Are Women Still Expected To Give Up Their Careers?

As a mother and wife I often feel that I am walking on a tight rope. Prior to getting married, I was a career minded and progression focused executive looking for her next challenge. However, the ability to be as tenacious as focused as I had spent the last 10 years doing so became harder to do once I became a mother and a wife. 

I had no real clue of how tough a working mother had it. Constantly feeling torn between duties at work and duties at home. I also had no clue that sleeping for more than 5 hours would become a luxury and not a part of my daily life. 

I started my company years back but since it was undercapitalized when I learned I was pregnant, I immediately ran to the idea of getting a steady job with benefits to cover the medical costs. 

Since I started my new job while pregnant, I did not accrue enough sick and vacation time to go on maternity leave. I was forced to work while in the hospital and had three clients waiting for me upon my arrival home. While pregnant,  I  worked for my new employer while moonlighting and continuing my business - it was not the best situation but necessary.  The strain from pregnancy and working two jobs had its toll on me though. After giving birth, I was absolutely exhausted but now I had no time to catch my breath. 

I had always been a go-getter and did what I had to do. So, working 60 -80 hours per week had always been the norm for me. Besides, I am a New Yorker where no one works less than 50 hours per week. I thought I could do both, be a great mom and work a demanding schedule.

However, I was finding it harder and harder to get on a train, travel 1 hr and 45 minutes and begin my 60-80 hour work week after resting for only 2-3 hours. My son has a severe case of asthma and had been admitted into the  hospital multiple times before he reached his first birthday.   The pressures from a demanding job coupled with my son's health had become overwhelming. I often felt as though I was drowning. 

My husband expected me to be "the mom" and stay at home with our son when he was sick or on the borderline of becoming ill, needed to go on an appointment, family trips, school trips, plays, volunteer activities, etc. Feeling extremely concerned for my son, I never challenged my husband's expectation. After all, I am the woman, right? I started to feel like I was drowning. The increasing pressure from work had its toll on me. Not to mention the growing demands of being a new mom and wife. I no longer craved the thrill of climbing the corporate ladder. My employer noticed it as well.   So after 18 months of working I returned back to managing my business full time. By then the economy had grown worse and two weeks later my husband lost his job. 

Upon returning to my business full-time after leaving it for three years, I quickly learned how much  the market had changed during that time. I had to work 20 times as hard to catch up. And now with my husband being out of work, I definitely had to produce.  I worked around the clock, starting my day at 3:30 in the morning  ended it well into the night. I was able to grow the business and sustain the family. 

My husband found a new job and a new attitude. I noticed that once he was back on his feet, his expectation of me doing the lion share of the home duties had significantly heightened offering little time for me to do focus on my growing business. Starting and running a successful business had been a life long dream of mine since I was 10 years old and worked with my Junior Achievement mentor.

 So now, the question is... how do you balance all demands? What is fair? 

5 Secrets to Securing A Job Offer

by http://www.countrysbestresumes.com/

Securing the right opportunity can be challenging especially during a tough job market. With an estimated 14 million people out of work, job seekers must distill value. Detailed below are tips to help job seekers land the job!

Sell Your Skills: List your major professional accomplishments, use those accomplishments to justify your ability and suitability. Remember this is a sales call, you must convince a company that you are a great investment.

Eagerness: Team work is important, don't just say it but provide solid, results driven examples. Employers need to know you'd be willing to take on whatever it takes to help the team survive and prosper. Highlight your good work ethic, the amount of awards you have received, promotions, etc.

Manageability: You must demonstrate that you can work effectively alone as well as part of a team and able to take direction and criticism. Companies are looking for workers who get along with others, whatever their individual opinions or beliefs. Do not talk negatively about your current or previous employers.

Understand Your Industry: It's not enough to tell an interviewer you have experience within an industry, you must illustrate proven knowledge backed by facts.

Solutions Oriented: We all solve problems: Problem solving is the most important part of any job description so identify and recall at interview typical problems you have tackled in past employment. Provide specific examples and measurable results.

Secret Tactics of Interviewers

By: www.Countrysbestresumes.com

One of the biggest mistakes many people make when interviewing for a job is they think all that is necessary to be successful at an interview is to show you have what it takes to do the work. However, according to many recruiters and hiring managers there is much more.

• Trained Interviewers will most likely:
  Ask open-ended questions
• Encourage you to talk 70-80% of the time
• Give limited information about the position until qualifications are confirmed
• Maintain eye contact
• Be comfortable with silence
• Ask you to tell them why you are interested in the job
• Ask you about your knowledge of the company
• Ask you at least 10 questions
• Ask you why you left your last employment