Trust Your Journey, Whether You Wear Heels, Flats or Sneakers

I am not a night owl but if I have to be at my desk at 3.30am for work, I have no problem with that. That makes me an early bird right? Let’s just say, I am more productive in the mornings.

So, as always I went to bed at my usual time of about 9.30 - 10pm and at about 11pm on Thursday 4th of February 2020, I woke up for bathroom and all of a sudden, I remembered this note I wrote to myself in one of my reflective moments. I can recall that I went to the Quiet room of the 7th floor of my former organisation to write it to myself and sent it to my personal email address. I have forgotten the title I gave the note, so I started searching under different headings and boom, I found it. This was about 12pm at the time, so I went back to sleep. The next day, I read it through again and I can say confidently that there is been so much growth in my journey in the past 2 years.

I am writing this note to inspire women like me, especially more seasoned or matured professionals who have taken some time off to be Mum or care for family or ones who like me had a small business or side gig while at home to be with their children. As I prepare for my 41st birthday, (birthdays and Christmas are still my favorite holidays), I am writing this to share my thoughts and to possibly bring hope to someone who needs it.

Here are a few tips that may help:

• You are not too late to the Career Party:

Lets face it, you have taken some time off work to be Mum or to care for your family. This is giving of yourself and time to take care / invest on other people. Celebrate this milestone and how far you have come. Well done to you for being Mum or Carer. Now that you are ready to go back to work, it is time to know and recognise that you are not late to the party of career. If you can think of anything, you can achieve it and secondly, it is never too late to achieve anything. These are mantras to live by, consider them.

• Think about what you want, what is it you want?

Think about it as building a house. To build a house, you need a sketch or vision for the building, usually drawn by an Architect. Sometimes, those structures can be changed. Now, be the Architect of your own career and life and design what you want. Know that it is okay not be sure or clear about what you want but have an idea of what is it you like right now or like to be and then take one step of faith after another, life itself will lead you to the path you should go per time. Trust me, I am not alone on this one. The people who dare to dream and work on those dreams end up achieving an end goal they have always desired or better.

• Ask for Help / Make sacrifices to invest in Yourself:

Let me break it down here. There is this phenomenal women in my former organization, I have told her severally the amount of respect I have for her. She changed my life and no matter where I go, I will always remember her. The first time I sat with her for my first PDP, here are a few things she told me: “you are a very educated woman but that didn’t show in your profile. I think that you didn’t write your profile well” amongst other things she said to me on the day. She then went ahead to ask me, WHAT IS YOUR PURPOSE? You see, in my course of professional working life, I have never heard anyone used that word, Purpose at work. As soon as she said that, my face lit up...…As a woman of faith, purpose is the core and center of my life and I know that I do have a purpose. It is to HELP PEOPLE to be the best that they can be. I have been helping people since I was younger. I was the girl who taught younger children English and Mathematics after school. I would gather them round a black board and teach them - the parents of those children and the adults around called me "small teacher" back in the day.

Fast forward to about 2016, I started directing the Youth programs in my church nurturing and mentoring youth and young adults to stay on the straight and narrow, stay in education and excel at it and created my brothers keeper where the older youth mentor the younger ones; I was helping people write their CVs and helping them to prepare for interviews, I was “coaching” people and we continued to see changes in their lives...…just little bit about me outside of the corporate work world. As I continued chatting with this incredible women, after I shared the above paragraph with her, she also highlighted that I was “playing down what I was doing or what I could do”. OMG! I agree, I knew it myself. This is where my life changed forever. I had a light bulb moment...….We then went ahead to design a career path on my PDP. I took EVERYTHING on board and was determined to be the person on that little page that was in front of me. That was the page that changed my life - it was kind of my career vision board.nbsp;I have done EVERYTHING on this page and still doing more.Immediately after that conversation, I got to work.

On my launch break that day, rather than chill with my work buddies, I returned to the quiet room on the 7th floor and rang up a school where I could enroll for that course and I started in the next cohort, one month later. It was around ￡3,000. I only needed ￡150 to secure my place, so I paid on the day I rang them. I would pay the remaining over 4 months. Not too bad, so I could manage.You see, you must be willing to make sacrifices. I must tell you paying about ￡700 from my pay check every month was a lot for me as I have a family to care for BUT I am telling you, where there is a dream there is always a way. I had to forego my savings to pay for this course. Something had to give – my savings was it.

• You need Courage and Confidencence:

One of the things that that incredible woman mentioned to me in our chat was that my profile was poorly written. As part of my PDP, I became an “HR Associate” with the HR within my previous organisation. I have great support from my Managers, colleagues and everyone who knew my plans. I took the internal Interviewer accreditation program and completed the assessment. My people and communication skills came to play as I continued to support HR in the areas of Interviewing Candidates, Onboarding, Feedback and Candidate Selection, Interview Panel discussions and Reviews, Working Closely with Different hiring Managers to mention a few. While doing all these, sometimes, I went home late at about 6pm or later to interview late candidates with the evening shift team leader and more.Long story right, I had to tell you all these because if you want something, trust me you must be willing to do whatever it takes to achieve it, provided that you are true to yourself.

