I’ve just had two astonishing conversations with two young people. This wasn’t related to wild nights out or any inappropriate behaviour, but their employment conditions.  Both are working on zero-hours contracts. For the uninitiated zero-hours contracts are apparently a particularly British phenomenon. A  bit like Christmas pudding and red double-decker buses, just infinitely less wholesome They are understood to be an employment…

The holiday season is upon us and for many it is a time of acute stress and busy-ness. Honouring our professional commitments and personal obligations becomes almost a full-time job at this time of the year trying to relax. Many look forward to taking a vacation to get away from it all.  But sometimes the process…

I see many people in transition who struggle to advance in their careers  internally within their own organisations, in almost the same way as if they were involved in an external job search. Today,  many companies have very rigorous internal promotion processes which can be as daunting as looking for a position outside a current organisation. However,  there are…

Maternity leave: then what? Making decisions about going back to work after maternity leave is always challenging.  D-day looms large and is unavoidable. Decisions have to be made eventually. The period leading  up to the return to work can be one of great stress. What goes on for the new mother? Guilt and angst These emotions plays…

Interviewers need to clean up their acts on childcare and interview questions We are constantly inundated with soundbites from high-profile women such as Marissa Meyer, Anne- Marie-Slaughter and Sheryl Sandberg  who vie for media attention in the business stratosphere. Now we have the  ex-CEO of Burberry drifting or jumping into the fray, I’m not sure which. The…

How do to find a position post retirement

When building your career, your hard skills are your foundations. But soft skills are very often the cement. Find out why you need to synthesize your career into a coherent story for delivery both verbally and in writing.

  Repatriation can be more stressful than the original move. I am a long term expat with two international moves under my belt. Three if you count the move from England to Wales. Both my children are “Third Culture Kids”  (TCK) having been born outside their passport country. o I know first hand that a successful international experience can be an enriching…

Do you have a career plan? The likelihood of most of us sitting down every year with a professional career coach to create an annual career strategy is about as great as chocolate cream cake becoming a zero calorie dessert any time soon.  No one would think of having a medical with an unqualified doctor or getting their cars serviced at an…

I was born with light red hair. Back in the day it was called strawberry blonde which I never really understood, because strawberries are actually really red!  Sometimes and more ostentatiously I was a Titian blonde. Apart from the odd building site worker yelling “Hey ginge”  from time to time, I was never subjected to any sort of name calling, teasing or harassment that many redheads are now…