Clarity on Your Next Move: How to Discover What Really Matters & Build Your Career Around It

In this episode of the Work it Like a Mum Podcast, we’re sharing the first session from Smash 26, our two-day virtual event designed to help women start the year with confidence, clarity and momentum in their careers.

The session is hosted by Kim Holland, career transition expert, who works with women navigating career pivots, identity shifts and changing priorities,  particularly after becoming parents.

Kim opens Smash 26 by tackling one of the biggest questions women tell us they’re struggling with:

“I know something needs to change in my career…but what?”

What we cover:

- Why career dissatisfaction is often clearer than career direction

- How to identify what you’re moving away from vs what you’re moving towards

- Understanding your professional DNA: who you are, what you need, and what you offer

- Why values and motivators shift over time, and why that’s not failure

- A practical exercise to reflect on your career so far and spot patterns that matter

 Key takeaways:

⭐Clarity comes before confidence, not the other way around

⭐Your next move doesn’t need to be perfect, just intentional

⭐Knowing what motivates you now saves time, energy and misaligned applications

⭐Career change isn’t about starting again,  it’s about building on what you already have

Why listen:

If you’re feeling successful on paper but restless underneath…
If you know you don’t want to go backwards, but aren’t sure what forward looks like…

If you’re craving change, flexibility or meaning, without blowing everything up…

This episode will help you pause, reflect and get clearer on what you actually want next.

Show Links:

Connect with our host Elizabeth Willetts here

Connect with Kim on LinkedIn here

Visit Kim’s website here

Boost your career with Investing in Women's Career Coaching! Get expert CV, interview, and LinkedIn guidance tailored for all career stages. Navigate transitions, discover strengths, and reach goals with our personalised approach. Book now for your dream job! Use 'workitlikeamum' for a 10% discount.

Transcript

Welcome & Mission Of The Show

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey, I'm Elizabeth Willis, and I'm obsessed with helping as many women as possible achieve their boldest dreams after kids. And helping you to navigate this messy and magical season of life. I'm a working mum with over 17 years of recruitment experience, and I'm the founder of the Investing in Women Job Board and Community. In this show, I'm honoured to be chatting with remarkable women, redefining our working world across all areas of business. They'll share their secrets on how they've achieved extraordinary success after children, their boundaries of balance, the challenges they face, and how they've overcome them. Find their own version of success. Shy away from the real talk. No way! Money, struggles, growth, lost, boundaries and balance. We cover it all. Think of this as coffee with your mates, mixed with an inspiring TikTok, sprinkled with the career advice you wish you'd really had at school. So grab a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, make sure you're cozy, and get ready to get inspired and chase your boldest dreams. Or just survive Mondays. This is the Work It Like a Mum podcast. Investing in Women is a job board and recruitment agency helping you find your dream part-time or flexible job with the UK's most family-friendly and forward-thinking employers. Their site can help you find a professional and rewarding job that works for you. They're proud to partner with the UK's most family-friendly employers across a range of professional industries. Ready to find your perfect job? Search their website at investinginwomen.co.uk to find your next part-time or flexible job opportunity. Now, back to the show. So if last year was a year where you felt you didn't quite achieve what you wanted to achieve, what you set out to achieve, this is the year to make it happen. And this is the event that's going to spur you on, get you motivated, and make sure that you take the actions that are going to really drive your year and career aspirations forward. You can see we've got people logging on, let us know if you can hear us all okay. Um, give us a like, give us emoji, tell us your name. It's always so much better when these sessions are interactive. So tell us your name, where you're dialing in from, and what you're looking to get from Smash 2026. And we have the incredible um Kim Holland joining us for our first session. I couldn't think of anyone better. Um, and because Kim is um an expert in career transitions, and she's going to be helping you get clarity on your next move. I know that that is something that a lot of people come to us about. They want to make a career pivot, but maybe they're not quite sure what they want to do. So I couldn't think of anyone better to deliver this session. We've got Cheryl, thank you so much. You can hear us all okay. We've got Natalie from Kent, um Cindy from London, Caroline from London, Nadine from Edinburgh, um, Namuna from London. We've got a lot of London. We've got someone from Swindon, another Kent, another London, or West Sussex. Oh, we've got lots and lots of people. So, like I said, please do keep it interactive. Um, we've got time for questions. We will probably ask them at the end. Um, because I know you've got a brilliant presentation, and some of the questions that people ask may be covered. But yeah, Kim, over to you. If there's anything more you want to add to the intro regarding yourself, let us know. Uh maybe how you got into it, and then um then you've got a brilliant presentation for us.

