A&Y Deputy Editor Lisa Youd tells us how she made a successful return to work after a break to bring up her two children… 

I was the Sports Editor on a local newspaper after working my way up the journalism career ladder – despite several postings! We moved half way through my first pregnancy, so it was impossible to find another job straight away with a visible bump; potential employers didn’t want to know.

Being a journalist isn’t a nine-to-five job, you have to be where the stories break, when they happen and working on sport meant a lot of weekends and evenings were taken up.

It wasn’t ideal for us as a family, especially when my soldier was away. I was lucky to have no real financial pressure on me to go back to work, so I became a full-time mum and stayed that way until child number two started pre-school, five-and-a-half years down the line.

When the time came to find employment I did some volunteer work, adapted my CV to include those personal attributes you learn when you become a parent, and applied for all sorts of jobs that could fit around my childcare. It was a daunting prospect; the first interview I had was terrifying. I didn’t even have a single item of appropriate clothing!

I tried to take positives from each interview and called the interviewers to get feedback. I kept a diary of my volunteer work and noted new skills that I was gaining.

It took a while but eventually I landed a part-time job editing this magazine. The first few months back in the workplace were a bit scary too, but my confidence soon returned and I’m now a happy working mum.

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