Workingmums.co.uk LIVE Manchester - a great day for all involved

Hundreds of mums attended the first Manchester Workingmums LIVE event this week to find out about flexible work opportunities, including starting their own businesses.

A range of family friendly employers from Santander, Nationwide and Hobbs to Northern Rail and the AA and a host of franchisors came face to face with skilled professional women looking for a better work life balance at the Lowry Hotel on 8th November.

Trisha Hiley, European Talent Acquisition manager at electronics components firm Premier Farnell, said she has been impressed by the type of candidates who had approached her, including marketing people and a technical author.

"We're in a male-dominated industry, but we want more women in the business, especially engineers. We also offer the full range of jobs such as IT, marketing and sales."

The company hired a diversity manager a year ago who is pushing the flexible working agenda and educating managers internally about its benefits. "Five years ago in this business it was full time or no time," said Trisha, adding that Farnell has been transformed since its new CEO, Harriet Green,  who has two step children, took over five years ago. "We have completely changed our way of thinking and started to attract more women. Harriet has been an inspiration," she said.

Confidence

The seminars on offer, from social networking to returning to work, were very well attended. Coaches Andrea Kilpatrick and Katerina Gould said the audience for their session on returning to work was lively. What came across strongly, they said, was how women's confidence levels dropped if they took time out of the workplace. "We tried to get them to talk things through and challenge their mindsets," said Andrea.

At the flexible working seminar, coach Jessica Chivers gave a run down of how to apply for flexible working and how to make it difficult for an employer to turn down a request. She counselled women to be realistic, think of their request from the employer's viewpoint, seek allies in their office, be ready to negotiate and to do the groundwork necessary to make the request look like a win-win for them and their boss. She said women needed to know what they needed to make it all work [this might be flexi hours or some flexibility around the edges] and how this differed from their ideal wish list.

Coach Amanda Alexander gave some tips on how to handle the work life balance, although she admitted that work life balance is a bit of a myth and subject to constant adjustments. Her tips covered everything from simplifying your life, saying no and "romance for the knackered" - ie how not to neglect your partner - to blocking out time in your diary for uninterrupted Mummy time and networking, which she preferred to call connecting. She said mums often try to be perfectionists and needed to realise that being good enough is fine.

For more information about exhibiting or sponsorship opportunities at either our London or Manchester events, please contact us.

Photos by Giuseppe Lambertino www.lambertino.net