I realised that life away from the office equips you with new skills
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After a four-year career break, it felt especially impossible to Charlotte Darling that she would ever land a job.
She had moved with her family from Leeds to the Scottish Borders, and had no connections or networks in her new country.
“I didn’t have any local contacts or knowledge of my surrounding area,” she said. “I was searching for jobs in Edinburgh, 40 miles from where I lived. I think having spent four years pretty much just singing nursery rhymes, it was quite scary to try and get back into the mind frame of being professional.”
A friend told her about the Women Returners programme, and so Darling applied and managed to secure a place. She found the experience incredibly beneficial, and she was able to talk to other women who were facing the same challenges, and was assigned a mentor who she could speak frankly to throughout her job search journey.
Women Returners set up interviews with organisations who were recruiting with returners in mind, and Darling was awarded the role of a Fraud Strategy Manager at TSB.
Of the experience, Darling said: “It helped me remember what I had to offer, as the worst thing for me was my lack of confidence. I thought that they could find someone better than me as I had taken a step back. I realised that, actually, whatever life experience you’ve had in the time away from the office equips you with useful new skills, too. I’m much better in a stressful environment now, and I’m better at compartmentalising different parts of my life.”
Darling now acts as a mentor to others taking part in Women Returners programmes, and encourages fellow professionals to come forward and offer their expertise to returners trying to find their way back to the working world.
She said: “It’s lovely to give something back, and I was so grateful to my mentor. Talking to someone without feeling judged was so helpful.”