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Working for working mums

Written by: Mandy Garner

Article Overview: What do you do when your children are off sick or there are medical checks, clinics to attend, inset days or other myriad child-related appointments to keep? There are only so many days you can take off work, as many mothers have discovered. Flexible working can seem the only solution for mothers who want or need to work, but how can you find it? Enter Gillian Nissim. She is a working mum of two boys and found herself and many of her friends in a similar position, needing flexible yet challenging work, but not being able to find it. She set about doing something about it.

Working for working mums

What do you do when your children are off sick or there are medical checks, clinics to attend, inset days or other myriad child-related appointments to keep? There are only so many days you can take off work, as many mothers have discovered. Flexible working can seem the only solution for mothers who want or need to work, but how can you find it? Enter Gillian Nissim. She is a working mum of two boys and found herself and many of her friends in a similar position, needing flexible yet challenging work, but not being able to find it. She decided to do something about it. The result is workingmums.co.uk, a UK-based jobs site which puts a huge bank of qualified professional women in touch with family-friendly employers who offer flexible working conditions and work which utilises their skills.

Nissim decided to start the business in early 2006 after the birth of her second child. She researched her target market of mothers and employers online and face to face to gauge demand and to find out what services both groups wanted. With the support of friends and her husband Leigh who remarked on his own problems finding suitably qualified staff for freelance and short term projects, she wrote a business plan and got in touch with web development company Wide Area Communications who then helped to build, develop and maintain the website.

WorkingMums has steadily increased its income and the number of mums registered on the site is currently over 52,000 from across the UK. There are over 3,000 employers registered nationwide. The calibre of candidates registered is high - they include chief executives, lawyers, accounts managers, IT executives and editors, many with between 10 and 20 years' experience. Mums register for free and can file their CVs while employers pay to post jobs on the site and contact candidates.

As business has increased Nissim has taken on more staff and recently set up an office in central London. In early 2007, there were just two members of staff. Now there are thirteen plus non-executive director Simon Smith, a recruitment expert, and Nissim's husband Leigh who does the accounts and is non-executive chairman. Many of the staff work mainly from home and are working mothers.

Nissim is a big advocate of employing working mothers. "I've always employed working mums," she says. "I find them more focused, they have a greater sense of what's important, and they have more to prove - that they can be a mother and be good at their job. And certainly in the case of the Working Mums team, they're passionate about what they do."

In addition to jobs, the site hosts a range of editorial content such as blogs, news, features, careers information and expert advice. The site's expert panel answer readers' questions on everything from employment legislation to childcare and financial matters.

Nissim says there have been both ups and downs to setting up the business - for instance, both her children came down with chickenpox just as the site was launched. She has also had to learn a range of new skills from accounting to marketing. But the upside is the flexibility of the work and doing something she feels passionately about. "The key is being really organised and planning things in advance," she says. "That sounds very regimental but it also means planning in plenty of time for relaxing and having fun. It helps not to stress out if things don't quite go to plan. If you end up looking after one of the kids who is poorly all day rather than working then don't worry, everything will get done sooner or later and you'll find a balance," she says.

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Article Tags: business plan, calibre, central london, chief executives, cvs, flexible working, freelance, gillian, inset days, many mothers, medical checks, mums, nissim, professional women, target market, term projects, two boys, web development company, wide area communications, working conditions



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Re: Internet Marketing is the best business in the world - 27.its a great job creation for mums who want to spend time with there kids. 28.you dont need a degree,once you understand the basics.you are on.
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Re: Good news for women - She probably is at the point I got to and needs to get a job or get away from the kids a while during the day and do something really productive. When I stayed home I got to the point that I felt useless. Not that I really was. I was very useful to my child at the time, but I needed adult interaction and to feel like I was making a contribution to the household. Working again we the answer to my prayer. I could not have stayed home another year and my psyche not been damaged. She can probably find lots of good ideas of how she can start a business of her own right here on this forum. Otherwise, sometimes working for someone else is better for some people. Different strokes for different folks.


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