Work-Life Balance How Two Moms At The Same Company Make It Work In Ve

Work-Life Balance How Two Moms At The Same Company Make It Work In Ve Work-life balance is such a common issue for women (and men) in the workplace and often we hear that companies have reputations for good for work-life balance or are bad for work-life balance. While some of these generalities may be culturally true, we also worry they can be quite misleading. After all, what balance looks like to one woman may seem very unbalanced to abedrngnisher. Thats why we loved this story of two different women, Alexis Perez and Amanda Kaufman who work in the consulting industry, at the same company (Accenture) and how they have achieved their work-life balance on a day-to-day grund despite making very different career choices.Alexis and AmandaWe have known each other for the past five years. We met working for global professional services company Accenture on a project in Chicago and have remained colleagues and friends. Weve both progressed in ur careers. Were similar in age, occupation and family status. We both have husbands who have demanding professional careers. And, within a year of each other, we each welcomed a child into our busy lives.From a career standpoint, both of us chose different, but complimentary paths at the same company. Alexis first took a role focused on developing the Global Operating Model offering, then transitioned to be the Offering Development Manager for our Sourcing Procurement practiceboth roles without a day-to-day focus on external clients. Amanda stayed in the Strategy practice, continuing to travel and pursue client-focused projects. This article is written by both of us to highlight our motivations, our differences in career and life experience, and what we recommend women finding themselves at similar crossroads consider.Alexis StoryFor almost nine years, I welches your typical Monday through Thursday traveling consultant, and I loved it. I loved the challenging work, the clients I met, the adventure of seeing a new city and the great people on my teams. As my husband and I started thinking about growing our family, I often would think about how I would make it work. I grew up with involved parents who never missed a single ballet lesson, recital, choir concert or golf lesson. I always felt lucky to have my parents around when I needed them, and I wanted the same for my future child.During my pregnancy, I did everything imaginable to prepare for the birth of my daughter, but there welches one question that seemed to occupy my thoughts on a daily basisHow am I going to make this work? Throughout my pregnancy and maternity leave, I played out the scenarios in my headwhether to travel, work locally, work from home, take my daughter with me on the road (the thought of traveling with a toddler every week makes my blood pressure rise) or find a new job. Because my husband is a lawyer at a big law firm, who often works late hours and many weekends, we decided that my being a traveling parent would not work for us. After exploring my options and careful consideration, I decided to take an internal role in my companys Offering Development group. Instead of a two-hour flight on Monday mornings, my commute now consists of a trip down two flights of stairs to my home office where I spend about 95 percent of my working time.The biggest perk of my role is complete flexibilityI have been able to tischplatzset the hours I work, which is usually not ideal for a client-facing role.How I do itBecause my role is truly global, meaning, my internal clients are all over the world, I can work from any location. Most of the time, I work from home. My typical day begins between 530 600 a.m., when I wake up, get dressed, feed my daughter breakfast and check the large quantity of e-mails I get while Im sleeping from my colleagues in Europe and Asia. At 7 a.m., my nanny arrives, and my work day officially begins. My mornings are stacked with conference calls, then I spend the afternoon head down on the projects Im working on. Since my daughter goes to bed early, and my husband gets home late, I try to carve out time in my schedule to sneak in a workout at the gym. My nanny leaves for the day at 4 p.m., so I shut down my computer (for a while) to spend time with my daughter until her bedtime around 630-7 p.m. Once my daughter is in bed, I cook and eat dinner and typically log back on my computer to finish my work for the day.The biggest perk of my role is complete flexibility, which I would not have if I continued as a Strategy consultant. Now, if I have a sick kid, need to step away to throw in a load of laundry, or simply need to take care of a personal matter, I can do it. In addition, I have been able to set the hours I work, which is usually not ideal for a client-facing role. Finally, I have been able to eliminate the traditional time sucksI no longer spend eight plus hours of my week commuting and can refocus this time on work and family.Amandas StoryI love consulting. I love the var iety of projects, the ever-changing teams and challenges, the different clients and the travel. It is what I have done for my entire career so far, and I dont see it changing When I met my husband, and for the early part of our marriage, he was also a traveling consultant. We would commute to and from the airport together on Mondays and Thursdays. For a time, we would take off and fly to opposite corners of the country and reunite for the weekends.During these early times, I was sorting a lot out. I had moved from Canada to the United States. I had become a stepmother and co-parent to my husbands young children. I was rebooting my network and striving to perform in a much larger and more competitive marketplace. I was reading a lot of books, and having many deep, quality conversations with my husband about how we were going to make all of this, and our future family plans, work.I had a couple of defining realizations I preferred a life that was over-full rather than under-utilized. I preferred a family financial situation that was flexible to deal with uncertainties such as corporate layoffs, serious and sudden illness, and other life moments. Both partners contributing significantly to family comfort levels was important to both of us and important to the power dynamics in our relationship. I love the thrill of the pursuit of excellence and self-improvement that my career offers me.How I do itMy husband and I arrived at this conclusion I love consulting, he does not love consulting. He wanted to spend time in town to take full advantage of his evening with the kids. I wanted to see how far I could push myself in this career and have the flexibility to be fully present when I was in town.When it came time for us to expand our family, we decided he would be the parent in town, and we would set up childcare that would be nurturing but flexible for our schedules. We would make the investment in an au pair as well as in daycare, and we would have a Plan A, Plan B, Plan C and Plan D to make sure I could keep going with this career while still having quality relationships with my family. I would have to negotiate with my leaders to make sure they understood that I was here to pursue this career, and not because I felt I didnt have a choice.I wanted to see how far I could push myself in this career and have the flexibility to be fully present when I was in town.In my typical week, I travel Monday through Thursday. Im up early Monday morning, before everyone else, and climb into a car to the airport. I manage all our home finances, schedules and administration mainly because I can take care of most of it wherever I happen to be. My husband tends to take care of the laundry and dishes, although we do share physical chores over the weekend. Weve hired a maid service to take care of regular cleaningdont want to spend a second of my precious weekend time scrubbing a toilet I fly home again Thursday evening and often work from home or the office on F ridays.Friday nights are always date night. I transition to a weekend that is focused on my marriage, family, household and a little recharge for myself, too. I also take advantage of my flights to read, catch up on tasks, keep myself organized. Im actually more consistent about exercising when Im staying in a hotel, and I can roll out of bed into the gym.What we realizedAs we wrote this article, we realized that despite our different career trajectories and travel schedules, we really do share similar challenges and rewards. We both have flexibility Alexis because she doesnt hassle with airports, and Amanda because she has personal time Monday through Wednesday evening and during her commute. We both have constraints because our jobs have high expectations of us, and we both always have more on our minds to accomplish than can be realistically achieved by anyone. We both struggle with achieving balance and have to work hard to ensure that work doesnt encroach too far on what is per sonally fulfilling and rewarding in life.At first, Amanda thought, An internal role must be easier than getting on a plane, and Alexis thought, Wouldnt it be nice if I had a few evenings a week to myself? But, we both now realize that perception isnt necessarily reality. Alexiss job is very challenging, and Amanda doesnt have much free time because she tends to fill it with as much productivity as she can before she heads into another weekend. We are both happy with our choices, and we both make it work in our own ways.This article was originally published by Accenture and is republished with permission.

