Mothers get a flexible life ñ Employers get a flexible workforce

A groundbreaking recruitment website, aimed at helping professional women find family-friendly jobs after taking a career break to bring up their children has launched.

Website, jobs4mothers.com, aims to become the essential recruitment site for employers wanting to fill part-time or job share posts with high calibre professionals.

The website launch comes at a time when one prominent labour market study* revealed that helping mothers back to work could be the answer to the UKís forecast skills shortage.

Yet some employers still view a career break as a problem. Recent government commissioned research found that mothers returning to work face greater discrimination in finding a job than any other group in society.

Since launching just month ago over 500 women have registered with jobs4mothers.com and over 130 jobs have been posted. In May alone the site received 130,000 hits and is currently receiving 4,500 hits daily.

The site is the brainchild of West London women Selina Smith and Kristina Abdat. The women decided to start their own business after talking to other mothers outside the school gates and finding that many were highly qualified but struggling to find flexible jobs that utilised their skills.

They approached employers and found that many were looking for professionals for one or two days a week or to tackle specific projects but didnít know how to reach them.

Former geography teacher, Selina, says: ìJobs4mothers is providing a much-needed matching service for employers and returning mothers. We feel mothers are a great invisible workforce, reliable, mature, and hard working with tremendous skills - they are an untapped pool of highly trained and skilled workers.î

ìThis is a real waste of womenís training and education, ìsays Selina, îbut things are changing - work-life balance is a hot political issue and weíre delighted at the number of employers whoíve come on board.î

Employers agree. ìSeveral times in the past few months I have been looking to employ someone with a profile specifically matching that of a returner and have been unable to find any way of reaching this employment market. This is a great idea,î says David Popely of David Popely Accountancy, Bexley, Kent Mothers looking for part-time or flexible work post their CV on to the site and apply for jobs that best fit their skills and family commitments. The site will also have a job share board where candidates and employers can post job share positions.

Kristina, a former biochemists, says the site is also a resource for women brushing up on their skills after a career break. ìWe have teamed up with Local Enterprise agency, Harrow in Business to offer tailor-made course for women returning to work. The first one-day course on June 23 will feature workshops on refreshing interview and presentation skills as well as a session on dressing for work and a chance to make valuable contacts.î

Harrow in Business will also be offering computer courses and CV advice.

Key facts

The UK will need 2.1 million new entrants to the workforce between 2010 and 2020, a demand which can only be met though a combination of adults working longer and an increase in adults re-entering the labour force. City and Guilds report, Dormant skills untapped, May 2006.

Women returning to work after starting a family are 40 per cent less likely than the average white, able bodied male to be offered a post according to findings in an interim report published in April 2006 by Equalities Review.

Since April 2003 parents of children under six have been able to ask their employer to vary their hours of work. Employers are only legally obliged to give ëreasonable considerationí to such requests.

According to the Equal Opportunities Commission 67% of women whose youngest child is aged 4 and under work part-time, 63% of women whose youngest child is 5-10 work part-time, compared with only 33% of women who have no dependent children who work part-time.

Female part-timers are on average more likely to work in the distribution, hotel and catering industries, in the banking industry, in cleaning, in charitable services, and in school and in higher education. They are also more likely to be in relatively low-level occupations in these sectors. (EOC)

Biographies
Kristina Abdat, 37, is a Norwegian who came to the UK to study Biotechnology at Imperial College, London. She then completed a post-doctorate at Imperial and IACR-Rothamsted, before working at the Department of the Environment. She left to have her two children, Tamara (5) and Oscar (3). Along with Selina she was until recently a joint treasurer on the committee of St. Stephenís Pre-school Playgroup in Ealing.

Selina Smith, 38 studied geography at the London School of Economics before embarking on a career in publishing. She was an assistant editor at Euromoney Books. She then trained as a geography teacher becoming head of department. Along with Kristina she was treasurer and Joint chair in St. Stephenís Pre-School Playgroup in Ealing. She has three children Olivia (7), Charlie (5) and Luke (2).