The Flexible Job Market in 2026: What’s Really Happening

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

Hosted by the recruitment team at Investing in Women, for an in-depth look at the current recruitment landscape and flexible working opportunities. This session is designed to help job seekers and professionals understand the realities of flexible roles, what employers are prioritising in 2026, and how to navigate the application and interview process successfully.

What We Cover:

• Which industries and roles are leading the way in flexible working – and which are lagging behind
• Skills and experience employers are actively seeking in 2026, including AI literacy, sales, account management, and training roles
• How to identify genuinely family-friendly employers from job adverts and initial conversations
• Common mistakes candidates make when applying for flexible roles and how to avoid them
• Practical advice on discussing flexible working requirements, including for those with chronic conditions

Key Takeaways:

• Clear understanding of flexible working trends across industries
• Insight into what skills and experiences are in demand
• Tips for positioning yourself effectively during applications and interviews
• Greater confidence in negotiating and discussing flexibility with employers

Why Listen:

Whether you’re returning to work, seeking a new role, or exploring flexible opportunities, this session provides actionable insights and guidance. Adele and Elizabeth share their expertise from years of recruitment experience, helping attendees feel more confident as they navigate today’s competitive job market.

Show Links:

Connect with  Elizabeth Willetts on LinkedIn here

Connect with Adele McNicholl on LinkedIn here

Visit the Investing in Women Website here

Transcript

Welcome & Mission

SPEAKER_01 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 mom with over 17 years of equipment experience, and I'm the founder of the Investing in Women Job Board and Community. In this show, I'm honored 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 the brother covered them to find their own version of success. Shy away from the real talk. 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 oldest dreams or just survive Mondays. This is the Work It Like a Mum podcast. This episode is brought to you by Investing in Women. 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. Hello, welcome to the next session of Smash 2026. Um, let's know if you can hear us okay as people are logging in. Hopefully you can. Um yeah, so today I have um in this session our brilliant recruitment manager, Adele McNichol. I know that a lot of you may have spoken to Adele in the past um about some of the roles we're recruiting for. She's absolutely brilliant. So I thought I would get Adele on to talk about what's happening in the recruitment market because Adele sees it all. She's been in recruitment a long time and um obviously has seen the market change, but she sees it all obviously as our recruitment manager. So um let us know where you're dialing in from. Is this did you come to the session before with Kim? Um, or is this the first session you are um attending? Let us know and let us know if you've got any of our other um events but but yeah, this is all part, we're running this as part of our Smash Week, which is a two-day virtual summit. It started starts today, um, and we've got it running tomorrow as well for you to start the year bold, stay confident, and make it happen this year. Perhaps last year you didn't quite achieve what you wanted to achieve. This is the year that you are gonna change it, and this you these events are gonna help you to take um take action and make this year the best year that you can. Brilliant. I've got Emma from Manchester. I know you're near Manchester, aren't you?

SPEAKER_00 3:21

Yeah, I'm Manchester. So hi, Emma.

Meet Adele And Her Background

SPEAKER_01 3:24

I've got someone in from Essex, first session, second session from Leicester. That's good. Brilliant. So we're gonna be talking today about what industries and roles, leading the way. Let me move my notes here. Um, in flexibility, which are lagging behind, the skills and experience employers are prioritizing in 2026. How to spot genuinely family-friendly employers? Because I know a lot of our candidates are interested in those. The biggest mistakes candidates make when applying for flexible jobs and what employers really mean when they say flexible. So, Adele, actually, before we start, what's your background? Do you want to just give people a little bit of an overview if they've never met you before? I know a lot of people will have spoken to you, but um, maybe just explain who you are, what you do.

