We channelled Maya Angelou: "Nothing will work unless you do"

We were in a taxi with our friends Midge & Erin earlier this week and somehow got onto how to cook the perfect scrambled egg.

"I know all about that!" Erin announced.

"I read Felicity Cloak."

Felicity Cloak is a chef who writes a regular column for the Guardian called "How to cook the perfect ...."

Erin is a very talented woman in many ways. She does NOT cook. When I say does not cook I literally mean, does NOT cook. You cannot learn to cook by reading about it. Driving a car, playing piano, raising a child ... all good examples of topics that you can read about all you like but until you actually get yourself actively involved, you're going to learn nothing.

It's all about the work. Which I realised to my cost on Monday, when my diary was completely empty. Given I work for myself, this was no-one's fault but my own. If I want work, I have to go get it.

I'll come back to that after this short interlude.

Baggy Trousers

Remember, last week, I told you one of the three things you needed for Autumn was a pair of baggy trousers? Didn't realise Daniel Craig was a reader. Sadly, he has gone too far. Rachel shows how it's done - big jumper, little bag, perfect proportions. Poor man just looks like a clown. Be warned. Just because it's Loewe doesn't mean it's cool. And who put that jacket on him?

Anyway, back to this week's theme. Work. And how to make it work for you.

What Works

That's the title of a book by Iris Bohnet, subtitled "Gender Equality by Design". About how to even up the playing field for men and women at work. One of her arguments, and one which I totally love, is that the way you get on is by doing the work. Here's my favourite quote, describing the conclusions of an investigation into the effectiveness of development programmes:

Women are stuck in development and coaching programmes while the men get the jobs.

It's so true. People often ask me how you go about closing a 3, 7, 10 year gap when returning from a career break and based on five years of helping women do exactly that I can tell you there is no magic ingredient. It's all about doing the work. Going back, being given the opportunity to work at the right level, getting some feedback, trying, doing, failing, learning. Think Samuel Beckett

Trials and Tribulations

I need that quote because it's not been a great week. We've had candidates pull out of the process just when we thought an offer was coming, clients pulling jobs that just two weeks ago had to be filled ASAP and people claiming to be supportive when they're anything but.

Let me give you an example, disguised to protect the guilty. I was approached by a women on Wednesday, sent our way by a senior recruitment manager at a law firm. She'd qualified and worked at a great firm, spent some time in house and would like to return to private practice. He told her the Reignite Academy would be able to help.

I was a bit confused as, when I looked on their website, they had a vacancy that looked right up her street. Called him and he explained that they needed someone who could "hit the ground running", its a busy team, la di da di da

How, exactly are we supposed to help. We're just the middle women. If you and your fancy pants law firm aren't willing to give her a chance what on earth do you expect us to do?

My friend Stephanie Dillon once told me recruitment was all champagne & razorblades. Nothing in between. Last week was all razorblades let me tell you.

Work Life Balance

Always thought that was a silly phrase. I mean, work is just part of life isn't it?

I'm a big fan of the work of Lynda Gratton (author of The 100 Year life). She wrote this piece in The Times this week. She talks about how the younger generation are not taking "jobs for life" and will probably have multiple roles and more career independence as a result (being less reliant on one, large corporation). Here's the full thing.

https://www.thetimes.com/business-money/entrepreneurs/article/how-to-support-young-workers-to-build-an-independent-career-enterprise-network-6wfkbw7xr

I do think - and hope - this is true. It feels so much more fun - if you can make it work. She has three pieces of advice, though, which I think are critical.

1. Find something you enjoy. It takes tens of thousands of hours of practice (work, people) to get really good at something, so you'd better make sure you love doing it.
2. Be prepared to explore, test, widen your horizons. Try new things, experiment, don't get stuck in a rut.
3. Put yourself out there, build your reputation, grow your network. No point achieving all that mastery if no-one knows about it.

I'd also add, make sure you really like the people you work with. That way, even when you have a razorblade week, you can always have a glass of champagne. Or something fizzy anyway. As we did this week.

We went to Toklas on Surrey Street in London. Very good.

By the way, did you see that Goodbye Horses (which I mentioned last week) was reviewed in The Sunday Times? I swear those journalists are stalking me. Even more impossible to get a table now.

What Doesn't Work

Balloons. I'm a big sceptic of "Diversity" days. We once went to a large law firm where the office was festooned with green balloons. They were giving out pretty little green ribbons that you could pin to your lapel. It was to mark "Mental Health Awareness" day.

During our meeting, the partners explained that this wasn't really somewhere that could accommodate "returners" because they'd need to be prepared to put in 80 hour weeks on a regular basis. They had a helpline for anyone who found that a bit stressful.

Also Not Working

Labour/The Labour spin machine/Downing Street

Look, I know the first few months in a new job are tricky but crikey, it's not as thought they didn't have plenty of time to plan for this. What's the plan man?

The Cultural Slot

I'm watching: Vogue on Disney+. Loved it. It's not really about Vogue, though Anna Wintour and Edward Enninful appear a lot. It's more about the history of fashion, which designers were big at different times, the impact of music and film on fashion etc etc. Also makes you realise just how much STUFF has been produced over the years. Little wonder, then, that the latest craze seems to be all about "Vintage" (aka second hand). I mean, really, everything that could be invented really has been invented when it comes to clothes.

I'm listening to: This Cultural Life with Margaret Drabble. She talks about the struggle to hold down a career as a mother and how frustrating it was to find that once children came along it was so hard for many women of her generation. Not too much has changed, to be fair. What's also fascinating, though, is hearing her talk about the rift between her and A S Byatt, her sister. They loathed each other. Had to then go and listen to an old Desert Island Discs to hear A S Byatt tell her side of the story to Sue Lawley.

I'm reading: Our Evenings by Alan Hollinghurst. Got a signed first edition from the Brick Lane bookshop. Going to be FAB.

I bought: A new jumper. It's green with bobbles on. It's for self employed person's awareness day.