Recently we spoke to Tamsin, mum of three primary school children and administrator extraordinaire. She described temping in London as being “the best of both worlds”. This is Tamsin’s story of her experiences with recruitment agencies in London and how temping allows her to get a great work-life balance.
The early days
When my children were preschool age, it seemed like my career was on hold forever. There’s a saying “the days are long but the years are short”. In those early days of motherhood, I felt lost in this quagmire of hands-on parenting as a stay-at-home parent. Yet all too soon, those intense years with my babies were over. They were now fledging independent school children. Suddenly, there was room for ‘me’ again. Or so I thought. I jumped back into a fulltime 9-5 job. I sorted wrap-around care and hopped back on the treadmill of life.
I couldn’t do it all
Pretty soon, I realised that full-time working and school hours combined with the changing needs of my children wasn’t really working. I was exhausted in a way that was painfully reminiscent of new-born days. Yet I couldn’t sleep when the baby slept. The house was a mess. School things got forgotten. I’d like to say I was excelling in work, but I was tired and definitely not running at 100%. Our time together as a family wasn’t exactly much fun either. I was worn out. The kids got the worst of me. Work got the worst of me.
No holiday cover
Then came the school holidays. Did you know there are 13 weeks that your children won’t be at school each year?! That’s before the joy of random Inset days. Or when you need to be there for sports day, performances, recitals, and random things that only primary schools can generate. My husband was working full time too. Even if we split the holidays between us over our annual leave, we would a) never see each other and b) still be four weeks short of childcare.
So, the holidays became this crazy whirlwind where I dispatched exhausted and frustrated children into long days in holiday schemes. I wasted precious moments convincing them that yes, they did love coding, or multi-sports, or singing, purely to get the childcare cover I needed. Something had to change.
Finding temp work in London
I contacted several London recruitment agencies with the hope of finding that Holy Grail: the school hours, term-time job. Well, in admin, that doesn’t really exist except for school admin positions themselves, which are as rare as hen’s teeth. I was beginning to lose hope when I was chatting with my consultant at Love Success. So she recommended that I trying temping in London instead. My initial reaction was “No!” because I wanted security, a career, and good pay!
However, it turned out that doing temp work was exactly the right thing. When things are ticking along nicely in term time, and I’ve got onsite school wrap-around care, and I can take on temporary assignments. When the holidays come around or when life feels too fraught, I can easily take time out. Admittedly, it’s down to consistency with my one recruitment agency, but it really is the best of both worlds. I’m still building my career for when the children are older and my time is more flexible. Yet I’m not the worn-out shell that I was where neither home nor work were getting the best of me.
If you’re in my situation, struggling with childcare and wanting to spend more time with your family, I really would recommend doing temp work in London. There’s plenty out there!
If you’re looking for temporary office support jobs, PA jobs, or receptionist roles, get in touch with the team at Love Success today and we help you achieve the work-life balance you’re hoping for.
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