SPEAKER_00 4:10

Yeah, of course. So I've been now with investing in women with you for nearly three years. It'll be three years in June. Um before that, so I also ran alongside my own business, um helping people with CVs, interview, preparation, that kind of thing. And that's been for 10 years. And then previous to that, in high street recruitment, so I was at a couple of recruitment agencies, so all in all recruiter for nearly 20 years, which makes me feel very old. Um, but yeah, love everything about recruitment, love helping people find jobs because yeah, that helped. We see every day speaking to clients, learning what the industries are doing, what like you say, what industries, what trends are happening. And in a way, we think it's just second nature to us, but it's great to then be able to let people know all of that that we gather every day.

SPEAKER_01 5:04

Yeah, absolutely. And um, you work flexibly, don't you? I know, I know flexible working's been really important to you.

SPEAKER_00 5:10

Yeah, obviously, I've got a young son, he's just he started high school now. But I think you know, he well, when he was at primary school, I needed that flexibility. But even at high school, you know, for me, you know, it's important. I'm here in the mornings, yeah, to make sure he gets out ready for school, but also there at the end of the day as well. And I've got other responsibilities, so yeah, flexibility works amazing for me.

Who Leads On Flex: Small Vs Large

SPEAKER_01 5:33

Brilliant. So, what industries and roles do you think are leading the way in flexibility and which are lagging behind?

SPEAKER_00 5:42

I think when when we spoke, I think it does, I think it nails it down to larger organizations and smaller organizations. I don't think there's a specific industry at the moment that are just leading with flexibility. I do think it's that the larger organizations struggle more, but you see more flexibility with the smaller businesses, the less corporate side. Yeah, and that can be across any industry sector. Yeah. Um, you know, I think, like we were saying, you you've got larger benefits with the large corporate companies.

SPEAKER_01 6:16

Yeah, you get benefits, don't you?

SPEAKER_00 6:18

Yeah, but I do believe, and from what I've my experience is definitely the smaller companies are more open for that flexibility to discussing what flexibility looks like for them and potentially what it would look like for somebody interested in working there.

SPEAKER_01 6:35

Yeah, I do agree with you, and I think as well, a lot of the smaller businesses, um, A, like I'm just thinking like our business, you know, as we were growing and you started, you started with less hours than you work now. Yeah. As the business has grown. And a lot of small businesses, when they're first hiring their first employees, they might not be able to afford a full-time employee, and they might not have the workload for a full-time employee. So they're often much, much more flexible because it suits their business as well.

SPEAKER_00 7:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

Um, because they might, you know, like I said, they don't have the workload, they don't have the funds um necessarily to pay somebody full-time. And also, I think thinking about a lot of our clients where they're smaller businesses, they're maybe like less than 10 people, you're very, very close to the business owner.

SPEAKER_00 7:26

Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_01 7:28

Everyone's quite human, you know what I mean? Whereas in a large corporate, you you're often a very small cog.

SPEAKER_00 7:36

I think as well, in yeah, exactly like you said, because you know, you know, you're working alongside the directors when you're in a smaller company and you're all in similar situations, they understand you've got that human touch. So we understand that people have families, but sometimes in that corporate and in that larger organization, that gets forgotten about.

SPEAKER_01 7:57

Yeah, because about reporting, I guess, to a shareholder in the end. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:03

Yeah. And those directors, they don't know, you know, they don't know that personal work-life balance that everyone's striving for, or yeah, you know, when you've got the children off sick, what you're doing, you know, at home, it's not that you're just off home, you know, at home working. They can in a smaller business, they can see the effort that's going in. Whereas, yeah, the other way around, not necessarily.

SPEAKER_01 8:26

Yeah. I know that obviously that I think um obviously there are some large businesses that are the exception, and a lot of it full nail falls down to who you're reporting to. You might have a really understanding hiring manager.

SPEAKER_00 8:38

Um, and also a lot of the companies that we work with, some of the larger, we've got a couple of larger organizations, you know, what they want to do is they want to get people in on a part-time, they want to offer what they used to have as full-time. We've had a couple of roles where it's full-time where they'd want job shares. So they can offer it to part-time positions there.