Why Next Moves Fail Without Clarity

SPEAKER_01 4:07

Oh, thank you, Liz, and thank you all for joining. Um, what a great start to the year to have such an intentional way to kick off. Um, especially if you are sat there thinking something needs to change this year. I don't know what it is, but something, however big or small, just needs to change in my career. Um, you are in the right place. Um, thank you for the lovely introduction, Liz. Um, just a quick bit about me then. So I um I actually worked previously for about 10 years with professional athletes, helping them transition out of professional sport and into a new career. And then I became a parent almost five years ago for the first time, um, and realised that parents struggle with a lot of the same things around changing identity, shifting priorities. And so I used everything that I had learnt about career transitions and studied over my time with the athletes and put that into a program to support parents pivot their career. Um, but obviously, you don't need to be a parent to be at this workshop, it applies to anybody who is thinking they want to make a bit of a change. So let's get started. So, as Liz said, um we are going to be focusing on how to discover what really matters to you, and then importantly, how do you use that to then build a career around it? Um, just before we get started, Liz, I can't see the chat box when I'm presenting. So, do you mind keeping an eye and just let me know? I will keep an eye, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:43

And then any pressing questions, I'll let you know. Otherwise, um, should we cover the questions at the end? But please pop your questions in unless there's something interactive on a slide, then obviously we can do that now. But I'm guessing a lot of questions that we have we may cover in the session anyway.

