It was when she had taken a career break herself that Neha Bagaria, founder and CEO of JobsForHer, decided to help other women who, like her, were on a sabbatical and didn’t know how to resurrect their careers.
“This personal journey opened my eyes to the accomplished women around me who stopped working when they got married, or became mothers, or for a other personal reasons, and then never returned to the workforce. I started delving into the reasons behind this female brain-drain and it became clear that there were many re-entry challenges that needed to be addressed in India,” says Bagaria.
Today Bagaria is the proud founder of a portal that aims to provide job opportunities to woman who are looking to get back to work after a career break. The best part of the portal is that the team behind it, who work with Neha, were also on a career break and re-started their careers with JobsForHer.
theindusparent caught up with Neha Bagaria for a freewheeling conversation:
1.What inspired you to start JobsForHer? Any one incident that motivated you?
When my first-born came into the world in December 2009, a baby gave birth to a mother. I became the primary caretaker of this precious little life, and he became the core of my being, and I decided to take a sabbatical from work.
Three years later, I had my second baby and again my perspective changed. I realised that it was about time I got back to being the person I used to be: it was time to restart my career.
I restarted my career at my previous company and started regaining my confidence when I realised that I could hit the ground running even after the 3-year career break. As my responsibilities at work increased, so did the quality of time I spent with my children, husband, family, friends.
I was no longer in a brain coma, no longer needy and emotional, no longer sweating the small stuff. I became a more fulfilled person, a happier mother and an even happier wife. Additionally, my renewed passion and intention to prove myself again, helped me contribute at work with greater dedication and commitment.
Mommy Power: Neha in a candid shot with her baby.
This personal journey opened my eyes to the accomplished women around me who stopped working when they got married, or became mothers, and then never returned to the workforce. I started delving into the reasons behind this female brain-drain and it became clear that there were many re-entry challenges that needed to be addressed in India. These range from requiring flexibility, regaining confidence, retraining, overcoming biases and changing mindsets.
It made me determined to enable other women to restart their careers and connect them with whatever they required to do so, thus founding JobsForHer.com on International Women’s Day, March 2015.
2. How does JobsForHer aim to help mothers on a break?
JobsForHer is committed to reverse the female brain-drain that is currently happening from within the Indian workforce. Before the launch of JobsForHer, women used to be advised to hide the gap in their resumes. This was unacceptable to us because usually, the reasons women take a break is to care for their families, children, elderly; for which they should be rewarded, not penalised.
We decided to trumpet the fact that all the women on our portal have breaks in their career and that is one of their core strengths, not shortcomings. Thus, when a woman searches for job opportunities at JobsForHer, she is assured that the companies on our portal are interested in hiring her despite the break, and often times because of it. We also offer several retraining and skills-rebuilding tools and workshops through which women can bridge the gap when returning to work.
3. What are some tips that you can share with mothers who want to return to work after a sabbatical?
- Don’t let fear rule your decisions
- Sometimes being good, and not great, is good enough
- A woman’s career is often non-linear and circuitous. And that’s perfectly alright
- Throw yourself into the deep end of the pool and you will learn how to swim very fast
- Grab opportunities and fasten your seat belt
- The journey ahead promises to be both exciting and challenging. All you need to do is embrace it
4. How do mothers make sure that they stand out from the crowd of other applicants?
Most women on a career break feel like they’re on a back-foot because of the gap in their resume and feel the need to justify it. When asked to talk about themselves, they give less focus to their qualifications and experience, and more to the reasons why they took a break. When questioned further about their break, they get defensive and start providing lengthy explanations.
Continue reading on the next page to know what career options can mothers choose if they want to work from home!
Instead, be confident of what you’re bringing to the table and keep the focus of the interview on that. When the topic of your break comes up, state objectively that it was for personal reasons but now you’re ready to get back to work. When probed further, talk about the myriad of skills you picked up while on a break such as patience, perseverance, negotiation skills. Be confident and not defensive.
5.What would be the best career options for mothers who want to work from home?
There is a plethora of opportunities opened up for women who want to work from home. Some of these include:
- Social Media Executive
- Market Research Analyst
- Business Development
- Tele-calling
- Content Writing (Travel, E-commerce, Tech, News, Finance)
- Payroll Analyst
- Instructional Design
- Graphic Designer
- Medical Transcriptionist
- Community Manager
6. What are the three things that motherhood has taught you? Has it helped you become a better working professional?
1.Multitasking: Nothing compares to the multitasking required as a mother. Being able to attend a conference call while changing a baby’s diaper and have a toddler tugging at your shirt teaches you how to multitask effectively. Being able to coordinate school pick-ups, decide tonight’s dinner menu and make strategic business decisions teaches you how to allocate mindshare to each activity appropriately.
And after having to cater to your older child’s needs, younger child’s needs, husband’s needs, in-laws’ needs, parents’ needs, and finally your own needs – you sure become an expert at the art of multitasking!
2. Teamwork: It was only after we became parents, my husband and I started feeling like we were part of a team. A team that needed to support one another physically, mentally and emotionally. As a team, we needed to lay down ground rules and stick by them. As a team, we needed to cover up when the other was unavailable, sick, or just having a breakdown.
As a team, we had to remind one another that “this too shall pass” and our kids will turn out fine. And as a team, we were able to enjoy the fruits of our hard labour – when those little voices said “I love you” and planted big kisses on our cheeks. This kind of teamwork teaches you how important it is to build camaraderie in the workplace too, support and uplift one another instead of tearing each other down.
3. Patience & endurance: No job in the world requires more patience than bringing up children. Because not only are children unreasonable but they are extremely fragile. So no matter how far they might drive you to the edge, you need to somehow keep your cool or else risk breaking the heart of your little two-year old.
And nothing can teach you endurance better than having to tend to a child who’s very sick. Because in this situation, you have to keep not only your own morale up, but also your child’s, even though his pain and suffering is ripping away your heart.
Once you have built the patience and endurance that motherhood teaches you, you can apply them to every annoying colleague and every challenging business setback because after all, nothing can ever be as infuriating or heart-breaking as a child.
8. What is the message that you would like to give to mothers who want to make a comeback to work, but can’t due to the “guilt” that haunts them day and night?
JobsForHer has been founded by a woman who restarted her own career with a team of other women who had also taken breaks in their own careers.
Our journey is a testament to a woman’s desire and power to achieve what she’s set her heart on – whether it’s at home or in the workplace, taking care of her family or her financials, impacting the lives of those around her or those across India. It’s a testament to believing in that possible dream and making it a reality.
theindusparent would also be conducting an expert chat session with Syed Sultan Ahmed (MD,LXL Ideas) on 20th September from 11 am to 12 pm noon as a part of JobsForHer educational drive. Log on to our Facebook page to get job insights and also ask any career-related questions that you might have.
Also Read: 7 things you must do during a career break
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