SPEAKER_01 8:57

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:57

So even some of the larger organizations are opening up where they didn't used to have part-time positions or more flexible working. Yeah, they are trying to, you know, work that into the business now.

Breadth Of Roles In Small Firms

SPEAKER_01 9:11

Yeah. But I think generally we see that the roles that come to us, you know, that are straight part-time off the bat, it's tends to be the smaller businesses. I would say one thing though, about the smaller company, like we've obviously talked about the larger companies have better corporate benefits. Um, you know, a smaller business might not be able to have afford that. And I would also say the smaller the jobs for the smaller businesses often they're very much you have to roll your sleeves, don't you?

SPEAKER_00 9:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:42

They're a lot broader than those in the large businesses. I'm just thinking like of marketing, for example. So, you know, we have a marketing manager and she does everything within our business marketing related. Whereas if you work in marketing in a large organization, you might just be responsible for paid for ads.

SPEAKER_00 10:02

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:03

So your jobs are often a lot narrower in a larger business. And therefore, in a smaller business, if you're wanting to work for a smaller business, you're gonna have to be much more willing and open and demonstrate that you've rolled up your sleeves and done the done rather than just managed either a small part of a role or a a team and directed a team to do it as well.

SPEAKER_00 10:26

Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_01 10:28

Um, so the skills and experience. What skills and experience are employers prioritizing in 2026? If people have questions as well, let us know. We'll probably jump to those at the end, if okay. Um, um, I can see we've got quite interesting. Um, got Lady Call Joanna said she worked for a large company with every industry award, I guess, going for diversity and flexibility, lost her job post, um, Matley for the messaging versus reality can feel very different. Um, so yeah, sorry to hear about that.

SPEAKER_00 10:58

Yeah, sorry about that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:59

Um, so what skills and experience do you think um employers are prioritizing in 2026?

SPEAKER_00 11:06

I think AI and tech is definitely the biggest numerino there.

SPEAKER_01 11:10

Yeah.

Skills Hiring Now: AI And Sales

SPEAKER_00 11:11

Um, I know where we spoke there's, you know, yes, there's lots of other positions as well. Um at the moment, I think we spoke about sales roles, account manager type roles that yes, I mean AI definitely forefront, but sales and account management, business development, those types of roles where there's I suppose it's the more human aspect, isn't it? Yeah, going in for the customers and the customer services, training and development. We've seen a really big increase in training and development roles, um and and event roles as well. We've seen a big increase there, haven't we?

SPEAKER_01 11:51

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think the in-person in all those. Yeah, yeah. Um yeah, interesting. I was speaking actually to um a business owner last week who was hiring for an admin person, and what she was saying was she only wanted to hire somebody that was not necessarily didn't need to be proficient in AI, okay, but they needed to demonstrate that they were really willing and had done some AI training. So I think even in those roles that aren't AI, they AI has just crept into all these jobs, hasn't it? See, even if you're not an AI expert, you know, there is an expectation from businesses that people do have some working knowledge of how to use it.

SPEAKER_00 12:33

Yeah, it's definitely in every workplace in some shape or form, isn't it? Yeah, but I don't think I do think there's still going to be um, you know, other things as well. Like we said with the other with the other positions, it's not all about AI, but but definitely that is uh a high priority one. I would think everybody, you know, doing those courses as as we know, there's lots of courses online that you can do that aren't expensive, different levels, beginner levels, or just to gain an understanding, I think, is massive, is definitely a forefront one front runner. Definitely.

SPEAKER_01 13:10

Absolutely, yeah. So we are doing someone's asked about um we'll come back to the questions, but yeah, we're um we're doing, aren't we, an AI course as well, all of us. Yeah, we are, yeah. Yeah, we can give you the details of that at the end, but yeah, and it's interesting what you said about the sales and the account management roles. I I do think it's something that AI can't necessarily replace.

