Meet Tilly. Tilly is not her real name (we just love the name!). This mama recently reached out to thank us for helping her. She came to us not wanting to share her story, but it’s too good not to share. You see, when we set out to start Circle In, we never dreamt of having such a huge impact on people’s lives. So, when Tilly told us about her new role and how she came to achieve it, we knew we had to pass this on and help to inspire others in our circle.
Tilly had worked at the one workplace for almost five years. She was respected, senior and had even travelled internationally to speak on behalf of her organisation. During her second parental leave, whenever she thought about returning to work it didn’t feel right. She wanted a change and wanted the courage to do something different, but lacked the confidence. Plus, she was on parental leave and couldn’t imagine who would hire her!
Tilly had been following Circle In for a while and many of the articles had struck a chord. She told us that one day she decided to read back on a few, including the real stories, to find some inspiration. After reading the inspirational stories of some of the mamas in our circle, it dawned on her that she had been looking at the situation all wrong.
Tilly decided that she needed to back herself, find a new and exciting job prospect and go for it!
In her job interview, Tilly was asked a number of questions about her experience and current role. Now (we love this bit!), this is the point when Tilly’s newfound confidence really shone through. Most interviewees would continue to talk about the fact that they are on parental leave and make excuses for this and for that. But not Tilly. Tilly spoke in the present tense about her ‘current role’ despite being on parental leave. As she said to us, ‘It’s still my job and I am still employed in it’. Tilly spoke about the responsibilities of her role and what she was doing day to day in it. That had not changed. The fact she was on parental leave never came up and she did not feel the need to tell her potential employer. Why should she? It bore no impact on her ability to take on a new role or carry out fabulous work.
Tilly got the job! She started immediately, which turned out to be almost 12 months after her second child was born. Her smile and newfound confidence struck a chord with us.
We are so proud to bring stories like this to our community each and every week.
Written by the team at Circle In
