Mom Spotlight – Danielle Wilson – sweetpeanut.com

Mom Spotlight - Danielle Wilson

1) Provide an overview of your company, how many hours you work, what made you decide to launch your own business.

The Sweet Peanut Clothing Company designs, manufacturers and wholesales infant clothing across North America.  As of Spring 2007 it is also available for sale on our website.  I currently work on average 20 hours per week.

Prior to starting Sweet Peanut I worked in advertising and marketing, primarily advertising agencies, for 12 years.  When I became pregnant with my first child the company I was working for was not supportive of finding a solution for my maternity leave.  In order to keep my job I returned part time to work when my son was four months old.  When he was 11 months old and I was preparing to return to work full time I was let go.  It was one of the best things that ever happened to me.  Five months later I started Sweet Peanut.  That was now almost two years ago.   I now work for myself, part-time, raise two boys and look back on the 50 hour work week of advertising agency life as something that would have been very stress inducing while raising two children.

2) Provide an overview of your home life, how many children you have, childcare arrangement,if married your husbands career and how you share the responsibilities at home.

I have two children (3 years and 10 months).  I have childcare two days a week for my big boy and one day every two weeks for both.  Fortunately children nap and I work four hours a day on the days I have childcare for the big guy and two hours a day on the other days.  My husband has been really supportive of my career change and not only does he stamp envelopes and delivery packages when needed he does bath and bed duty so I can get another hour of work in the evenings.

3) Can you discuss how you network and the importance of networking to your business.

The biggest part I miss working for myself from a home office is the network of other people and a social environment to plug into.  A playdate at the park doesn’t provide the same stimulation as walking down the hall way at work and asking for help brainstorming solutions to a design problem.  I have developed a number of email relationships with other women making the same change as me, but unfortunately email is my largest networking outlet with the current age of my children.  In the past six months I have begun speaking engagements with the Women’s Enterprise Society, which provides tools for women entrepreneurs in BC and that has been a great addition to my business.

4) Of your female friends with children how many of them continue to work now that they have children.

I only have one friend who has gone back to work full time for her company after both her maternity leaves and only one friend who is a full time stay at home mom.  The rest are re-defining and creating new work situations.  I have two friends who were home full time with their kids for a few years before starting their own business; I have a friend who continues to work for her company 25 hours a week as a consultant; I have a friend who is an employment lawyer and when her firm would not consider part-time after her maternity leave went to work three days a week.  I have a friend who is an elementary school teacher and job shares with another mom.

Part of my philosophy with Sweet Peanut when looking to hire is to actively find other moms who are doing the same thing as me.  My fabric designer works part time from home with her two children.  My graphic designer works from home with two children.  My PR consultant has hired someone to take her work load at her firm and takes on some projects while home with a new born.  My office relief is a grandma.

5) Can you offer any advice for achieving a balance between your family life and your career.

I think the most important thing is to know what you really want and continually remind yourself of that when things start to feel out of balance.  For example, I really want to be home  with my children, especially when they are this young, and I want to create a full time job to step into when they begin grade school.  This vision is a really helpful thing to come back to when I’m feeling over-obligated or over-whelmed or questioning my sanity when I’m packing orders on my kitchen floor at 1:00am!

Tips for Professional Mothers Returning to Work – Tip 9

Tip #9 – Reinventing Your Resume

So you have decided to return to the workforce or you want to move into a new role.  Your successful networking has paid off and someone has asked you to send him or her your resume.  Sure, no problem, but it's been years since you've completed one or what you have is drastically out of date.  Where do you start?

Resume is defined as a brief written account of personal, educational, and professional qualifications and experience, as that prepared by an applicant for a job.  Also called a CV short for "curriculum vitae", which means "the course of a life" in Latin. (Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006)

You can find samples and guidelines on several sites including educational institution websites as well as career and job sites such as Monster and Workopolis.  As a professional recruiter, I would like to give you an insider's view of resume review. 

What you Need to Know

The main purpose of your resume is to get yourself into the interview.  This is the employers' first sample of the quality of your work. Ensure it is flawless.  We see grammatical mistakes and spelling mistakes even from high-level professionals.  Have someone else review it for you before sending it out.  High quality also means formatting your document so it looks professional.  Fonts should be readable, margins printable, and photos and pictures omitted. 