SPEAKER_00 13:31

I know it can support sales, but that personal touch, yeah, definitely that personal touch, and I don't think that that's not going to go, especially more for like we have said, the smaller end businesses where there's more flexibility in roles, those businesses they need that one-to-one. That's how they build their businesses, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, how businesses are built, and obviously the smaller organizations are going to keep that.

SPEAKER_01 13:54

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:55

The account manager roles, you know, the customer services, the sales AI can't take over that. Yeah, like we said, we've seen more event management um positions as well. Um, you know, and is that, you know, because a lot of things are going AI, people are wanting more in-person events as well.

SPEAKER_01 14:14

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 14:16

Because there's definitely been an increase there, and in the training, and obviously with the training and development, um, employee relations as well.

SPEAKER_01 14:24

Yes, as they've been transforming businesses, employees have obviously need a bit more, I guess, hand holding, don't they? So that's been a big part of HR we've seen, hasn't it? Been yeah.

Humans Can’t Be Automated

SPEAKER_00 14:36

In the last six months, that's yeah, I would say those three the the the three the ER training and events have definitely been been on the up, haven't they?

SPEAKER_01 14:47

Yeah. Um also business analysts and project managers that are implementing and tech, obviously tech, they're implementing AI.

unknown 14:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:56

Yeah, they're on the up as well, aren't they?

SPEAKER_01 14:58

Um and I think what's good about AI is it's such a new technology. Nobody's really, I mean, obviously there'll be some experts, experts, but you know, everybody's still really at ground zero, so everybody can learn it. Yeah. The general population, I don't, you know, nobody's like super, super, super more advanced than anyone else, I don't think. I mean, obviously there's people at work, you know, for Chat GPT and OpenAI that, you know, are, but they're much fewer and far between. So I think everybody's got an opportunity to sort of get to learn it and use it as well.

SPEAKER_00 15:30

Yeah, and use it, and use it to how their advantage, how much they want to, you know, it's going to it's gonna work in some businesses a lot better. Yeah, it's gonna it's gonna work in different areas of businesses differently as well, some ways better. But that's where if you've got a basic understanding, I think, of it, and if you've done some kind of a short course just to gain some basics in it, yeah, yeah, I think that'll go a long way. I think that's definitely something that that employers are looking for.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

Yeah, and you'll feel so much more confident in interviews, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:07

And the more, yeah, and the more you're using it as well. Yeah, you know, you you'll be able to to to go into your role and potentially like we've learned so much, I've learned so much from doing mine, you know, that I've come up with oh, I had no idea I could do this, but you know, it's actually personal stuff as well, doesn't it? Yeah, yeah. So I do think, yeah, and like you say, it it will build your confidence as well because yeah, yeah, build your confidence.

SPEAKER_01 16:34

How do you spot genuinely family-friendly employers?

SPEAKER_00 16:40

I think from the advert, from the offset, isn't it? Reading a job advert. I think when you're reading a job advert, you you'll get a you get a feel anyway, don't you, for a job, whether the job's right for you, but you'll get an understanding, the terminology, the wording that they're using within the advert. So how do they talk about flexibility? Are they offering flux flexibility? Um how are they saying it? You know, is it up for a discussion? I I think if the word flexible working is in the job advert, they're open for a discussion. So you know, that says it all. If it's not in there, then it makes you think, how flexible are you? Are you flexible at all? But the fact that they've brought it up, yeah, says says that that they're looking and they're happy for somebody to have that work-life balance. And it could mean different things, though, as well. The flexibility, it can it can mean different things.

SPEAKER_01 17:32

Um what could it mean then? What's do you think it could it could be anything?

SPEAKER_00 17:37

So it could be somebody working part-time, it could be you're looking at somebody doing full days, shorter days. Yeah, it could be that somebody's flexible, you know, they're happy to do so many hours over a day. It could be five hours every day, Monday to Friday, but you do those hours as and when you can fit in. It could be that they need somebody to cover core hours, sort of like 10 o'clock till two o'clock Monday to Friday. Or they might be happy saying, you know, it's a full-time role, but you know, if you're happy to condense it into four days a week, you know, happy for you to do that. And I think that's the key. If they're saying they're flexible, they're open to seeing what will work for their business and what will work for the right person interviewing for the role.

