I’ve been to university three times in my life. Three times when I was at a crossroads, where investing in myself and reinventing who I was via learning seemed like the only way forward. The first time was in the late 1980s, at 26, when I was disillusioned with my banking career. The second time was just after I had my daughter at 29. The third time was at 44, when I broke up with the Italian. After the third time, I said that I would never undertake formal study again. Ever. And this was mainly because I didn’t want
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I started a PhD in 2008. A year later I quit, but that’s not what this post is about. This post is about women, work, and career advancement. It’s about what I see happening again and again in workplaces. Where women overwork in the hope they will have career success. Where women are often chewed up and spat out by the places for which they work. Where women of a certain age can’t get work. Where women have to hide their age on paper to even get a look-in for work. This post is about that, which, coincidentally, was also
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This post was originally posted on WFA.Life. The Freedom Road series documents my transition to a more freelance, less corporate working life. I made a couple of rookie errors… I got it wrong. So very, very wrong. And I’m paying for my mistakes. In more ways than one. How could I—a seasoned war horse—make a number of embarrassing rookie errors? Things seemed perfect… I have always wanted to pare back my working hours, but I didn’t have the level of income to allow me to do that. Not until 2012, when I landed a plum role as a training consultant
Continue reading...I went to university at age 26 because I thought having tertiary qualifications would mean that I would have better career opportunities. After all, that’s what all the rhetoric said, right? Before that I was worked in banks and took temp jobs to pay the bills. So I graduated from university, clutching my trusty Arts degree, thinking: “OK World, here I am! Come and get me!” And it did. It pulled me right back to banking and temp jobs. Hmmph. So much for better opportunities. Luckily, I became pregnant with my daughter and I realised I had to do something
Continue reading...Having a PhD was something that I thought I wanted. I thought that it would validate me and say to the world: “See, I told you I was smart!” and “See world! I am someone!”. I also thought I wanted to be an academic. I completed my Master of Arts in Communication Management as the post-grad student with the highest GPA (I was the Schultz Communication Prizewinner for 2008). I was head hunted by the University of South Australia to go into their Doctor of Communication program, so I was very flattered. I had also resigned from my job as a
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