Updating Your Resume When Time Is Tight by Michelle Vandepol

Finding the time to update your resume when time is tight is tricky. Not to mention getting it all together in time to apply before the job deadline closes. You know it needs to be a priority if you are to move ahead, but you’re already exhausted. The good news is that there are other mothers that have tackled the same obstacles and have moved on to their dream positions. Here two of them share how you can do it too.
Pay attention to the important stuff. Note characteristics you want in a job. Highlight potential positions and the perks you want when you’re job searching, no matter how casually.
Even if you are not feeling ready to apply just yet, look for opportunities to do the things you want to show up on your resume. To get an idea of the skill set to work on, look at the listings of the positions you want. At your current job, take advantage of workshops, on the job training, and involvement in projects showing advancement initiative.
On a practical level, keep your updated resume in a safe place (including multiple back up copies) so you don’t have to go from scratch every time you have something new to add. Look up resume templates online or in a library resource book to properly format yours if it’s been a while. You want to look current.
Having a ready current resume also serves as job security. At review time, your accomplishments will be fresh in your mind. It also serves as a non-monetary emergency fund. Having an updated resume ready to go means in the event that you get served a pink slip, you can be job searching that same day or the next. Saved time is saved money, after all.
Whether looking to advance at your current workplace or interviewing for a new position outside of it, the horn blowing skill is the same and you need to get comfortable with it.
“Be a salesperson for yourself,” says Ett Vandebeek, a mother of two who works as an office administrator. Even if deep down you doubt your abilities, remind yourself that everyone feels inadequate sometimes and overcoming self-doubt is an important part of achieving success.
“What’s the worst that can happen?” she asks. There will be more jobs to apply for and other opportunities to inquire about. Asking the question of yourself means taking the fear of failure out of the equation.
“If you have a dream, you can do it,” she says, speaking from personal experience. Her recent transition from an assembly line position at a manufacturing plant to a different kind of challenge, as an administrative assistant in a high profile office; serves as an example of a large change in job description, one she had to convince herself she was ready for. She says the key to getting in the right mindset for applying and interviewing for the job you really want is picturing yourself already in it.
Visualization works for moving within your company as well. Jessica Murdy is a mother of three who recently made the transition from reporter to editor.
“See yourself doing what you want to do,” she recommends. Noting the steps that you will need to take to move into a new position whether it is for the schedule, pay, recognition, or challenge; means that the transition will occur naturally. You will find yourself subconsciously taking the steps you’ve planned even if you tucked the to-do list away.
Murdy traces her investment into her dream position back almost a decade. She started as an arts feature writer coming into the newspaper office two days a week on production days. She worked at that position for 2 years, then took a scant 11 weeks maternity leave (she confesses she was worried about job security), and came back to the position for approximately 6 more months.
9-11 and a coinciding vacation made her rethink her priorities for her family and she found herself craving more family time. She quit her job and it was almost another two, and another child, before she found herself reapplying to the same paper. This time, with a new editor at the helm, they built a position for her to do at home, one day a week. She did this position for several years, quitting shortly before another editor transition and then rehiring with the next.
This time she was offered four days a week in office. She weighed her daycare options and decided that it was time to make her next move. Her youngest was months away from being in kindergarten and only needing part-time daycare. She credits her flexibility with opening the door to her new position, something she recommends.
“Stay open and flexible,” she says. You will have more options that you would have come up with on your own. She also says that giving more than expected is what will build the stage for future advancement. When she was finished her responsibilities, she took on others with a management perspective on what needed to be done. That is what got noticed in the end, she says. A year into the 4 day a week position, she asked for more responsibilities and that move gave her the skill set for her current move into the editor’s chair at a sister paper.
Both of these working mothers spent time building their skill sets and looking for new positions which would be better fits for them and their families. They surrounded themselves with supportive people and went ahead and did what needed to be done. Their stories are inspiring but not unusual. They could be yours as well.

