WOMAN OF THE FUTURE
PHILLIPA GEARD RECRUITMYMOM recruitmymom.co.za ❛We require employers to offer jobs that have a level of flexibility or offer parttime work.
Phillipa Geard understands the challenges that face mothers who want to return to work after putting their careers on hold. Having left her successful corporate job to focus on her family, Phillipa decided to return to work after her second child – but she wasn’t looking for a full time, in-office role. Although she found work as a part-time consultant, she discovered that not every woman was as fortunate.
‘I started engaging with other moms who wanted to find skilled work, but something more flexible. Recruitment agencies weren’t even interested in accepting their CVs if they weren’t looking at fulltime employment.’ Phillipa felt that she could fill this gap in the recruitment industry by linking mothers with employers that were offering flexible or part-time work.
‘And that’s exactly what I did. RecruitMyMom was born in 2012.’
RecruitMyMom is a South African-born online recruitment agency that meets the needs of skilled women looking to integrate their careers with their family lives.
‘We require employers to offer jobs that have a level of flexibility or offer part-time work.’ The online platform targets small and medium-sized enterprises, and
places permanent and contract employees in both office and virtual home-based roles. Seven years later, Phillipa can see the change in the way employers think about flexible and part-time employees.
‘It’s been great to see RecruitMyMom become a success in the sense that there are enough employers out there that are willing to offer skilled women this way of working.’ In 2018, Phillipa was named Job Creator of the Year at the Entrepreneur of the Year Awards for creating a platform that has enabled more women to be able to find work in South Africa.
‘This spurred me to launch RecruitAGraduate in 2019 to help the youth unemployment crisis in South Africa.’
For Phillipa, winning the Woman of the Future Award is the acknowledgement that she and her team are making a difference in the lives of thousands of women (and now also the youth) by creating employment opportunities. It’s also a chance to take stock. ‘As an entrepreneur, you seldom stop and take note of how far you’ve come or what you have achieved.’