Professional DNA: Values, Needs, Offers

The Career Line Graph Exercise

SPEAKER_01 6:00

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Um, we'll pick most of them up at the end. That's fine. Okay, so let's jump in. Um if we make this really simple, the most important thing about your next move, because I know it can feel complicated, but really the most important thing is that it does two things. First of all, your next move moves you further away from what you don't want, and secondly, it moves you closer to what you do want, which all sounds very simple, doesn't it? Um, and you're like, surely I can work that out. But the reality is that most people are pretty clear on what they're motivated away from. So most people can come to me and say, I need to make a change because I need more flexibility, or I can't, I don't want to manage a team anymore. I don't like this industry, it's not, you know, it's not important to me anymore, things have changed. Whatever it is, people are often pretty clear on what they're motivated away from. But when I ask people what they are motivated towards, they struggle. Other than it being not what they're currently doing, they struggle to tell me and define what it is they're motivated towards. And the reason why that is a problem is because when you are then looking at opportunities, whether that's jobs boards or you're talking to your network about opportunities, you're not really clear on what those right opportunities are for you. And if you're not clear on what the right opportunities are, then when you start sending off applications, it's really clear to the person that's receiving those applications that you're not really in it. You're not really sure if that's the right next move for you. You're just, you know, speculatively sending out a few applications, testing the waters. They can feel that. And also it's it's a waste of your time if you don't know whether it's really right for you. So we're going to focus on getting clear on that. What are you motivated towards in your next move? And then how do you choose your next step based on that? So if you've been to any of my workshops before, you will have heard me talk about professional DNA. And I do talk about this a lot, and when I'm working with clients in my program, we spend over the first third of the program getting really clear on this. And put simply, your professional DNA is who you are, what you need, and what you can offer. So the industry terms for that are generally your values, your motivators, and your strengths. Um, but I prefer to think about it in terms of you. Who are you, what do you need, and what you can offer? It's as simple as that. So who you are, those are strong internal drivers. They are what makes you you. So those are your values. And regardless of where you are, you you don't have a set of values for work and a set of values for home. They are just who you are, wherever, whatever circumstance you are in. What you need or your motivators. So, this is what must be true for you to feel motivated and fulfilled. So these are the things that often change throughout our lives. So these are often circumstantial and they change throughout your life and career. So when people, often parents, who I work with most, but not all, when they come to me, this is the thing that they are struggling with often because their priorities have changed. What they need, what they really need from their work, has shifted. And it does take a bit of time to figure out and almost accept that what you needed and wanted from work before might be different now. Whether you're a parent or not, things shift throughout your life that will affect what these motivators are. So those are the things we will focus a lot on today. And finally, what you offer. The reason I don't like to just call this your strengths is because it is a combination of what you're good at and what you enjoy. Because if you try and base your next move purely around what you're good at, then often you will find you're never able to make significant changes to what you're doing, even if you're not happy with it. Because the things that you're good at, yes, you might be good at them because you've done them for a long time, because you fell into that path. But if you're wanting to make a change, you also need to think about what which of those skills are you do you enjoy doing, not just the ones you're good. Obviously, you need to be good at some of the skills to get the job, but think about the ones that you enjoy as well. Right, we'll look at those in a bit more detail. So, oh, I should have said this before I started. It might be helpful if you haven't to um grab a pen and paper. Um, because we're going to do a couple of exercises as we go through. So I'll just pause for a second there so anyone can grab one that hasn't already got one. Yeah, it's a good show. Okay. So what we're thinking about when we're thinking about our values or thinking about who you are, essentially what's important to you about the people you work with, the work that you do, maybe the organizations that you work for, and the environment that you work in. Now, those questions you may have some ideas. If you do, jot those down on your paper now, if if things just spring to mind. But a good way to get the answers to these questions is to do a line graph of your career to date. And I stole this exercise from the Squiggly Careers book, which is really good if you don't know about it. Um so we have time on the x-axis and satisfaction on the y axis. I would use your pen and paper now because what I would like you to do is just jot down a list to start with of all of the roles that you have held in your career to date. So just start jotting those down. Because the next step, once we've written those down, is to draw a simple line graph, satisfaction, and time, and then start scribbling a line when you read down your list of roles that you've had. How satisfied were you when you were in those roles? Don't worry, worry too much when you're drawing the line to start with about why you were satisfied or not. We'll get to that. But just draw it in terms of how did you feel? How happy were you when you were in those roles? Because once you've got your squiggly line, and they obviously, on this example, haven't written the job titles on it, but feel free to annotate your line with the jobs that you were in at the various peaks and troughs in satisfaction. Because then we can start to think about what was it about that job, the role, the environment, the people that made me either happy there or not so happy in that position. So if we look at the example here, number one, they've put I was bored and not challenged. I felt like I could achieve a lot more than I was able to do in the company. So these are all clues. When we start to annotate what it was, these all give us clues about who we are and what is truly important to us deep down. And then you can see when there's a peak in satisfaction, they've said they loved the people that they were working with. Every day was busy and fun, but I couldn't see how I could advance in the company. So I stagnated. Okay, good intel. So there's a lot here around progression being important to this person. Then there's another dip later on. I was traveling all the time. I felt I had no control over my career, I didn't have time to develop myself. And then finally, number four, they seem that they've landed in a place that is really meets their values and gives them what they want from their job. So I had the freedom to do a great job for a brand I loved as well as run my own business. So, can you see how by doing this you build up a pattern of what is coming up here? What did make me satisfied or not satisfied about the things that I've previously done? Because a lot of the clues as to what your next step could look like are in what you've done before. You've got it all. It's just knowing how to extract it. So once you've got that, I'm not expecting you to have completed your line graphs in that time, by the way. Um, feel free to take a picture of that screen so that you can have a go at yours later.

SPEAKER_00 16:51

Um, Joanne's also asked if we send the slides after, and we will. All the replay um will be sent afterwards to everybody um that registered, which obviously has this slideshow. Somebody said they lost sound. Um just checking everyone else can hear. I can hear you perfectly, Kim. But I'm just wondering if anyone else um just let us know if you can hear us all. Okay. Okay. Um carry on, but flagging. Yeah, yeah, I'll flag it if if anyone else says they have.