Mom Spotlight - Jessica Rozitis

1) Provide an overview of your company and your job, how many hours you work.
McNeill Nakamoto Recruitment Group is an exceptional staffing company committed to creating exceptional staffing experiences for both clients and candidates.
I am the Production Manager, affectionately known as ‘the glue’ as I keep everything together with regards to operations, communications, PR and marketing. I am in the office 3 days a week, but I sneak a peek at my emails, our website, our blog, our twitter account, etc. on the days that I am not in the office.

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 boys, age 4 and 8. I am very lucky to have my mother in law take care of my children while I am at the office. My days at the office are determined by my mother in law’s availability. My husband is self employed and works from home, so I can rely on him to drive the boys to school and other activities. Anything walking distance, my mother in law takes care of. I do a majority of the household chores, and having a cleaning lady once a week certainly helps. Generally my husband makes dinner on the days I am at the office, as I’m usually home between around 6:30 or 7:00 pm, although I am going to try to make a better effort in getting home earlier, so we can have family dinner together. All of this sounds great on paper, but the reality is that my husband travels a lot for business, so when he is away, I need to be more flexible with my office hours. I am so fortunate to have a very flexible employer, and they understand my unique situation.

3) Are there certain organizations or individuals who have been the greatest influence and support in terms of assisting with your career and business decisions.
Sarah McNeill and Cheryl Nakamoto are a terrific inspiration. I have the opportunity every day to witness how they handle business decisions. They are fantastic mentors and leaders who support me and inspire me to excel. My father and my husband are exceptional businessmen who I can engage in open conversation about my career and facilitate me with ideas and ignite the passion that I have for my role in McNeill Nakamoto.

4) Can you offer insight into ways that “professionally minded moms” could be supporting each other.
Create a strong network of women who are at the same stage of your life. Women naturally share and talk with each other about what they are going through. Develop a relationship with a close friend who is going through the same challenges and triumphs. Sharing helps you get through all the good and bad. Never be afraid to reach out.

5) Can you offer any advice for achieving a balance between your family life and your career.
I am lucky to be working part time. As a loyal employee, I stay connected to the office even on my ‘Mommy Days’. I check email etc. on my favourite working Mom gadget, the iPhone. But I try to be careful to not interrupt the time with my children. Family dinner is important to us. One of my favourite things to do recently is feed the kids an early dinner. Then, while my husband is doing the bedtime routine, I’ll be downstairs in the kitchen, whipping up a gourmet dinner for two. We can then enjoy a good meal, great conversation, and not have to spend our entire meal teaching our children about the finer art of table manners.

About McNeill Nakamoto Recruitment Group

Imagine a staffing company that attracts raving fans – raving employers and raving talent. McNeill Nakamoto is that good. Since 1996, McNak has been building a fan club by delivering consistent results – qualified talent that ‘fits’.
WOW. FUN. PEOPLE.
www.mcnak.com

Mom Spotlight - Sarah McNeill & Cheryl Nakamoto

Sarah McNeill and Cheryl Nakamoto, cofounders of McNeill Nakamoto Recruitment Group

Overview of Company

Sarah McNeill and Cheryl Nakamoto started McNeill Nakamoto Recruitment Group, a full service temporary and permanent staffing company, in 1996. We jointly run the company, provide strategic planning, mentorship and business network to our team.

Now that we both have school aged children, and participate actively in their lives, we both each work 25 to 30 hours a week. It used to over 50 hours! Somehow we have also found time to be on local community boards. Sarah is a director of the Vancouver Opera board and on the honorary board of Big Sisters of BC Lower Mainland. Cheryl is on the board of Dress for Success.

We are a mom friendly operation – 60 % of our team are mothers! We have created an excellent work environment where mothers can achieve business success.

Family

Sarah has been married to her husband Cameron McNeill, owner of MAC Real Estate Solutions and MPC Intelligence, for over 14 years. We have two children, ages 6 and 8. We have a fantastic care giver who keeps the house in order and picks up the children twice a week from school. Cameron takes our eldest to school most days and Sarah juggles our youngest’s morning activities until school begins at 12:30. Many a morning is spent at the Arbutus Club in the Billie Mitchell room working while classes are in session! Sarah is often found on line after 9pm. Sarah and Cameron try as best as possible to plan out meals each week. Sarah’s mother comes in at least once a week to support.

