Anyone used any careers services for returning to work?

[wysiwyg]

Yesterday I read something in the Progress Leader magazine about Job Seekers week at a recruitment place - now I thought well I am seeking a job maybe I should go along, it was on the way home from daycare drop off so I popped in - well yesterday was Parents day so missed the main one that may have been of value but spoke to woman on the desk anyway. It turns out it was for 'Job Seekers' as in people are registered with Centrelink and people were referred there by Centrelink but she said I could stay and listen anyway. (Is it just me and being English that I didn't realise 'Job Seekers' meant people registered with Centrelink?) I couldn't really get an answer about whether I should be registering from Centrelink - are there benefits or disadvantages to registering as a Job Seeker if you don't qualify for any financial assistance (from the brief look I have had, DH would earn enough that I wouldn't be eligible for anything in monetary terms - which is fare enough).

The presentation I saw this morning made me really depressed - and also confused, previous career stuff I have been to when got made redundant for example suggested you shouldn't just take any job but should make sure it fits with your overall plan - but this morning seemed to be saying the opposite but I think when you have childcare to take into consideration is different anyway (is there a point in taking a job that costs you more in childcare than you earn if it doesn't benefit your career long term). I don't know if the picture for mums wanting to return to part -time work is as depressing as was made out or if maybe there target audience today was a bit different to my situation (lots of talk about long-term unemployed, psychological issues for long term breaks from work, lack of qualifications etc).

Anyway has anyone used any careers services they really recommend? There seems to be various stuff about but I am a little wary because have not had great experiences in the past at people really understanding my career area.

I have masters degree in Information Managment and worked in IT supporting SAP systems in Logistics area, and have never been out of work apart from having children. I only want to go back part-time 3 full days a week, which is my real issue. I am looking for somewhere where can get advice to make sure that whatever I do for the next few years till DS starts school will be the best use of time to give me decent employment options for full time work for then. I was the main income earner, but we could borrow some money to make do on DH's wage for a bit but not really sure what is the best course of action e.g. Maybe I should suck it up and go back to work full time (I did before DS but hated it so went down to 3 days) and hope that from there I can negotiate down to part time (I really loathe to do this - but maybe is my only option to stay in current area of work?)

(I have only been looking for work for 6 weeks and I know average is 3 months, but most recruitment agents are not interested in part-time so really my only prospects for looking is by using existing networks of contacts which is what have been doing so far - because of childcare I don't feel I can just go on indefinitely looking for work, because if I am not working I would far rather be looking after the kids but can't wait till I get a job as then wouldn't get childcare. At the moment DH and I have put a limit on 'looking' till end of Feb)

All ideas, experiences, suggestions welcome.

[Dollyroux]

As far as registering as a Job Seeker, I think it would be useless - the only advantage is that allows you to use the Job network agencies to find positions and the sort of positions you are after aren't advertised through those agencies - so don't worry about that. Though registering is easy and relatively pain free I don't think it will provide any use in your case! Hope you find work soon .

[HotI]

As an educated person looking for a professional position, i found the employment agencies pretty useless. I got minor assistance with my CV and cover letters but could have done without them.

When looking for part time work, i still applied for many full time positions, and then enquired as to possibility of part time work at interview or at follow up.

I was offered 2 positions just from doing letter and cv drops. Not what i wanted for long term jobs, but they worked for interim jobs (i was pregnant and wanted work and couldn't be too picky).

good luck

[wysiwyg]

As an educated person looking for a professional position, i found the employment agencies pretty useless. I got minor assistance with my CV and cover letters but could have done without them.

I suspected as much - and have had relatively recent CV and cover letter assistance as part of my redundancy package

When looking for part time work, i still applied for many full time positions, and then enquired as to possibility of part time work at interview or at follow up

Were any of these through recruitment agents - did you just not tell them you were only after part-time? I suppose one of my worries is the SAP world is really small and I would be concerned about wasting peoples time if they won't even consider part-time - and it is how to get past the recruiter really I might be able to convince an employer but not recruitment agent. In the beginning I was getting several calls a day, then word gets round you are only after part-time and it stops. Most of the jobs are contract based, so agent wants to know your daily rate etc etc and so it would be kind of hard not to mention part-time only. Working from home is fairly common and I can see how you could mention that later, but not so sure about part-time (there is no way I could work from home and look after the kids though so is not an option I am after).

Other problem is SAP (at least logistics part) is only really used by big companies, big companies have preferred suppliers which are normally recruitment agencies - but maybe there are some related areas letter drop could work - will have to think about that one.

[Astrid]

Also found the employment agencies not much use. All they could do is help me with my resume, which I did not need at all. They had the same jobs that I could search for online.

Part-time is hard. The one independent recruitment agency I spoke to (and had to speak to direct at they don't advertise they only go off their own books), made a big thing of understanding part-time and the restrictions of childcare, blah blah. Well have not heard from them in 2 years. I think it is a matter of really keeping an eye on the job ads and job sites, along with cold calling.

[wysiwyg]

Any experience with services more the career coaching side? Sort of maybe more about what is best for your career path in the long-term rather than helping you find a job so much - helping you work out what is the best option/path to move down?

Part-time sucks - at the moment (if they were old enough) I would be telling my kids particularly my daughter that if they want kids and to be able to be home with them at least part time to think carefully about chosen career path - and go into something with a plan in mind as to how would deal with their early years of life - because my 'winging' it approach does not appear to offer me what I want.

[Astrid]

I think having a plan helps. If I was to do it all again, I would either have moved to a smaller accounting firm close to home rather than sticking in Corporate accounting in the CBD. Would have given me more flexibility with work (well I hope). Either that or I would have spent a year or two striking out with my own bookkeeping business. I started that after DD1 was born, which really was too late, I needed the client base and the work for myself skills before babies.