SPEAKER_01 17:17

All right, thank you.

SPEAKER_00 17:18

Yeah, I know someone else still has sound, so I think we're all right.

Defining Values With Real Meaning

Favourite Skills Versus Just Strengths

What You Need: Non‑Negotiables & Role Of Work

From Themes To Targeted Options

SPEAKER_01 17:21

Okay, great. Um, so once you've done your line graph at home, then we want to try and pick out the themes that we are seeing through the annotations that we've done on our line graph. So when we read back over what was making us satisfied or not as we went through our careers, what are the things that are jumping out? And you can um take a screenshot or a picture of these example values if you want, or quite honestly, you can just Google, give me a list of values or you know, ask AI or whatever you want. But you just want an example list so that you can start thinking about okay, which ones of these do align with what I've written about my career to date. And you know what? You you can also, if you wanted to go a level deeper, do a line graph for your life outside of work, because that will also, you know, where you were living, who you were living with, what you were doing, that will also give you some more clues about your values. Because as I said, your values will normally be the same across work and life. So if you need extra help to pull them out, you could try that. But yeah, have a look at this an example list of values, see which words resonate with you and align with what you've got on your line graph. And then, really important now, when you write down what those values are that you've identified, and I would say try and have no more than five on your list. Make sure you define what that value means to you and why it's important to you, because you and I could both say loyalty, for example, is a really important value to us. But my definition of that might be different to yours, depending on my experiences and why I think that is an important thing. So, really, really important to take the time to define what those values are because the more detailed we can be at this point when we're pulling together our professional DNA, the easier it is going to be when we get to the point of mapping ourselves and our professional DNA against opportunities that come up. The easier it'll be to identify those opportunities that are going to be right for us. Okay. Next, let's look at what you offer. And like I said, I don't love the words strengths. And when I'm speaking to my clients about this and we're doing work on this, we talk about your favourite skills. So they are generally skills that you have. So you do need to be good at the things that you are applying to do in your next role, but you also must enjoy doing them. Otherwise, what's the point? You know? Um, and luckily, it's really easy to use this line graph that you've done before for your values because you've already got all the intel there about the roles that you've done and when you were happiest. And so you can look at, okay, then you can add some more annotation to your line graph. What skills was I using when I was doing those roles that I was happiest in? And think beyond the obvious skill, you know. So if you were a data analyst, okay, you are using your data analytical skills, great, but think also were you what about some of the softer skills, like the ways in which you were communicating with people? Did you have to produce written reports about the data that was coming up? Oh, yeah, I did. And I actually really liked the writing part, or did you have to do presentations on the data that you were coming up with? Um, were you managing a team of people at that point? Did that was that a skill that you have that you liked using? Or or it's a skill that you have, but you did not like using it. So you don't want to build that into your next step. So do you see how we are layering up a picture here of not only who we are, but what our skills are that we're good at and we enjoy doing, and we base our decisions around those. Because if we keep just going with what we're good at, we're never gonna make a change if that's what we are wanting to do. So pick out, really zoom in on those skills and pick out the ones that you enjoy and finally what you need. So this is the bit that I said is most likely to change throughout your life and your career. And I just want you to take a minute to reflect on this question What role does your career play in your life? Because this is a really important way to think of think about your career. It is just one small part of your life, and it does it does feed into the rest of it and everything impacts on each. Other. So what is the role of your career? And it may be for some people that it is financial, purely financial. You know, I go to work because I want to pay the bills and I want to go on holiday and I want to, you know, whatever it is you want to do in your life. Maybe that is the role of your career. But I would bet you there is more to it than that. So have a think. What role does your career play in your life? And notice how that has changed over time. So when you first started in your career, probably it had a different role to what it might play now. And what might it look like moving forwards? So I will actually share with you later today, I'll send a follow-up email, and I'm going to share a short exercise that I do with some of my clients to really quickly and efficiently get to the crux of what you need. So your deal breakers, I like to call them. And I want you to get to a point where you have five things on this list, five things that you need. Obviously, what they're asking for is important too, you need to meet theirs. But having your own criteria will allow you to quickly weed out the ones that are not right for you. So I want you to have three non-negotiables. The ones that you can say, I will not take a role that requires me to do X, traveling to London five days a week, or whatever that looks like. Just have these in your mind. And to test those statements, once you've got them, ask yourself if a role required that of me, would it cost me more than it gives me? And then take your answer to that to inform whether you have got it right with those three non-negotiables. And then the other two in your top five that aren't your non-negotiables are your desirables. Because we can't, you know, let's face it, if we were all wanting to work, we can't be um really, really prescriptive and have a list of 20 non-negotiables because let's face it, we might never get a job. So we'll stick to three and then let's pick two more that if a role were to also offer me those two things, I would just know it was written for me. And I would throw the kitchen sink at this application because this is the one I have to have. I would be, you know, connecting with the hiring managers on LinkedIn. I'd be, you know, I would be going above and beyond because this is the role that I know from everything and all the work I've put into understanding myself and what I want next. This is the role for me. Hope that makes sense. But like I say, I will send an exercise called the three-minute motivation checklist. It does just take three minutes. So it is really, and I want it to be a three-minute exercise because I want it to be your gut reaction. Um, so I will link that in the email I send. Just click it, you can download it for free. Um, and then that you will have your answer to these questions within three minutes. So I would really encourage you to have a go at that. All right, so we're clear on our professional DNA once we've worked through all those exercises. So, what on earth do we do with that? And how do we then apply that