Spotting Family-Friendly Employers

SPEAKER_01 18:24

Yeah. I also can get this question. When should people bring if the advert I guess there's two scenarios. If the advert mentions flexible working, and then if the advert doesn't mention flexible working, when should you, as the interviewee, bring up flexible working?

SPEAKER_00 18:41

I'd say it should come naturally into the conversation, I would have thought.

SPEAKER_01 18:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:45

The the same as, you know, is it office-based? Is it hybrid working? What are their working policies? So I'd say you do your interview and then maybe coming down further towards the end of the interview, you you'll be picking up things again from the terminology of the person interviewing you, won't you? They'll they'll have been speaking about people that they've got working in the office maybe already, or you know, how have you worked previously in an office? And I suppose hopefully it will come up in conversation. And if, like you say, if it's on the advert anyway, you know, you can then ask the question. If they've not then addressed it, you can say, you know, obviously in the advert it mentioned about flexible working. What does that look like to you? You know, and in return, they'll mirror that and ask the same to you. If it's not mentioned on the advert, then it's something that you can ask, you know. And I would say, you know, are there, you know, opportunities for flexible working? But but like I said, it it could be anything. Flexible working can mean remote, it can mean hybrid. I think every company interprets flexible working different to what they know in a way, isn't it? Yeah, it's to what's working at the moment. They may have people that all work hybrid, they're all full-time, but they're all hybrid, and for them, that's flexible. Yeah, or they could have many people that are part-time, job shares, and again to them, that's their norm, so that's their flexible.

SPEAKER_01 20:16

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:17

It's just it's about discussing, but you know, if you're applying for roles and they say flexible and it's not stated what kind of flexibility, I would say that means that they're open for discussion. So good apply. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 20:33

What are the biggest mistakes candidates make when applying for flexible roles?

Biggest Candidate Mistakes

SPEAKER_00 21:30

I think it's being realistic on what they're looking for. I think it's it's important to understand what for a client to understand what somebody's looking for. You know, you might need fully remote, you might want or need hybrid, you might need school hours, for example. But I think it's also important just to take into consideration as well what the business needs for them to work as a business and having that open discussion. It's a two-way street at the end of the day, like like an interview, you know, the whole interview is a two-way street, and the flexible workings in a two-way street, or what you're wanting, is that gonna work for that business as well? The same as experience does in a way, you know, what experience you bring into the role, what flexibility can they offer to you? And is it working? And finding a way, sometimes it's just finding a way to work. Yeah, because there's gonna be ups and downs. Like we said, we work flexible, but I know in recruitment that sometimes candidates work nine to five, Monday to Friday in an office. Might not be able to talk when they're driving home, might be cooking tea as soon as they get home. So actually, the first real free time that I can have their undivided attention is around eight o'clock at night. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:50

And I know you have taken you know the odd calls.

SPEAKER_00 22:52

Yeah, I'm more than happy to speak to people there because that's the juggle, isn't it? You know, there may be uh and I suppose it's the because that works for the business. Because in recruitment, it's I want to take into account how I can work with my candidates, and that's how the business runs. And I suppose candidates looking at how their hours will affect the business. What can they do and offer to the business that will work for both of them?

SPEAKER_01 23:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:20

And the mistake is if people are saying, I'm going in, maybe saying, okay, I want school hours, I don't want to work in the school, holidays, you know, and and I definitely need time for this, this, this, and this. And it may be that, but then if you were buying a house, you'd have all the things that you wanted as a number of uno, but actually you need them on a bit of a sliding scale. What is priority? What can slide, you know, what was what would be great but not essential, and maybe have that in your flexible hours that you're looking for. Yeah. And I suppose try to offer back, you know, if you're saying, look, you know, it would be great if term time I didn't have to work, or you know, this is a role where it's school hours in the office. Perfect. Do you think there would be any flexibility maybe during school holidays? That some of those days may be remote working.

