2020 has imposed unrelenting pressure on people at work. Each of us has experienced this challenge in different ways; some have suffered the effects of extreme isolation while others have been burned out while spinning too many plates. Whilst we experience its effects in our own unique way, what we have in common is the threat to our physical and mental wellbeing brought by the pandemic.

This session is for you if you want to:

• Learn how to manage the pace and magnitude of change
• Build resilience and develop a toolkit to overcome stress, anxiety, isolation and burnout
• Cultivate a mindset of opportunity and plan for an uncertain future
• Work flexibly and manage your time effectively to support your wellbeing

So many of us underestimate ourselves and our value, and give imposter syndrome too much power. In this bitesize workshop our brilliant career confidence experts will share tools and hacks to help you transform the way you feel, believe in yourself, trust your intuition, negotiate better and summon the courage you need to finally free yourself of the self doubt that holds you back.

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You’ve made the decision to go self-employed or set up a business. Now what?
Hear from experts who will share their stories and inspire with top tips alongside a balanced exploration of the pros and cons of making this move, the financial implications and how you can create more flexibility in your life and career by thinking creatively about how you work.

You’ll learn:

• How to research your idea or offering and leverage learning from other markets
• How to create your immediate and long-term vision and futureproof your offering
• What you need to get set up and start selling

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A career break or redundancy can be a pivotal moment in a career; an opportunity to pause, reassess and move forward with clarity and purpose. But how do you get to the point of defining what that clarity and purpose looks like? And when you get there, what should you do next?

In this refreshingly honest and insightful session our experts will be looking at how you can:

• Define your ideal scenario and develop a plan to get what you want
• Cultivate a mindset and personal brand that will support you as your plans emerge
• Overcome commonly experienced challenges during your transition
• Identify what job search tools are right for you
• Make sure your job applications reflect you and your achievements in an authentic and powerful way
• Move forward with confidence

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At the start of 2020, Anna Whitehouse, founder of Mother Pukka announced the next stage of Flex Appeal, the campaign for flexible working she started in 2015. Backed by Sir Robert McAlpine and in partnership with Anna, behaviour change communications agency Claremont Communications launched Forever Flex, a research project designed to discover and share the stories of companies making flexible working work to inspire others to try it.
During this session, Lynda Thwaite, group marketing and communications director at Sir Robert McAlpine and Lucy Proudfoot, senior consultant at Claremont Communications will share highlights from the initial phase of the research, bringing the people behind the policy to life and showing what’s really possible when a business decides to say yes to trying flex.

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Recent research has shown overwhelmingly that UK women took on more household, care and home education responsibility than men during lockdown. They were also more likely to be furloughed if they had children.

During this discussion, we’ll be challenging a diverse panel of experts to open up a thought-provoking and practical conversation about how every one of us can support progress on gender equality, touching on:

• How our subconscious identity and the neuroscience of gender roles affects us, our roles and responsibilities, and how better understanding can support us in achieving equality at home and at work
• How we can all enter into constructive, sensitive dialogue about gender bias
• How every one of us can contribute to progress
• How increased flexible working and sharing parental leave contributes to enhanced equality

The pandemic has thrust the financial futures of many of us into uncertainty. This session is for you if you’re interested in learning how to futureproof your finances and make smart decisions that you’ll thank yourself for.

In this informal, interactive conversation we will be talking about why we have a pensions gap, what we can do to mitigate its impact and sharing powerful tips to help you with financial planning as a parent or carer.

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Of all the debates around flexible working, this one arguably gets the most airtime. At what point in the recruitment process should you ask for the flexibility you want? During this conversation we’ll be challenging our experts to debate their views and share their extensive insights including:

• How to build a winning proposal and negotiate the arrangement you want
• How to broach the conversation during the recruitment process, and what language to use
• What to look for in a recruiter and how to align yourself with those who reflect your values
• How to get comfortable with negotiation

Description

Working flexibly is an art. It’s a learning curve and it takes time to cultivate the right mindset, behaviours and discipline.

In this session you’ll hear from a panel of experts who will share:

• What leaders and managers need from people working flexibly
• The key skills and attributes flexible workers need to make it successful
• How to define what you really want and design a workstyle that suits you
• How to develop a confident, guilt-free mindset around your chosen ways of working
• How to have constructive conversations with flex skeptics that help to make progress happen
• Embracing virtual communication, interviews and onboarding

The workforce of 2020 is increasingly driven by purpose. The need to make a difference and fill our days and careers with meaningful work is among the top priorities for jobseekers. This session is for you if you want to know:

• How to define what you really want and create a plan to help you get there
• How to find and land the perfect role for you
• How to align your career path with what lights you up and find organisations that reflect your values
• How to navigate the career change process

With so many options for flexible working available, it can be tough to know what would work for you or where to start in securing your ideal working arrangement.
Join this inspiring conversation to hear the stories of people blazing a trail in their careers while job sharing, working reduced hours and other flexible work patterns and share the intricacies of how they’ve achieved great things in their career. Reflect as they speak on how you could use their story to tweak or radically change your own path and design a flexible, fulfilling career that aligns with your goals as much as your circumstances.