to our job search? Well, hold on a minute because we are not doing job search yet. We are going to focus next on themes rather than job titles. So, what I'd encourage you to do next, once you feel like you have a clear idea of who you are, what you need, what you can offer, take a step back. You can use the line graph that you've done about your career and think about all the jobs you've done previously, but also at this point, make sure you bring in all the ideas that you've had about jobs you think you might want to do. Because those are that's all really important too. Even if you've thought about it and then thought, oh, but there'd be too much travel. So, no, I'm not doing that. Or, you know, whatever the reason is that you have written it off, there was something about that job or that opportunity that attracted you to it in the first place. So write down a list as long as you can, that includes the jobs you've done previously, but also includes all the things that you have considered doing next. Because what you want to do at that point, and this is this is tricky, um, but you want to go through and pick out themes that are coming up. And what I've put here on the screen for you is some examples of work themes that have come up for some of my clients over the past year. Some are more specific than others, as you'll see. Um, it is unlikely that any of these are the exact work theme that you would want to work with. So don't pick from these unless there is an obvious one that's right. Um, but I encourage my clients to come up with three work themes that they can pick out from that list that they've got of previous jobs and potential future jobs. So, like I say, we're not trying to identify a job title at this point, we are zooming out because by zooming out we can bring in new information, and then that allows us to zoom back in with greater clarity. So, zoom out, come up with three, if you can, work themes. Once you have those, now when I'm working with clients, this is this is a really tough part of the process. And we we come up with 10. This is where we're going to talk job titles or job opportunities. It could be starting a business, it could be a job title, whatever it is, but we're gonna come up with 10 possibilities, career possibilities that fit into each of those work themes. So we are starting to get more specific now, but 10 in each. So that by the end of this process, we have 30 job ideas. Um, that is hard to do by yourself, I appreciate. So I'm going to give you a bit more guidance if you're working through this on your own at home. And I'm going to suggest that for each of those work themes that you have, you come up with what would be the obvious job for me within that work theme? What would be an ambitious choice for me to take here? So if I was going to push myself, what would it be? What might be a dream job or business within that work theme? And what might be a bit of a pivot that I've always thought, oh, maybe, oh, I don't know, it doesn't quite align with my skill set, but there are some things about it that I could do and that I like. So for you, you would have three work themes, and you would have then four options to explore within each of those work themes. Okay, so you've come up with 12 things that you can then take away and go and explore on your own. So you can then start looking, okay, what do job descriptions look like for those sorts of roles? How might I make that become a reality? Who do I know that is connected to those opportunities that I have created here or that I've come up with? Because your network is going to be really, really important in this. I can't stress that enough. People who are connected to the things you are interested in or the things that you think you want to explore, those they are your key. The job market is so competitive at the moment. And any link in that you have, or anybody that can put in a good word for you, is going to go a long, long way. Especially if you're trying to make a pivot, if you're trying to do something different, you are pretty much guaranteed to need to know somebody in there to just at least get your application seen. Um, so have a real think about once you've got these 12 things written down, who do I know who I can at least chat to about them? Okay. Hopefully that has helped and you have some ideas coming up. I appreciate you won't have been able to do all of those activities as I've been going through, and I'm going to send you that extra one on email. But once you've done all of those, you should have a much, much stronger picture of what it is you need next, where you might be heading, and even some job possibilities, um, ideas, business ideas, whatever that looks like, you've hopefully got a bit clearer on what this next step might hold for you. So I'd really encourage you now to capitalise on the momentum of coming to this workshop today, because you've all chosen to be here, you've taken that first step to making some changes this year, and take some action off the back of today. Because the reality is when we take action, there's only two outcomes either we get the result we want or the lesson we need. And at this point, either of those are fantastic. That is the intel we want. Either the result or the lesson, I'll take it because I'm trying to move things forward here. That's great. So I'm going to give you three um starting points here for taking some action. The first one is just to keep an eye out for my email coming either later today or tomorrow with the three-minute motivation checklist. That will get you really clear on, like I said before, your non-negotiables and your desirables. So, what is it you need from this next step? That's action one. Or if you want to go a bit deeper, you can download my shift point guide. And I have put the barcode there if you want to scan that and have a read about what that's all about. Um, that I spent the last two to three months of last year compiling all of the biggest turning points that my clients had within my program. What were the things that really moved the needle for them and sent them in one direction over another? And I have compiled them all into one document for you, and I have chosen the top seven real life turning points that landed for my clients and might just do the same for you too. So that's that seven pounds you can download it there if you like, or just um have a read about it. If you are sat there thinking, okay, based on what I've heard today, I really need to make some changes going into this year. Um then, and you you think you might need some more ongoing support and accountability, then my parent career pivot program might be for you. And I'll just say it's not all parents that join the program. Um, so I might need to change my branding around that, but that is what it's called at the moment. Um, so that is for you if you want to discover a new career path, one that energizes you and makes the job feel worthwhile. Um, again, I'll include some information about that in my email that I send out later. But yeah, three actions, depending on how involved you want to be with this next step. But please, please take one of them, at least do the three-minute motivation checklist, build on what we've done today and keep that momentum going. And if we're not already connected on socials, then please do connect with me either on LinkedIn or Instagram and say hi. I would love to hear from you. And yeah, wishing you all the very best. Thank you for coming along today. And I will just say make sure you join the rest of the sessions over the next two days if you can. There are some brilliant, brilliant speakers coming up. So yeah, go for it, make the most of it.

