Reading: Reinvention for Working Mothers

Mary Beth Ferrante worked in corporate consumer strategy in banking. But after giving birth, she noticed how unsupportive her company became when she was looking for flexibility, how suddenly she was seen as less committed and less likely to be promoted.  This “millennial feminist” created LiveWorkLead.com to instruct both companies and individuals on how to bring working mothers back into the workforce in a logical, supportive manner that will make them productive.

Mary Beth’s Top Tips for Working Mothers

If you are a mother and you are really looking at walking back into the workplace after taking a break, or even if you walked back in after taking maternity leave and realized, ‘hey this really isn’t right for me, the three things that you need to look at are:

1.What is the job that I’m doing?
Figure out if the actual work you’re doing still works for you as a mom.

2.What is the industry that I’m doing it in?
Most jobs show up in every industry, right? So there’s always a marketing person, there’s always accounting, etc. So maybe it’s not as big of a leap to change industries for better work life balance.

3. Look at the Culture
What are they saying and what are they doing for working parents? Are they really walking their walk? I do, however, believe that if you are a working parent and you are looking for a new job, and we know that there is that strong bias around hiring, I do not think that you should bring up questions about work life balance until you are late in the interview or even offer process.

RELATED
Ageism In The Workplace: Do Women Get Hit Harder? (TheCovey, Feb. 2019 Issue)

Is the Maternal Wall Still Holding Women Back?

In Praise of Older Women

If you enjoy this content, JOIN NEST WITH COVEY and receive 12 FREE ISSUES of The Covey magazine delivered straight to your inbox each month! Our magazine features in-depth reporting, first-person stories, and special offers. All just for you.