Cheryl has been married to her husband Ed Klarich for 15 years. Ed is an Area Manager, Vancouver Entrepreneurship Centre, at the Business Development Bank. We have two children, ages 7 and 10. Now that our children are in full time school we have a part time caregiver. Cheryl shares the school drop offs and pick ups with other mothers. Cheryl and Ed try to plan out meals but have a real affinity to healthy takeout!

Organizations or Individuals of Influence

Both Sarah and Cheryl are in unique situation whereby they have participated in their husband’s career in a mentorship capacity as much as their husbands have been in theirs. Sarah and Cheryl have both benefitted from their nine year membership in the Entrepreneur’s Organization

Insight

Get to know other mothers from school and get into your mix of contacts both working parents and stay at home parents. They can be life savers!

Sarah and Cheryl have been most successful in planning lunches with other women entrepreneurs (working mummy power lunches!). We’ve found innumerable ways to support each other and sharing of ideas on how to juggle the mommy/business balance.

Advice on Balance

Do work that gives you a sense of fulfillment.

Take time to Breathe. Do Yoga. Walk.

Be present for your children. Stop, Look and Listen. They are only little once.

Schedule time for you and your kids; take time for yourself and also with your spouse.

Time can slip away and overwhelm you with competing priorities.

Mom Spotlight - Susan Matheson

1) Provide an overview of your company and your role within the company; how many hours you work.
I am a co-founder and managing partner of The Image Builders along with my business partner Denisa Nica. We share equally in all aspects of the company.
At The Image Builders, we work with groups and individuals to help them better understand the impact of image in achieving personal and professional success. Specific areas of training include business and social etiquette, cultural awareness, style and wardrobe assessment, and personal branding. Our clients have included everyone from women returning to the workforce and students preparing for university or articling positions, to lawyers and engineers working in multicultural and globally focused environments. We pride ourselves on tailoring each program’s elements to the specific needs of each client.
While we have yet to encounter a “typical” week or even day, on average we work full-time hours. Those hours may occur at our downtown office, at a client’s boardroom or in our home offices during traditional work day hours or just as easily in the wee hours.

2) Provide an overview of your home life, how many children you have, childcare arrangement, if married your husband’s career and how you share the responsibilities at home.
My husband and I have two boys, aged 10 and 11 and a large hairy dog. The boys are in school full time from 8 am until 3:30 pm daily. I make every effort to schedule meetings and presentations within those hours in order to be available to pick the boys up at school every day. It is an important ritual to me and they tell me they appreciate my being there as well – for now! Our afternoons and evenings often involve hockey or other sporting commitments and my husband and I both share and participate as much as possible in taking the boys to their activities and cheering them on. Between the two of us (and the help of our BlackBerries) we are usually able to manage. When scheduling conflicts arise or one of us is away we are fortunate to usually be able to rely on the help of Grandparents or fellow team parents.
Due to the more flexible nature of my work schedule I tend to be responsible for most of the home front. My husband is certainly there to actively help me when needed. He receives his fair share of “Could you pleeeeease pick up milk/bread/small child on your way home?” messages and is always accommodating! His work in developing and managing airports requires him to travel fairly regularly and he is definitely missed when he’s away.

3) Are there certain organizations or individuals who have been the greatest influence and support in terms of assisting with your career and business decisions.
Both Denisa and I have husbands with sharp business acumen and a willingness to offer respectful guidance when asked. “When asked” is the key phrase! They are always patient and supportive and we consider them important participants in our business success.
We are supporters of MomCafe and its mission and regard its founders, Jill Earthy and Hilary Wooller with great respect.
Denisa and I are both insatiable readers and have been influenced by many books and articles in our decision-making as well. It is important to note that we have paid attention to times when we’ve been un-impressed by an individual or organization as well and have consciously sought to approach our own business differently.

