Happy International Women’s Day to all the sunshines out there. The theme for this year’s Women’s Day is #BeBoldForChange. Hmmm, be bold. I keep wondering how can I be bold? What would make me bold? My clothes, my choices or my attitude. Well, to each his own (or her own). We at SHEROES would like to believe that every woman is taking that ‘bold step’ by breaking out of their mould. It is no easy task to do that. The helpline team at SHEROES, daily interacts with women who take bold steps to reclaim their lives.
It is a joy to see them burst with energy and hope about the possibilities that might open up. It is with this hope I plan to put forth some of the top questions put up by our users to our helpline team. It is fascinating to come across women, who are hell bent on #MakingItWork for themselves.
Glimpse Of #ASKMONICA Our Helpline Forum
A mother of 2 yr old took a break for 3 years and is not interested in going back to her field, IT. She asks our helpline team to guide her in her next career move. She was especially interested in venturing into the field of writing. Here’s the helpline team’s response.
Helpline: “Career transition would require you to up skill or acquire entirely new skills. Do you have a preference of specific industry to work in or skill in mind to utilise? Do you have any hands on experience for the skills you've mentioned in your profile? Do you have people management skills? Have you ever taken up such functions may be unofficially? Just clarify all this so that we can discuss more on this. As of now I am mailing some resources on transition that would help you. Stay tuned to your registered Email id with us and do write back soon. I would love to discuss more on this with you. How about starting with internship role and learn on the job. Other ways to excel in writing are in content writing - one needs excellent communication skills, grammar and lots of practice. I would suggest that you brush up your English grammar in detail using a good old Wren and Martin or follow some really good online resources on Twitter and Facebook. Besides that institute like TWB.in - offer some really good certifications online and offline. Check out Coursera as an option to learn about diverse writing styles and genres - creative, technical, product documentation etc. Above all, invest lots of time into learning and practice every day. You could also join bloggers groups or content communities like, @grammarly on Twitter @LondonGrammar https://twitter.com/writingchat ContentWritingChat (@writingchat) | Twitter
When an anxious member with an extensive experience in the field of IT quit her job to look after her newborn. After the initial years, she’s eager to join the workforce but in a different stream. She wanted to get out of the house and not just be a stay at home mom anymore.
Helpline team: "This transition would require you to up skill a bit may be taking up a certification in event management. Getting in touch with already existing players in event management in your city may be for internship and simultaneously taking up a certification for the same would help you. Picking up online learning resources is also an option. I understand your readiness to work but career transitions take some time to get full swing. May be your underutilized energies are bothering you so channelizing them in learning is best. Feel free to reach out to us anytime."
When a user with 17 years of experience leaves their safe job and ventures into an entirely different work mode, like work-from-home. And, she is stuck and confused about how the recruitment process works. This is how our helpline team handles the situation.
Helpline: “Hi, thank you for writing in ! I am taking this opportunity to share something about how an application gets processed via Sheroes with you - once you click apply , your profile is shared with the potential employer and they take time to review all of the applicants in certain times before they select someone. If selected, you will be hearing from the employer directly on your registered phone and email ID. For really popular listings - for example the senior level HR positions you may have applied to - the time taken to review can be as long as 2 months due to the high volume of applications. I would encourage you to continue to apply to more listings gas that are relevant to your profile to increase the chances of hearing back . I hope that helps.”
When a user is serving her notice period and naturally it is one of the most crucial moments in a person’s job phase. I have particularly used the word job here, because jobs are replaceable, not your work. Coming back to the situation of this particular user, she found the transitioning affecting her confidence. Therefore giving rise to this doubt, if she is becoming irrelevant. “How can I stop from being irrelevant in workspace?”
Helpline: “I understand the void that is created when you resign and take a break. Transition is always on cards in this situation, our readiness to accept this differs from individual to individual, right? What makes you feel so irrelevant? Just this professional void or something else too? Feel free to talk so that I can be of help to process your feelings:) During notice period most of the recruiters want to relieve the employee from their usual assigned duties and they are handed over to someone else to keep the process smooth without impacting the work of organisation due to anyone's resignation. When responsibilities are handed over so is the relevance, what I mean, people will look up to the person who is going to take over your work and this has nothing to do with you being irrelevant. Isn't it fair enough may be a little hurting? This definitely does not affect your future work prospects, may be you're over thinking, aren't you? It is just the way we perceive things, from being so confident about being irrelevant you've come to "Maybe I am" Once you hit back I am sure you will smile at this phase of your life. Hope this conversation helped you. Feel free to reach out anytime:) Good Luck!!
Informing a user about how the SHEROES profile page works. As easy as pie.
Helpline: “Hi, Thanks for writing in. Profile page on SHEROES serves as your Resume and you don’t need to add it separately. It is so designed by our team that it showcase your skills and personality in best possible ways making it possible for you to apply to all the listings using one single profile removing the need of applying with separate information for each job. You just need to fill in the details as nicely as you can. Your summary and personal bios serves as cover letter for the job applied. Your skills, experience and projects showcase the responsibilities you shouldered. So just make it as appealing as possible as recruiters make selections on the basis of it. Do let me know if you need help in completing it, I would love to give you some tips. Do write back soon.
When a user felt like unburdening her deepest feelings and confide in to a faceless friend.
Helpline: “Please understand one thing, giving birth to a child is one of the biggest achievements for a woman. You were carrying another human life with you for full 9 months. So it definitely takes time for your body to recover, heal from the pregnancy situation. Some are able to resume normal sexual life soon after birth, but some take time. Because you weren’t physical throughout your pregnancy, it will take time. However, you can begin slowly, but with the help of external pleasure & good foreplay. Which could help you both reach orgasm & then you can try slowly with fingering & then penis penetration. Also if you have time, make sure to do some sort of exercise like walk, yoga , meditation, which would help you deal with your stress & post partum depression, which is a common situation faced by all new mothers. Don’t worry, it would pass soon ONLY if you decide to not get affected. Make sure to communicate openly with your husband. Try to make things better. Also understand it’s normal with passing age, time & other factors affect the sexual libido of a person, but that doesn't mean you think of extreme. Please understand that your thoughts & beliefs are creating negative reality for you. Instead you can try replacing such thoughts with, " It’s ok if we couldn't succeed this time, We can definitely succeed the next time with more passion" . You see how our dialogues can make things better? Instead of blaming yourself & believing that you don’t feel like his wife anymore , you could have simply thought the other way & also you could have communicated the same to your husband. which could have got you both close too. It’s your choice whether you want to think about the negative moments & keep doubting your husband or think of a beautiful loving marriage with your baby & have a beautiful future together. Your thoughts create your reality, so make sure to create a positive reality.”
This is not a branding post for SHEROES. Let’s get this out of the way. We are where we are, because we believe that celebrating women on a specific day, although appreciable, but doesn’t really translate into anything concrete. Life goes as usual for others. But, for many women out there, it is still a life full of challenges peculiar in nature owing to their gender. And yes, we are not playing either of the ‘women’ or ‘victim’ card here, truth is out there for everyone to see. Look within your families to understand the dilemma a woman faces.
Every day is a Women’s Day at SHEROES and we celebrate each and every women in all shapes and sizes and of different opinions.
Still, Happy Women’s Day once again ladies:)