Here is where COURAGE comes in. I have spent almost 1 year doing all that. At this stage, I wanted a more defined role and progression. I have invested in ME so much, making sacrifices, monetary, time and family time too.nbsp;I wanted to transition fully to HR to begin to find my way. At this stage, I sought more mentors in HR. My mentors are my hero.Also, I dedicated time religiously to write my profile better. I would write EVERYTHING I was doing to improve myself without straying from organisational policies. I focused less on who was checking my profile while I wrote my story. Isn’t that what they say, don’t let other people hold the pen when writing your life’s story, so, I did just that – everything I was exposed to in HR functions, whether coordinating, onboarding, interviewing, writing interview feedback, whether supporting HRBP, whether staying late or going in early, I wrote everything on my profile. Not only did my profile gain a lot of traction, unknown to me, I was encouraging a lot of people to by sharing my story. Don’t be shy, tell your story and be sure to follow organisational procedures, if in employment. If not in employment, be careful what you share too. When we share our stories, we may just be helping other people. My story helped so many people from my own records - my inbox was also a huge testament to that.

• You Need to Network:

At this stage, I had a compelling profile, I had a “strong CV” and I had my CIPD going for me. I started seeking opportunities outside my previous organisation. I started connecting with people who worked in HR and I built on my network till I meet the right people who were truly willing to help. Please dont network with people asking them for a job when starting out your relationship with them. Network with them to learn, connect, contribute and you can ask them after a while.

• I got the Job:

I can’t guaranteed how long it will take for you to get the job if you are transitioning, making a Career Change or Going back to work but I do know that if there is a will, there is always a way.Shortly before I joined my current organisation, I did an interview with a company, it was a fixed term contract but I was willing to take a leap. I could tell that the Hiring Manger liked me from my conversation with her and I got to 3rd round interview but they decided not to go with me because at the time, the other person interviewing had a degree in HR and I didn’t. This encouraged me to focus and to try a little bit more.So, I am not sure how long it will take for you to get an opportunity but if you would commit to seeking every day, you will find. Please note, you may not get what you want but it would help you get your foot in the door. And by the way, always use every disappointment or set back to step up. When I didn’t get that role, I was disappointed but I knew something better is ahead of me. That motivated me to remain focused and to work harder.

• Be prepared, Always:

Remember I told you that I updated my CV and profile religiously. When the opportunity eventually came, I had just a short period of time to apply for this role and also a short period of time to prepare for the interview. Everything happened so fast. Would you believe if I told you that I had been preparing for my interview before I even saw any light that I would get an opportunity? For the longest time, I have been helping people to do the same, so I took my own medicine to help myself. I am forever grateful to everyone who helped me to get to this stage – everyone – the Hiring Manager, the Recruiter, the support system, EVERYONE. I am grateful.Whatever you do, be ready – make sure your profile is ready and compelling and your CV too. Go above and beyond for your goal, continue to prepare for your interview as if you would be called in the next hour. Preparation helps.

• The Future Ahead:

I am not sure what the future holds for me but as always, I operate on the realm of hope, faith and love. If I have to change my name, it would be FAITH, HOPE or LOVE. I am always hopeful and believing for greater things. I am ready for those things and working towards achieving them taking one step at a time.You see, I am a story teller. When I was at home, being Mum, I mastered the Art of storytelling and I had the great opportunity to help multiple and diverse organisations to create content for their products, services and website. While I was at home, I used my gift of writing and purpose of helping people to my advantage including publishing books that ranked Amazon Best Seller #2 and #4 in the area of Motivation, Inspiration and Leadership. These are things I did and no one can take away from me. It is my WIN and I am proud of them. I recently wrote another FREE book and will write more books soon. I will share when I do.While waiting to get that job or change your career, do something that excites you. You may not know this but it will prepare you for your future. A big part of my job now is writing and I can say so confidently that I enjoy writing to people whether a line or 20 lines.

• Use Your Maturity Getting older comes with maturity. You dont learn that in school. One of the things that has helped me on my journey is that I have learnt to use my voice. For example, if I need anything, I ask. I would bother less about if I would get told NO or not. Depending on what you see, NO can mean, hold on or re-direction. There are other things been a more matured person has helped me deal with because I am using a more matured approach. So, never see being more matured and returning to work or changing your career path as a barrier but an advantage.

• The Journey so far - October 2018 till now:

Since I embarked on my back to work as a Mum / changing my career path, here are things I have done:Completed the almighty CIPD and have tutored about 10 people who found it challenging to complete. From sharing my journey, people reached out to me. It was a FREE support tutoring and I am glad I could helpCompleted about 40 certifications in HR/Leadership/CoachingFully transitioned to HRHave new objectives to be HR-Resourcing Business Partner for an area of businessHave new plans/goals for myself and my future – they are on my vision board.I remain hopeful and keeping the FAITH that no matter what, I will succeed as a Working Mum, Wife and Woman. I can have it all – a healthy marriage, thriving career, phenomenal children and a good life. If I can think it, I have it already.In conclusion, since the wake of pandemic, I have dedicated my time FREELY to help so many people find their way.

With all my career experience, skills, life's journey, I continue to do so and we have seen tremendous results. If you are still searching for a job or looking to change your career path, look for who to help, when we help others, we are not only sowing a seed, we are helping ourselves.I hope this helps someone.

Let's connect, follow me Mojisola Obazuaye, Chartered FCIPD on Linkedln for inspirational posts like this and career coaching.