SPEAKER_01 24:16

We have had clients that do that. That is something that I think clients can flex on more than maybe offering just term time um hours. It's actually in the school holidays we can be flexible, you can work from home, you can do this or the other, and that that seems crazy house.

SPEAKER_00 24:32

Definitely. And I don't think it's not that they're not offering that because it's not something they'll do. It just might be simply that it's not something that they've offered before and they've not even thought of.

SPEAKER_01 24:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:44

You know, because if you if you look back to before COVID, we never had so much remote working or hybrid working. So everything's changing. And again, just because if it's not the norm at the moment in that business doesn't mean it doesn't have to be moving forward.

SPEAKER_01 25:01

Yeah. I think as well when you're asking for flexible work, we've obviously you you we've talked about it, but think about how it's going to work for the business. Yeah. So uh because you've got to maybe not every not every business, not every job, but some you might have to like sell it. Yeah. And therefore, you've got to sort of think about how you can present something to the business that's attractive to them.

SPEAKER_00 25:24

Yes, and why it'll work for them. Yeah. The same as the same as you are in an interview when you're talking about your experience, what you can bring to the role and why and how it's going to benefit them. Like you said, how the hours, you know, how would potentially, you know, that work for them.

SPEAKER_01 25:39

Yeah, absolutely. So I think we've covered all the questions we were going to cover in the session. We've got some questions here. Um do you notice that more businesses are adopting flexible working arrangements?

Make Flex A Win-Win

SPEAKER_00 25:55

Yeah, yeah, I definitely. The the the roles that we've had coming in. I mean, obviously, uh well, I would say the majority of them are all offering flexibility in some shape or form. Um, and it's definitely year on year changing, hasn't it? I mean, yeah, more and more businesses are open to flexibility. And if they've not thought of it, a lot of clients say to us, you know, we're looking for part-time or we're not kind of sure what hours, but we're happy to discuss that with the candidate at interview.

SPEAKER_01 26:25

Yeah. And I think if we look back to pre-COVID, and I know that we obviously work in an office where it's easier to work flexibly than if you work in retail or um hospitality or whatever, but um, you know, like hybrid for so many people, that's the new like that's full-time, isn't it? What we used to do full-time in an office, and when you think, and that is often that's been a game changer for a lot of our candidates and our network because they can get obviously full-time pay with quite a lot of flexibility baked in massive as well.

SPEAKER_00 26:57

Yeah, and I think it's having that trust as well, it's knowing you know, you your client, you know, your employers trusting you that you're managing your hours if those days you're working from home, and also on the flip side as well, everything you're giving back. So you're not spending an hour commuting, and and that's real time, you know, by the time we've done a school drop-off or you know, before school club, and then you sat in traffic, parked up if you've not got parking, because not every company has parking, found somewhere to park and then walk that last bit, made a cup of tea. You know, you could be getting on for nine half nine at that point. Whereas actually, if you're working from home, you are starting at that time.

SPEAKER_01 27:37

And hopefully starting fresh.

SPEAKER_00 27:38

Yeah, fresh without the traffic, without the traffic.

SPEAKER_01 27:42

Um, so someone they've been lots of people have been asking about AI free training or um LinkedIn learning. We I've not used the someone's asked about Ellen's asked about LinkedIn learning for AI training. I personally do not know that, so I don't know. Um I'm sure it's good. I'm sure I'm think any AI training is worth checking out. Um Nicolas asked about free AI training. Um I don't know any free training, but there will be trainings for free on YouTube.

SPEAKER_00 28:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:15

Um and I'm sure there's a lot of government um like government run funded programs as well, where they can offer like free AI boot camps and things like that. So you might be worth checking what's in your local area because they're often funded by the council.