Use Your Network To Power Pivots

SPEAKER_00 37:15

Thank you. We've had a couple of questions, so I'll remove this so we just can go a bit bigger. Um, some people um were watching on their phone, so they couldn't scan the QR code. What's the link to your website and can they download from your website?

SPEAKER_01 38:36

Uh yes, it's not yes, it's not that obvious to get to from my website yet. It is hosted on my website, but it's not visible um unless you go through the link. So um, shall I just include the link in my email that I send later?

unknown 38:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:52

That's probably the easiest, isn't it? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:55

So we've had a couple of questions about the values. Um yeah. Which was interesting. Let me find these. Um basically, what if things that were Ellie asked, what if things that were relevant 10 years ago are no longer relevant now? Do values change throughout your life?

SPEAKER_01 39:12

Um, your your values can change, but they are less likely to change. Normally your because your values, I won't go too much into the science of it, but your values are formed as you're growing up. So it's what you are almost taught to believe or led to believe as you're growing up by influential people throughout your life. And then when you get into, you know, you become a teenager, you start to question whether those things that you were led to believe earlier are right or wrong, and you start to form your own opinions on that. And that is what then kind of gets set as your values. So once you are out of kind of adolescence and you're an adult, you it is unlikely to change very much. There might there might be shifts because you know, significant things might happen in your life that make you suddenly have a light bulb moment and something changes, but generally they are formed when we are a lot younger. It's our motivators and our reasons for doing things that are more likely to change.