Choosing Writing Your Resume to Fit a Job Descriptions

Choosing Writing Your Resume to Fit a Job Descriptions Highlighting important keywords as stated in the work description in your cover letter is an essential point to be followed. Resumes are typically a couple of pages. Things You Wont Like About Writing Your Resume to Fit a Job Descriptions and Things You Will To maintain a simple resume, dont add two or more colors and prevent mixing fonts. Locate the keyword phrases youd love to use from the work description and use them 23 times. The Good, the Bad and Writing Your Resume to Fit a Job Descriptions Its critical that you tailor your resume to a work description. You may also, return to the work description. Firstly, its necessary to get used to the work description. The work description will say at minimum the abilities and experience essential for the job. There are an infinite number of articles and blog posts about how to build your resume. Actually, the word credentials has two unique meanings in regards to your job search. Extend some expert courtesy and respond to messages and calls, even if its a job that you dont want anymore. New Ideas Into Writing Your Resume to Fit a Job Descriptions Never Before Revealed You definitely dont wish to price yourself from a job chance, but you dont need to sell yourself short either. Job seekers must explicitly communicate our possible worth to prospective employers, and in the time of globalization, the resume isnt capable of meeting that need. You may have a foundational resume that compellingly articulates the most significant info, states Heifetz, but you need to cowboy it for each opportunity. Your work is to select the top 3 requirements that match your experience. It helps to offload the task to an expert whos up-to-date on the most recent hiring trends and resume standards. Search on the web and youre flooded with numerous guidelines for designing your resume. So once you read through the work description, pay particular attention to t he crucial requirements and desirable traits to produce certain you fit the bill. Finally, everything on your resume must contribute to its highest possible relevancy and readability. Dont be scared to be noticed and use facts to demonstrate why youd be an ideal fit for the function. Although in nearly all the circumstances, both the provider along with the work seeker are in need of an appropriate match but when applying for work, focus on what you can do to help the organization and not the other way around. The job, the business, and the institution proved not the appropriate fit for me. Also, good research before applying to a firm really can increase your probability of clearing the resume shortlisting stage. You have many benefits over other job candidates, but it does not follow that you will need to list each accolade youve got in your resume. My resume became a drehort for me to prove I was an ideal job candidate. Though UX design is a rather new industry, theres already a good deal of diversity in the job roles out there. Its possible to observe a wide variety of good resume templates and make an informed decision. In the event the job involves a good deal of prototyping, for instance, emphasize prototyping on your resume. A lot of men and women apply for the exact same job, so its essential to make aya your application shines the brightest. Why Almost Everything Youve Learned About Writing Your Resume to Fit a Job Descriptions Is Wrong Locating a job may be a tedious procedure, particularly when youre on the hunt for a remote one. Making a Resume isnt the very first step towards acquiring a job which you love.