SPEAKER_00 28:30

You can familiarize yourself as well, download one and just you know, play around with it as well. So you've got a basic understanding, you know, as as long as you've got that basic understanding and you can discuss, you know, what you can do from it. I mean, the course we've done that we're doing at the moment, yeah. I mean, you know, there's loads, isn't there, that we had no idea. And I and I myself think I said students like I'd seen buttons and I thought, oh, I wonder what you can do with that. And you know, I've never gone near them, always moved away from them, but now I know, and it's like magic.

Is Flex Growing Year On Year

SPEAKER_01 29:02

Good. Yeah, so ours is called call. We're just doing it. I mean, we've no affiliate with it. Yeah, I just saw a Facebook advert and I said, I think we should do this, girls. And it's called Course IV. So course, then the letter I, the letter V dot com. Yeah. Um, we've got no affiliate with it. So um I just literally saw a Facebook advert and it was about 20 pounds, wasn't it? But I think it's been worth it um for a month.

SPEAKER_00 29:26

Yeah, definitely. Yeah, I've learned loads already.

SPEAKER_01 29:30

Yeah, I have. Um and we've built we've we've learned how to build custom GPTs, which I don't know if any of us have done before. There's a lot more advanced projects. Um, so it's got a chat GPT module. I've moved on now to um I'm trying to think, it's the um people probably know know it, and I have a mental blog, probably uh a pre-menable something where it's where you turn words into images. Okay. Um so I've just moved on from ChatGPT, so you complete each module, which each module, well, you've got lessons within each module, and each module is a different um like AI tool.

SPEAKER_00 30:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:07

I think it's got about four or five.

SPEAKER_00 30:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:09

Um, so that's quite good. So yeah, it's worth it. Um so oh, someone's asked, how do you approach the discussion of flexible working with a potential employer as someone with ADD and the chronic condition endometriosis has been out of work due to surgery for endo and trying to get back into paid work.

SPEAKER_00 30:34

So again, I would say, you know, when you're looking for roles, look for roles that offer flexible flexible working. And um, you know, when you get to that interview stage, have that, you know, what is your idea? What do you need? But like Liz said before, um, talk about what are those benefits, you know, if they're going to be hiring you, you know, it's it's not a negative that you're wanting flexibility. And I think that's sort of the mind shift, isn't it? That flexible working doesn't, it's not a negative. It's not, oh, you know, I need to ask for flexible working. It's look, you know, here I am with all these skills, you know, need a bit of flexibility. You know, what is it you're looking for? Um, and this is what I can offer.

SPEAKER_01 31:19

Yeah. I think that's it, isn't it? It's the same, really. It's what you can offer as well.

SPEAKER_00 31:23

Yeah, don't look at it as a negative. You know, you know, you've you've got, you know, you're looking for, you know, you've got a chronic condition, endometriosis, you know, and that can be, you know, you can bring that up. You know, that's not stopping your experience in the role at all. And I do find some, I I say it myself to all candidates, you know, when you're sometimes when you're looking for that flexibility, especially, you know, we've all said working mums, we put so much into our jobs. Yeah, we really do. You know, your child's sick, you're sort of mopping a brow, passing a glass of water, maybe like a little bucket as well. However, you know, you're still on the ball with work.

SPEAKER_01 32:05

Yeah.

Hybrid Trust And Output

SPEAKER_00 32:06

You know, you you might, you know, have an illness where, you know, you might not be able to be office-based every day. You might need some of that flexibility. Maybe like we were saying before, you know, five hours, you might need a couple of hours in the morning, you may need some a bit of time off later on. Again, it's it's putting it to the client in a way that it's that's not going to be negative to them. That's not gonna, you know, not be good for their business. Because look at what skills they're gaining by having you, what you can bring to the role. And it's out making sure that you know that's balanced there.