SPEAKER_00 40:15

Perfect. Um, how do you rebuild professional identity after a time away a career break, especially when your previous role doesn't fully reflect who you are now?

SPEAKER_01 40:26

Yeah, career breaks are interesting ones. And I do think people get scared about career breaks more than perhaps they need to. Because I think um, and you will know this as a recruiter, Liz, it doesn't all as long as you know there's an obvious reason why you've taken a career break, people are quite understanding that things happen. Um, what was the other part of the question?

SPEAKER_00 40:52

Oh, what she'd done before wasn't well, doesn't fully reflect who you are now. Yeah, and someone else is a similar question. Um, but if you've had a significant life event that's changed what you're looking for and who you are, no, yeah. So basically two similar questions. Yeah, they did what they want after a career break.

Take Action: Checklists, Guide, Programme

SPEAKER_01 41:09

They're wanting to do come back in but do something different, yeah. So that's where the zooming out piece that I spoke about is really important because you there's no point just focusing on, like you like you've rightly said, the things you were doing before if that's not what you were enjoying. So you need to zoom out and think about okay, what are the things that other people potentially do that you think you might like to do? Um, and try and pull out the themes. That is the first step. So, what are the themes? And there might be areas that you need to upskill in. That might be the reality because the things that you're identifying that you want to do maybe aren't in your skill set, or you know you would be good at them based on other similar things you've done, but you need to go and upskill a little bit, that might be the reality. Um, but yes, I would say zoom out, pick out themes, don't go straight into looking for job opportunities if you're looking for something very different to what you're doing before, because let's face it, you'll look at jobs boards, you'll look at these job roles, you'll look at what they're asking for, and you'll just become more and more deflated if you haven't got the experience they want. So take a step away from the jobs boards for now. Do the work that we've been through today and see if that opens up anything new. And then you can look at, okay, what is the next step? As I said in my very first slide, what is the next step that's going to get you closer to where you want to be, even if you're not jumping straight into that exact role?

SPEAKER_00 42:38

Lovely. We've had someone say, how do you position yourself effectively after a career break? So employers focus on your strengths rather than the gap in this competitive market.

SPEAKER_01 42:50

Um, I think the most important thing on your CV is to be honest with where you're at and what you've done before and focus on your transferable skills, but not in terms of, and I know we've had this conversation before, Liz, because I've asked you this specific question, haven't I?

SPEAKER_00 43:09

Around do we have to have a session on CVs actually this afternoon that I'm running at 1.15. So it might be worth it.

SPEAKER_01 43:17

Yeah, so probably come to that because I've asked Liz about skills-based CVs before, you know, if someone's making complete change, should they focus on their skills first at the top? And you said actually, no, you wouldn't, you wouldn't probably be going. You go straight through what their experience is. So within when you're talking about what your experience is, just make sure you are pulling out the skills in your description of what you did in those roles that will align best with where you're going rather than yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah, attend liter session later, choose the CD.

SPEAKER_00 43:51

Yeah. Um, someone's also asked, I can probably answer first, but you can also um as well. With AI now shaping so much of the recruitment process, how can candidates ensure their values and strengths are seen rather than being filtered out by automated systems? I mean, in the first instance, you're an increasingly likely everybody's C B is going to be um filtered by AI and that is just going to creep and creep and creep. So um it's only really small organisations that won't have invested in AI in the same level. So I think the AI system is still going to be programmed with by the recruiters and the higher managers to be looking out for certain phrases, um, you know, um value certain skills, etc. So just make sure your CV is reflecting what is being asked for. And I think you have to, especially in the AI world, use as much of the keywords and the phrases that that job advert has used in your CV, because that is probably what the AI system has been trained to look out for.