4) Can you offer insight into ways that “professionally minded moms” could be supporting each other.
We have been very fortunate to meet a number of successful business people who’ve shared their thoughts and impressions with us. We are members of a few professional groups, some focused on women, and enjoy time spent with entrepreneurially-minded friends as well. All have been appreciated as much for the brutal honesty as the sincere empathy when it comes to developing a new business and managing a family.
I find e-mail notes (NOT jokes!) and forwarded articles relevant to one another’s business interests also helpful. For those working at a home office a little reminder that someone out there at their desk is thinking of them and their endeavour lifts the spirits while also augmenting one’s research into what’s current in their field or with the competition!

5) Can you offer any advice for achieving a balance between your family life and your career?
I personally don’t strive for a specific state of balance; I aim for balance over a period of time. There are days when The Image Builders deadlines have me preoccupied and other days when I receive a call from the school nurse and need to drop all work-related tasks. If, at the end of a year I have managed to be present, contributing value, and happy, with both family and career, I consider it balanced. I do grapple on a daily basis with guilt (laundry not folded or an article still unwritten) and often find at midnight that I’ve simply run out of hours but if I look back over time and seem to have managed to do both well I am content.

Susan Matheson is a Founder and Managing Partner of The Image Builders (www.theimagebuilders.ca). Whether working with a mother returning to work or a business going global The Image Builders lead the way to achieving and optimizing professional image. Contact 604-601-8250.

Mom Spotlight - Andrea & Jennifer Kirby - Kirby Financial Group

1) Provide an overview of your company and your job, how many hours you work.

Kirby Financial Group is a financial planning firm that is dedicated to helping clients clarify, simplify, and achieving their financial objectives.

Andrea and I typically work about 40 hours per week. Some of this time is spent at home after the kids are in bed, for a few hours on a weekend, or during nap time!

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.

Jennifer has 2 children, age 4 and 7 months old. Andrea has a 5 month-old baby. Andrea and Jennifer have a day home that is very flexible. Our caregiver, Ellen, has been looking after children for more than 30 years and we feel so lucky to have her in our life. She is a key person in our team.

Jennifer’s husband, Bruno, is a Sales Training Manager for Kal Tire. Tyler, Andrea’s husband is a lawyer for the Calgary firm Walsh Wilkens Creighton LLP. Bruno and Tyler are very supportive our careers and our business, therefore they take an active role in our home life.

If Andrea or Jennifer have early meetings, Tyler and Bruno will drive the kids to Ellen’s or pick them up at the end of the day.

3) Are there certain organizations or individuals who have been the greatest influence and support in terms of assisting with your career and business decisions.

We have learned a lot from our mom who started in real estate when we were young. Our mom always juggled home and work and we always knew that this was a possibility. Having a positive role model has really helped us in business.

4) Can you offer insight into ways that “professionally minded moms” could be supporting each other.

We feel lucky to have a great network of women who are balancing home and career. It is important to have people from whom you can get advice and help dealing with the inevitable challenges that arise. Networking with other professional mothers can help to encourage a balance between work and home.

Social pressure to stay at home for 1 year or more or to return to work after your children are in school is difficult to handle at times. There are definite moments when we both feel guilty after dropping our little people at Ellen’s house, but words of encouragement from a trusted friend – and sometimes a client – can help keep things in perspective.

Jennifer’s friend Erinn has a daughter the same age and they share driving responsibilities to pre-school and other activities. It is important to lean on each other and ask for help.

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

Jennifer and Andrea are lucky in that our choice of career and business model allows us to be flexible. By understanding their limits and boundaries and shaping their schedules accordingly makes it easier to balance work and family.

Andrea’s decision to return to work part-time when her son was 3 or four months old was made with the understanding that she is earning flexibility if there is a time when her son simply needs her.

We make our own schedules, so it’s easy to say yes to everything and end up working every day. You have to understand your limits, set realistic goals or expectations, and then stick to what you wanted.

About Kirby Financial Group
Jennifer Kirby is a Certified Financial Planner, Chartered Life Underwriter and Registered Health Underwriter with a passion for making sense out of complex financial products. Jennifer has been working in the financial planning industry since 1995 and has a proven track record for helping clients clarify their personal and financial objectives.

Www.kirbyfinancialgroup.com