, he's a great boss and very understanding, and has offered to look at all options. I'm just nervous that he'll say sorry, I couldn't get approval for part time work with an extra person, we need you full time. I considered saying in that case I'll extend my leave to the full year to try and find something better, but we really do need the money now. Just wish the call was over already

**MummyNaomi** · May 21st, 2014, 12:58 PM

Good luck Teeki!! Hope u get a call soon

Me - I'm in redundant limbo. Don't know when my end date will be, hoping to be find out in July. Redundancies will happen progressively from July through to November. Oct 10 is my yearly anniversary date so hoping to get to that ( bigger redundancy payout)

**wysiwyg** · May 21st, 2014, 01:18 PM

Good luck Teeki, and hope you very what you want MN. Must be a bit annoying having to wait to find out.

**wysiwyg** · May 21st, 2014, 01:21 PM

I am on a course, is a bit annoying because is mainly to get the qualification and not much real learning, which although I know this helped get me next job I still resent it a bit. Plus am agro about DD school next year being crap at communication. Anyway I osteo for me later hopefully they will snap me out of it.

**Teeki** · May 21st, 2014, 03:03 PM

Fingers crossed for you MN that you can stay until your anniversary date.

Bugger about the course wysiwyg. I have a feeling when I go back I'll have plenty of catch up training to do, things change so quickly.

The call went well. I'm feeling so lucky that this organisation is so supportive and flexible. It sounds as though there's not really any fte available for me to go back to my job part time. Because the idea was that they'd keep the guy doing my maternity leave full time and I'd be extra. They can't get anyone to job share with me and it's not very realistic. So worst case is I go back 5 days and keep looking elsewhere, but my boss going to put a case to his manager.

Other options are to go back to what I used to do. Easy enough to do part time and should be able to keep the same pay level. Or could switch to a different business unit, with a similar role. I reckon I'd actually like that, change is good

I was up front with him and said I'd love to continue my current job part time, but if I have to change jobs I'd probably welcome a little less responsibility and the ability to leave to pick up sick kids when needed. Also told him that any job change for me unfortunately comes down to money - I have childcare to pay for and a big pay cut is no good. He has 3 kids and his wife has been in this exact spot so he's awesome and he gets it.

I'm his first employee to come back from maternity leave so he's going to look up all the policies and see what is supposed to happen with offering different roles, if that happens.

**Mother Goose** · May 21st, 2014, 05:53 PM

Good luck Teeki. Hope you get what you need xo
Wysiwyg, I'm the same at the moment. Doing a course to get a piece of paper to formalize something I've been doing for years. Some days it is a bit of a joke - but I just sit and relish my day out of the office.

I'm still around. Resenting some stuff at work. But trying to keep my eye on the end goal. Planning some leave in July. Hanging out for that.

**Astrid** · May 22nd, 2014, 12:53 PM

Hey Ladies, sorry been a bit quiet in this thread lately.

Still dealing with the cultural changes. Thought it would be settle by now, but my gut is saying that change is still in progress. Money is getting tight amongst our clients, so we are looking at ways to get more money, whereas I just think get rid of dead wood. The hard thing is being part-time, they look first at dropping hours of part-timers before a full-time, even if they came on last and add less value to the business. The socialisation aspect is a real issue. Tired of feeling like I am less valued as I am not FB friends with half of them and don't constantly give my opinion on what the boss is posting, or inviting him over for dinner.

I just feel something drastic needs to happen and then it will settle into a known vibe. Hoping the drastic thing is nothing to do with me