SPEAKER_01 45:00

Um can I I'll just add to that quickly. Um, if you're trying to move into something you feel like you haven't done so much of before, um focus your CV, especially your intro paragraph, on where you are going, like where you're trying to go to and why you're going there rather than what you've done before. If what you've done before you don't think is perfectly relevant for the next step, because that's the that's the first bit that gets scanned.

Q&A: Values, Breaks, AI, And Pivots

SPEAKER_00 45:29

Yeah. And also Kim made a really good point that if you're making a significant pivot, your way in is always going to be a network and knowing somebody that works within that organisation. I think actually in an AI world, that's increasingly important because that actually means that your CV could potentially bypass that AI system if you're actually sending it to a hiring manager or it's being sent to a hiring manager by somebody that works in that business, then you're Completely bypassing that AI as well. Rachel, I feel so between needing to get another corporate job to pay the bills and setting up an holistic business, I feel like I need to do this exercise twice. It feels overwhelming. Right now, she needs stability with a regular income, but the heart is just not in it. Really wants to focus on the holistic, but it seems so far away from what I'm doing. Um right now because she needs money coming in. And there's a few people that are stuck in Rachel's position. Any advice? Someone that set up their business, any advice?

SPEAKER_01 46:28

What do you say?

SPEAKER_00 46:29

Yeah, yeah, you've set up a business.

SPEAKER_01 46:31

Yeah, yes. Um so I I actually set up whilst I was still in my previous role for that reason. It was, you know, I can't, I couldn't afford to jump into setting up a business and not having any income for a while. So if you can do what you can, and I think maybe you oh, you were were you made redundant, Liz?

SPEAKER_00 46:55

I was made redundant, but I think if I'd not been, then I would have absolutely done what Kim has done would be of to set it up while still working and then build it to a point where you think I can afford to drop down my days, and then hopefully you can afford then to leave entirely.

SPEAKER_01 47:12

Yeah, and obviously that comes at a cost in terms of the amount of hours you're having to work to hold down a job and to set up a business. So I would say um the first thing is to get really clear on whether this business is definitely the right route for you, like you know, whether being a business owner is the right route for you, because it isn't for everyone. Yes, it gives you amazing flexibility, but work through the exercises we did today and figure out is it really going to give you what you need? Because if it is, then you'll probably think, well, the trade-off is worth it. It is worth putting in those hours in the evenings and whenever you can to get something off the ground. Um, but what you don't want to do is put in all those hours and then find it actually wasn't right anyway. So, yeah, that's what I would say is your starting point.

SPEAKER_00 48:03

Brilliant. Someone actually asked if the steps can be used for someone that wants to become self-employed rather than employed. I think you've probably answered that.

SPEAKER_01 48:09

Oh, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Lots of my clients go on to set up their own businesses.

SPEAKER_00 48:13

Yeah. Brilliant, lovely. So hopefully that's answered everybody's questions. I think it did. Um, but any other questions? I know that Kim was going to send an email out to everybody that attended today. So you'll all have Kim's details as well. And I'm sure she'll be happy to answer any questions. Obviously, she's got all her resources, including her programme that she will send across, which will help everybody get clear on what their next step should be and how to get it. But thank you so much, Kim, for kicking off our first event of Smash Week 2026. I keep saying 2025.

SPEAKER_01 48:48

I know it's hard, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 48:50

2026. But yeah, and thank you so much for everybody that has come today and has registered for the event, that's asked questions, that's got involved. Um, really do appreciate you giving up your time this Wednesday morning. Thank you so much. And everyone's saying thank you so much, Kim. Really thought-provoking. I know that everyone's found it really helpful and really useful. So thank you so, so much, Kim.

SPEAKER_01 49:10

Thank you all for coming, and thank you, Liz. And enjoy the rest of the event. Thank you.

Side Business Or Salary: Finding A Path

SPEAKER_00 49:19

Thank you for listening to another episode of the Work It Like a Mum podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe. And don't forget to share the link with a friend. If you're on LinkedIn, please send me a connection request at Elizabeth Willet and let me know your thoughts on this week's episode. You can also follow my recruitment site, Investing in Women, on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. Until next time, keep on chasing your biggest dream.