The 4 best flexible jobs of the week (10th December) - Women's Agenda

The 4 best flexible jobs of the week (10th December)

I always have the suspicion that flexibility is a reward rather than a recruitment tool. In fact, it’s not really a suspicion, I was told this by a firm when I was doing some due diligence before I set up ProfessionalMums. The firm, I was told, would not use the site because flexibility was for people that had proven themselves.

You know the deal, you’ve worked at an organisation for a while, and then you go on maternity leave. When you come back you have the option to work part-time. Now I am not knocking this, I think it’s great that organisations recognise when your life changes and allow you to adjust your working arrangements. However, flexibility as a reward rather than as a recruitment tool can have the effect of locking women into their current roles and limiting their ability to move. The flexibility we have in our current role is simply too highly prized to consider moving elsewhere.

It’s great that large organisations are moving to all roles flex (Telstra and ANZ have announced it and I hear that most major organisations are expected to follow). I’d really like to know what it means in practical terms when recruiting though (as opposed to rewarding). When I see a job described as flexible I always push the organisation to tell me what that means: can the role be done from home, would school hours be enabled, are the outputs clearly defined etc.. Flexibility is such a big word. 

So as a rule I prefer it when the flexibility is spelled out in a job advert, and the example this week is a role at NAB for a customer marketing (engagement) consultant (NAB is a 2015 partner with Women’s Agenda through its Select Employer platform). The role is a permanent part-time job at 4 days a week in North Sydney. No room for confusion as to what the flexibility on offer actually is.

My favourite kind of flexible job is one that is output focused and I want to highlight a role for a part-time marketing co-ordinator in Sydney this week. Apart from the fact that it’s with a really interesting organization Gillian Fox that focused on leadership development for women, it’s also one where the employer is focused on output and the successful candidate will be able to choose the days that they are in the office or at home.

Finally there are a couple of good part-time or project roles for lawyers around this week. There’s a part-time commercial lawyer role in Brisbane where the employer explicitly states that the role has flexible working times and an ability to work hours that suit family and parental needs, hobbies, sports and/or other business interests. Full marks for an employer that knows that flexible work isn’t just for people with children. There’s also a part-time or project role for a lawyer in Sydney—I think this one is quite good because it explicitly states that it is not suitable for candidates looking for employment on a full-time basis.

This will be my last write up of the year as we move into the low period for recruitment. Have a great Xmas break and happy flexible job-hunting for 2016!

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