Speaker 1: Welcome, welcome. I'm so excited to be here with Kelly to talk to you about her journey to find her new career. My name is Cindy. I'm here with Kelly. How are you today, Kelly? I'm great, Cindy. How are you today? I am fantastic and really, really honored to talk with you. So tell me, what are you currently doing?

Speaker 2: I am a program coordinator, and I just got that job probably 60 days ago, and I'm super excited to be here to talk to you more about it.

Speaker 1: So tell us, what do you get to do?

Speaker 2: So right now, I'm laying the foundations for a new program. It's a brand new position for this company, and I get to work on a lot of different projects, helping their customer experience program.

Speaker 1: And it must be a pretty cool originating position.

Speaker 2: Yes, yes. I have a lot of experience in project management and program coordination, so being able to lay those foundations in some of those areas and giving my customer experience as well has been exciting to unwrap those unforeseen things that you would never expect in a normal situation that's already been established.

Speaker 1: So they must be really ecstatic to have someone with your experience helping them out, right?

Speaker 2: Yes. I've received compliments already. I'm so excited that you're working on these projects and this program with me, giving that advice that they haven't acknowledged in the past.

Speaker 1: That is fantastic. What were your thoughts about going into this job? What were you concerned with? And I know we were talking about flexibility off-air a couple minutes ago.

Speaker 2: Yes. I was very nervous going back to work and going into this role. I've been a stay-at-home mom for five years, so I was worried about being up-to-date on technology and providing my project management knowledge. So it was like riding a bike, getting back into everything. After that first week and doing all my training and things like that, it was just back like I just meshed with the company and meshed with my co-workers and everything. So it was great. It was a great transition. That's fantastic. On your schedule and the

Speaker 1: level of flexibility, are you working hybrid or in-person or remote? What does that look like?

Speaker 2: My position was hybrid, but I found out that I have a lot more flexibility going into hybrid position. I know when we started working together, I was strictly just, I want remote position, nothing else. I didn't want anything to look at any other positions. I applied to this hybrid position in my local area, and it was just a lot more flexibility. After that first week of training and being in the office for 40 plus hours to get trained, it was like I was let go to create my own schedule after that. So it's been nice. I love that the flexibility you have,

Speaker 1: the amount of trust they have for you, and all those things that you are really concerned with, especially as a mom and you have kids and you're concerned about afterschool and their activities and picking them up. So it all works out seamlessly, right? Yes. Oh, yes. I had my

Speaker 2: first review with my boss and that was one thing he focused on was, does your schedule work for you? Is your schedule working? And so I was really excited to hear him ask about my schedule.

Speaker 1: That is awesome to have your boss actually care. Does your schedule work for you? I love that. Yeah. Yeah. It's been great. I've found for most people with these hybrid positions, there's a lot more flexibility than they think there's going to be.

Speaker 2: Right. Yeah. I had a hybrid position before I left the workforce and it was like specific days. You had to be there specific days and you didn't have that flexibility to, if you had a doctor's appointment to switch those days or things like that. So it was nice to be able to go in and

Speaker 1: kind of create my own schedule. Well, that is the silver lining of the pandemic. Yes, it is. So what was it like looking for the job beforehand? What was that process like? Was it easy?

Speaker 2: As I sighed. Before I started working with UCD, it was a two-year process. It was off and on. I would see a job and apply for it that I liked. And of course you have family obligations that get in the way. I went through moving to a different state and it wasn't solely focused on the job search, but I felt like I was solely focused on it. Makes it seem like it's so long,

Speaker 1: but you're not really doing it, but you felt like you'd been doing it for two years, which must be

Speaker 2: so discouraging. Yes. And within those two years, I had interviews, multiple interviews, getting through the fifth level of an interview process and come to find out that I didn't make it or doing a two-hour interview. It was just crazy for me to think back. But when I started working for you or working with you, within I think the three or four months, I had multiple interviews and I think when we started working together, I was super nervous to be on a call. Yes. And I went through your training and those Sunday scaries, I never knew that was a thing. I had that throughout my career and having our meeting scheduled on a Monday made me get over that Sunday scaries and making sure that I was prepared for Monday to start after a long weekend with my family. Wow. I didn't know that. Okay. Thank you. Yeah.

