Career change mums

In case you missed it last night, the Masterchef grand final was on. Like much of the country, I have been totally addicted to the show for weeks.

Last night George said to the final two: “Dreams are like stars. Follow them and you will find your destiny.”

It’s a lovely phrase that if broken down doesn’t really mean much. But it encapsulates much of what the show is about – the popular obsession with following dreams.

It’s not just a media thing either. I got a call yesterday from a friend who has resigned her job and plans to work for free in a café kitchen (by the way – her interest totally predates the Masterchef phenomenon – she’s been trying to get into food for years!). I felt inspired for her, thrilled for her – I could almost feel the freshness of the change coming down the phone.

It is quite an American concept this idea that if you want something bad enough you can have it – and that by implication if it doesn’t work out you, didn’t work hard enough.

But what about once you have kids? I’ve been mulling over the idea of a career change (or at least a job change) for the past couple of years. I had a baby instead - if I’m honest it was partly to escape from work. I don’t think I’m alone in this. I hear other women saying they are so sick of working they just want to have a couple of kids.

In many ways, this answer is fools gold. Once you have a child, it’s damn hard to give up the jobs we have. In our current jobs we lean on the good will we’ve built up to take sick days when the kids have a fever or to negotiate shorter working hours. In a new job there is no good track record to draw from. A new job requires one to prove oneself early on. What this usually means is full time work and longer hours while we get on top of things. Possible, yes. Palatable, no.

Then there’s re-skilling. Who can afford to go back to studying full time? And who can afford time-wise the part time hours at TAFE on top of work and family? Worse still, a career change means years at the lowly pay rate we’ve only just clambered above. How does that affect our mortgage, or our savings, or our dreams for our children’s education?

I’m currently in a job that I don’t want to do long term but which provides me with good working conditions and an ability to negotiate part time hours. I can walk to my office and on the way, drop my child off at the day care centres we have our name down at. If I moved jobs to the other side of town suddenly I would be traveling in the opposite direction to day care and facing a serious commute which means even less time spent with my child. I don’t underestimate how much these practical issues can impact on the daily stress of life.

For me, I’m left with a feeling that I’m inherently stuck. For now, I’m prepared to compromise. But I am also left with a lingering feeling that the longer I’m in my job the harder it will be to leave... Thank goodness there's more to life than work.