SPEAKER_01 32:41

Actually, we've got I've got a lady, I do utility warehouse. I know some of you probably know that I do utility warehouse on the side of investing women, and there's a lady that has two chronic health conditions on our team, and she is incredible. Um, and it really, I think because she can do it flexibly, she is on it, and gosh, she's really good. And you wouldn't feel you feel like that. I know she must be sometimes saying, Oh, she's having a bad day, and she's but the like the it's all about output with her. I think with people that work flexibly, are really, you know, it's all about output, and you wouldn't know with her, really. If you know we know, but you wouldn't, I think, based on output. No.

SPEAKER_00 33:20

Because you know that if you, you know, if you unfortunately, if you've got a chronic illness, it's sort of it's part of you, and it's part of your day-to-day, you know, your days aren't stopping, your week isn't stopping because of that, because unfortunately, you have to build it into your life, and you know that you might have days where you like this, but then you may know that the week after you know you're gonna be up here. So you you know, you know your body and you know how it works. And by talking that way and letting the employer know, you know, I've had this condition, you know, this is how I am some days, you know, might just be need a bit more time in the morning, for example, but then that that you know will be picked up later, you know. I don't, you know, I and uh employers, I've never come across an employer who has looked at that and said, No, I'm not too sure about that. They haven't.

Affordable AI Learning Options

SPEAKER_01 34:15

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Brilliant. So I think that's it. Michelle obviously said, are there any particular job sites or agencies which promote flexible roles more than others? Definitely come on our site, um Michelle, investingwomen.co.uk, because we've got um lots of flexible roles. We've got quite a few actually coming on over the next couple of weeks as well, which is exciting. Also for career returners, we've got quite a few coming on, haven't we, in a couple of weeks? Yeah, yeah. You're on a career break. Exciting ones coming in. Yeah, so we're working with um a big company that is going to be promoting quite a few returnshi programs as well. So thank you so much, Adele, for joining us today. Um, oh Malka, would you wait until receiving a job offer to divulge the flexibility needed due to chronic conditions?

SPEAKER_00 35:00

No, I mean I'd I'd discuss it first of all at the interview.

SPEAKER_01 35:04

Um because it may be that a deal breaker for them, they may for some reason not be able to opt for flexibility.

SPEAKER_00 35:11

No, and then like we said, you know, don't look at the the you know, a chronic condition, it's not looking at it in the workplace as you're and it's a negative, it's not, it's part of you, it's part of your experience. But what can you, you know, what what are they gaining from having you there? And I think if you leave it till after you've had the job offer, on the flip side, if they waited for you to accept a job and for you to start and then threw something on you that you weren't aware of, you wouldn't be, you know, overly keen on that, and it would be a surprise in the same way that you don't want to start off that way with a new job either. And I think the right employer will embrace that anyway at interview. And if they don't, it's not the right employer anyway, I would say.

Closing & Subscribe CTA

SPEAKER_01 36:04

Absolutely, absolutely, yeah. And replays will be sent as well to everybody that registered that missed parts of it, missed all of it. Um, so yeah, thank you so much to everybody that has joined the session. We have um one um shortly in about an hour with myself, which is about CVs and LinkedIn. Adele is running one tomorrow about interviews, um, so make sure you come to that one. And then we have um brilliant Leanne Cooper at 215 this afternoon that is going to be running a session on how to build confidence, which I know is a blocker for a lot of people as well. But thank you so much for everybody's time today. But most of the things so much, Adele, for joining us and for all the work you do. Because I know you found so many of our candidates' jobs. So thank you.

SPEAKER_00 36:48

Yeah, and anybody drop me a message, you know, connect with me on LinkedIn, drop me a message, more than happy to have a chat with anybody in more detail. Um, you know, if you want any more pointers on the flexible roles that we've got at the moment, what we've got coming up again, just get in touch, we can have a chat.

SPEAKER_01 37:05

Yeah, lovely. Thank you so much. See you later. Thank you, bye-bye. 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.