Speaker 1: No, but it's, you know, it's, it's helping you, you know, also to curb that anxiety and to be excited about what you're going to do and the confidence level, what you're bringing forward and be excited for what you're doing. And, you know, now you don't have that because you love the job that you're doing and you feel confident in the job you're doing. I also feel that, you know, right now you have so much more flexibility, right? Cause I know we used to talk about in your old job, the Sunday scaries, those things happen because you, you didn't have any flexibility. So there was always all that stress, always all that challenge of balancing

Speaker 2: work, balancing family, balancing everything together. Yeah. I mean, my, one of my last jobs was commuting, commuting for an hour on public transportation into the city and, you know, and missing, you know, adding two hours to your day after you worked eight hours or, you know, trying to be around and available for my children. So I felt stuck at my old job in terms of being able to leave if I had an emergency or anything, because the trains didn't run during the day.

Speaker 1: So, Oh, wow. That would be something that would give scaries, right? The stock, right. I know you always felt like that wherever you were, that you wish you were in the other place.

Speaker 2: Yes. Yeah. So, and with this job, there's a parking garage. I don't have to search for parking. I don't have, you know, when I do go into the office, it's, I know where I'm going to park. You know, anyone who's, I think worked in a larger city knows there's always frustration to try to find where you're going to park. And so I'm in New York. I hear you. Yeah. So all of those concerns that I've had with my old or previous job, it, I don't have that with this job and it made the transition so much easier, you know, to be able to, I'm probably 15 minutes away from my, my office. So that's amazing. So it was just, it's a nice transition back into the workforce. That is amazing. So what did I help you out? Oh, giving me the confidence. I think, you know, if you were to think back to some of our first chats and things like that, you're like, Oh my God, I can't believe I took on this person. I was so nervous. I never felt that, but you know, I was so nervous and I had no confidence because I had been staying at home. I was just a mom, you know, and I was just doing what I was supposed to do. And, you know, the confidence you gave me and the skills in terms of being organized and being prepared and even preparing for those interviews or preparing for my first week on the job, you know, I made sure that my family was in line with what we needed to do, you know, even though, you know, by the time you get to the end of the week, Oh, I don't want to get my clothes ready for the next day, but we had to. And so I could get out of the door stress-free. And so, you know, giving me those skills and planning, it really helped, even though I'm a project manager and I should be able to plan those things. Sometimes they get

Speaker 1: overlooked, right. So in our own lives, right. Yes. I remember reminding you when I was happy that I started working with you, I remember reminding you of all the great stuff you had done and all the great projects you had managed with, you know, big numbers with lots of zeros at the end of those projects. Right. And just remind you of what you, you know, what you had accomplished

Speaker 2: and that somebody was going to want to hire you again. Yes. You know, and I was just getting over that anxiety and understanding that, like, I did do this, do these things, you know, it's after being home for five years, you forget those, those accomplishments you had. And so it was great that you could remind me of who I was before being a mom.

Speaker 1: Well, I am so happy. And yes, it did happen pretty fast. It was like three, four months. And I am, I'm so happy that you found this job, right? Not just that you're back at work, but you're at this job and everything lines up and it's 15 minutes from home and you're originating the job. How cool is that? That you get to show them how things should be done. You have the flexibility and let's just talk about how confident you are right now, right? Yeah, exactly. Let's talk about the person that I'm talking to right now versus the person that I was talking to when we started, who was a lot more uncertain of who she was and what she had

Speaker 2: to offer. Right. Yeah. You know, talking with you on a video or whatever, I was like, Oh, I don't want to be on a video, but you know, I do that daily now. So it's been,

Speaker 1: I've gotten that experience. Isn't that great? How all of a sudden the things that we thought we couldn't do, and then it gets to be second nature and you're so confident about it.

Speaker 2: Right. Yeah. And you know, with my coworkers, we all have those insecurities of being on camera. So, you know, it was nice that it's not just me.

Speaker 1: That is so fantastic. I'm so happy for you. Any, any advice that you would have for anybody who's looking to return to the workforce or make a pivot in their career?

Speaker 2: I think, you know, finding your confidence is, was number one for me, reaching out to work with a coach, you know, having someone that's been through the process and knows what to do next. You know, when you have those questions of, should I be reaching out to my employer, the employer, after we interviewed those times and the timing with those things, you really gave me that information that I needed and to be able to bounce ideas off of you with your experience has been super helpful. Well, thank you so much. I wish you

Speaker 1: continued, continued success. And I know that you are not going to just find it, but make it.

Speaker 2: Thank you. I appreciate it. Bye-bye. Bye. Have a great day.