Employers use it as a guide. Give clear and adequate information that answers basic questions about your career and educational path. Unknowns will put you in the "no" pile.  What I mean by unknowns is large gaps between employment or omissions in your education history.  My firm belief is that everyone is unique and you are doing yourself a disservice if you decide to omit educational degrees or course work you have completed.   Gaps in employment can be entered as a one line sentence such as "Remained at home for personal reasons."  I recommend that you are as open and honest as possible, which all employers will appreciate.  Employers cannot eliminate you as a candidate solely because you are a mother.  If you have the relevant experience and personality fit, you are a viable candidate. 

Make sure that what is on paper is articulating who you are, what you have done and where you want to go.  In the work experience section be sure that you not only put down your responsibilities (the job description) but also your significant accomplishments (what you did to add value to the company).  Align your resume with the role to ensure maximum interest of the employer.  If you are applying to a specific role, go through each line item in the job description and if you've done it, make sure it is on your resume. 

Elimination Factors

• Candidates who are difficult to reach. Be reachable! Have a phone that has voicemail that you check regularly. Be able to check e-mail frequently as well. Employers are busy. If they can reach another candidate more easily, you are out.

• Unprofessional e-mail addresses or e-mail omitted. Leave the "hotmama" e-mail address for your personal use.

• Spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. Note that some versions of word processing applications do not check spelling of capitalized words. I've seen PROFESSOINAL and MANGER many times.

• Work experience being a duty list only. Put context around your responsibilities such as size of department, number of transactions, or geographical area.

• Put emphasis on accomplishments. Be tangible. Did you save the company money, time, or resources? How long did the project take? How much revenue did you bring in? Did you win any employee recognition awards? What were they for?

• Employment dates not included or vague (ie. year only). Always put month and year in this section. Having just 2000 to 2001 can mean 2 months or 24 months. Don't make it look like you are hiding anything.

Once you have a solid resume, you should be confident going into an interview.  The time that you took to prepare a complete resume (not just a laundry list of your life) is actually preparation for the interview.  More on that in the next tip. 

Insights on Your Internet Nanny Search

By Janet MacDonald.  Janet is the Owner and President of OptiMum Childcare and Nannies Inc. (est. 1989)  If you have any questions about this or any other topic relating to nannies please feel free to contact Janet MacDonald by email at opti-mum@shaw.ca.

A Google search for "nannies" produces 16,500,000 results. It is, to say the least, quite an intimidating prospect to search for a nanny on the Internet.

Most of the sites that result from this search are Agencies advertising their services.  They may offer valuable information but there are certain precautions that should be taken when navigating these sites. Work with sites run by professionals, people with Human Resources or Early Childhood Education training. Look for established companies that have been in existence for at least 5 years. Be cautious of sites with outdated information, like employment tax deduction charts.

 You will find database websites that offer access to nanny applications for a fee. Use a site that allows access to the database before you pay a fee. If you are using a site to bring in a nanny from overseas be wary of agencies that claim to have branch offices overseas. Sometimes their agents only interview applicants over the phone or through email while charging them outrageous fees for representation. Local chatrooms are also a helpful place for parents to network and find childcare and other families to nanny share.

You can also try free job banks like BestJobs.com or free classified advertising services like craigslist.com. Moms can also post their childcare and nanny requirements on the Forum on YummyMummyCareers.com. This is also a free service. Be sure to include the ages and number of children to be cared for, start date, hours of work, salary range and a brief job description including any housework, meal preparation and driving required. Ask interested applicants to send resumes by Email.

As daunting as this may seem, it is only the first step towards finding the right caregiver for your family. In my next article I'll cover resume review and assessment as well as initial telephone interviews.

Keeping Waiting Time Productive By Networking

By Michelle Vandepol.  Michelle writes for the Agassiz Harrison Observer and magazines such as SUCCEED and Woman Alive. Her debut novel Mother Mexico will be published by iUniverse in early spring. Look for excerpts online at her blog  www.nothisplace.blogspot.com.

If there is anything worse than being out of work, it's feeling badly about it. In fact that might be a part of what is holding you back. We've all no doubt heard that networking is the fastest way to fast track our career opportunities. I don't know about you, but when I think networking, a part of me laughs at the image that pops up: the air kissing, power suit wearing, martini sipping super faux-acting woman. While that may be someone's version of networking – it's definitely the one that was portrayed in one too many eighties' films – it doesn't have to be yours. Thank goodness, because you forgot to buy a post-baby power suit and your house is too littered with Barbies and Legos to host after dinner drinks for the neighborhood.

