During our preparation for the Workshop: “Your tools to return to work with confidence.” Carol Yeo and I interviewed amazing women who went through this process and we are happy to share some of their experience, thoughts, fears, and recommendations with you in our second part of this series. As this interview has so much valuable input we decided to split it in two sections : questions 1-9 for today and 10 – 16 will follow soon.
2nd interview with Christine Baulmann, former Regional Head of S&P Global Market Intelligence, returned to work after a one year sabbatical at her new employer Fitch Solutions GmbH, as Regional Head, and was promoted after 6 months to Managing Director, Head of EMEA.
1. Christine, after you left S&P at the end of 2016, you decided to take a sabbatical. You even did an around the world trip with your family. What brought you to the decision to take a sabbatical?
A number of considerations really – first and foremost the strong desire for quality time with my family, post my mother’s death. It was a life-changing experience to see her die after many years of being sick, and I had undergone a huge stretch between my family with 2 much smaller kids, manifold visits to hospitals etc. and a big job with lots of responsibility and travelling.
It became clear to me that taking time out was more valuable to me at this point than anything else. I had never done any parental leave and had the strong desire to take a distance, and rethink next steps.
2. What were your fears, if any?
I did not have any fears really. That maybe due to the fantastic support of my husband, we are a really good team and have mastered more difficult situations before. The market is progressing at a good speed and I know what I can accomplish and bring to the table, so the least I was worried about was finding a new role as and when ready. We were also considering whether to move abroad at that time, so the horizon of options had become pretty broad, but in a certain way also more challenging when thinking about finding a compelling task for me in South Africa, due to very different market dynamics. And it was clear to me that it was far too early to “take it slowly” in a more relaxed set up.
When looking at trends at the time there was a call for more women in leadership roles, so my instinct was that timing is good when I am ready to look for a new role.
3. What are the main takeaways from that time?
I would recommend to everyone who has been working for a number of years to take a break. It is very healthy to get out of your day to day, take a distance and get yourself into a really different perspective. As a working mum, it is also really important to understand the day to day life of your children, and engage with them and their environment. This is challenging when you are in a role with big responsibilities, long working hours and a considerable amount of travelling. Being part of the day to day family life and routine is a grounding experience that I found most valuable. Rethink your own style and working patterns, validate what you really want to do going forward. Take the time to do a lot of the things that you feel you would have liked to do over the previous years (I took piano lessons, played golf and did yoga amongst other), and do something really different if possible e.g. a period for travelling, a course to train new skills, etc. And just enjoy that you can take time for things, instead of having to undergo a pretty well organized agenda and rush through
it every day. One of my friends went to a Ayurveda space for a few weeks on her own during her 6 months break while changing jobs, her husband took care of the family during that time. There are so many options out there – use the time.
4. When did you decide to go back towork?
I would rather rephrase the question to “when did your appetite to go back to work arise”? It took a while, nearly 9 months really. I was doing some meetings in my network in between, to keep myself connected and up to date, but only occasionally and pretty targeted. I do not think there is a benchmark period here – I would recommend (provided that the economic situation does not impose any pressures) to listen to yourself, validate what it is you want to do and by when, and start testing the market when ready, or when the appetite starts.
5. What steps did you take pre- during and post sabbatical?
I kept in touch with some key people in my network at all times. Reaching out to some recruiters was helpful when my appetite for work arose, to gauge the market opportunity, and throw the word out that I am starting to consider next steps. Thinking about what is really important to me when choosing a new employer – what kind of environment do I want to work in, what are my priorities, what kind of role would I want to do, would I be willing to dedicate as much time to my job as before, how about mobility, what kind of segment, etc. What companies would I want to work in if there was an opportunity? I organised calls and meetings with a couple of recruiters that I had been in touch with for years, who explained what options there are when there is no concrete role on their radar screen yet, and we agreed on next steps.
I kept in touch with some members of my former team, my former boss, and a network of friends and ex-colleagues.
Once my present company was in touch, and options became more concrete, I knew I needed to get organized at home and started looking for a new au pair.
6. How important was your network and networking during that time?
Network is always critical. Engaging with your network is a straight forward way of spreading word in the market when ready for a next step, gauging for potential opportunities, hearing about developments, etc. It is an accelerator when it comes to any kind of search.
7. Do you have a mentor/mentors? Career sponsors/coaches?
Yes – something that grew many years ago and has survived, and expanded over time. At an early stage of my management career my then boss invested in a coach for me to help me take next steps in my already steep career. We became friends, and co-mentors over the years. She not only helped me recognize what areas to work on, and put things into context, but is also a great networking partner. These kind of relationships are most fruitful once they move into a win-win scenario, so not a unilateral relationship, but a kind of partnership that both benefit from. I also benefit from the network I have built, the concentrated experience within the network, and the possibility to validate things as and when needed.
8. Who were the key people who supported you?
First and foremost my husband. Afterwards the list is broad – of course my former coach and longstanding friend, a lot of my friends and network, many of my bosses… Finding a sponsor is always a good step in your career. The key is tofigure out who a good sponsor would be, and winning them as such. It is important to make them understand why to support your case, and what the added value is. What is in it for them?
That being said – there is a call for more women in leadership roles specifically in Germany, and initiatives have been ongoing in other countries as well. This opens up more possibilities than in the past, and women should be aware of it, and explore opportunities. Fitch just launched a dedicated program to develop women in leadership. Many companies have such programs, and a dedicated approach to hiring more women – one example is the European Central Bank, you will find the call for female candidates in many of their job descriptions.
Link to the interview: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/returning-work-confidence-part-2-britta-mues-walter/