Networking can help you be productive while job hunting and waiting for the responses from HR, or drumming up business. If you do it right, it will feel effortless in a short while.

An easy way to get your head around networking is to keep your ears and eyes open for ways you can help others get ahead. Not by doing time-wasting stuff they should be doing for themselves (like reformatting their resume), but keeping them in mind when you hear of a job they might want to apply for, a new fantastic daycare, a space on a committee you're currently on, or another working mom you think they might get along with. A lot of business and hiring, for smaller companies especially, is done by word of mouth. Someone knows someone who knows someone and before you know it you have an in to where you want to and so do they.

The most successful networkers are those who practice it as a lifestyle. It should not be an artificial thing you do to get work, make a quick buck, or climb the social ladder. Anytime you are misrepresenting yourself, it will be obvious and a joke. You may need to work on your self-confidence to see yourself as a highly successful person, but you can do that and still stay true to yourself.

Staying productive is different than staying busy. Staying busy is fine for distracting yourself, but what we want is focus. Keep your life as efficient as you'll need it to be when you have your dream career. That means voice mail and e-mail checked and up to date. It means organized records and a diligent calendar keeping. Notice I say, calendar keeping. You don't need to be scheduled and do the same thing every day at the same time if it's not your style, but you do need to make appointments and keep them, avoid double-booking or overextending yourself. Keep a binder of contacts, business calls and quotes, and resume revamps. Take things as seriously as you want others to take them.

There are different ways to put the word out during the job search and wait. Use a variety of the ones that suit your personality. Start a regular social event or join one, take a class or workshop in your business area, do a few discounted jobs in exchange for a reference or advertising, set up a blog or website and link to other blogs and websites, take a volunteer position or internship, or serve on a committee in your community.

A big part of networking is staying positive. No one wants to hear how much setting up your own business is draining you or how long the days have been. Do what you have to do to make it work. In this time you can take special note of people whose work you admire. Ask them for advice. Be specific. Be casual. Be one time. I'm not in favor of going and asking any one person to be your mentor. It's a big burden for them to carry alone and frankly, if they're a busy working mother, they have their own work to do. You're a big girl. You can deal with it on your own. Ask intelligent questions and you'll fill in your own blanks in time.

Ask questions of people you admire for their work attainments or family balance or both. When you are asking the questions, keep it mind they could be seen as prying. Be careful how you word them. If you're not sure it will come out right, wait until you've rethought how you want to present it. In a group setting, don't put any one person on the spot. Either make plans to get together one on one in the future with the person whose brain you want to pick or start a group discussion.

A functional way to both network and fill in the time while you look for your dream job is to consider a temporary stepping stone position. It will make things less tight financially and free you up to explore more where you want to go. You never know if the person who lines you up with your next fabulous job might be the one who meets you at this one. One word of caution: if it's quite far removed from your goal job and you're not feeling satisfaction, do not get stuck there by getting too comfortable and eliminating other options. Part of getting into something new and growing in your career is to reach outside your comfort zone, but not too far. Grow a bit, tackle something new, get comfortable with that, and then stretch again.

When choosing even your temporary jobs, make sure the lifestyle the job is going to bring is the right one for you. We can get used to a lot of things as workers: variety in pay, hours, and prestige; but if you are worrying about the timing of getting through rush hour in time to let your partner work the opposite shift or haven't given yourself enough time to look for daycare where your child is happy, you will have a harder time focusing on your job and it will quickly show up in your performance. May I remind you to stay focused on your career aspirations? Predators looking to rip off people looking for work opportunities work the networking system too.

Thank everyone who helps you with ideas, contacts, and job suggestions. In your binder, keep lists (free of names) of what you notice people around you are doing successfully and copycat others' general career paths if they appeal to you. (Not with the same company or contacts though of course) You have to do the grunt work of finding your niche yourself.

The network can be a negative place too and you want to stand out as a beacon of positive light. Don't put yourself in inflammatory positions. Bad relations get around faster than good. Nix the ranting and shut down the gossip. Know that classic adage mom shared with you: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. You never know who knows who. Be thankful for the work you get and treat every job you do with your best effort and respect. Put in your time, pay your dues, don't burn your bridges by knocking the position or company out loud, even when you leave. You never know when you might need that resource again. (as a reference, as a client for your business, for freelance work, etc.)

Treat everyone you meet well and you be treated well as well. Networking is just a polished way of saying what goes around comes around, right, mom?

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