Our executive search consultant Gemma Wilks, gives an insight into the juggling that is required to look after four children whilst searching for candidates for our clients.

‘I think its fair to say that most people who are working from home, for the first time, are facing new challenges, different ways of doing things, doing things at unusual time,  fitting work in and around other commitments.

I thought I would share a glimpse of my life at the moment, and share how I am managing to keep my plates spinning!

I have four children and a dog, and my husband is a key worker and so is still going to his place of work every day, which actually for us is quite nice as it gives some sense of normality, he goes off in the morning and comes home in time for tea.

Now that I am WFH my day needs a lot of structure, (I am generally very organised anyways) so me and the children have a routine that we are sticking to, we still wake up at the same time, and get ready to start our days.  My older teenage boys are quite independent in their learning and their schools are in contact with work for them to do.

My younger children (2 and 7) are a very different story! – They don’t really understand what’s going on, and although we have school work to do and a front room that looks like a toy store, they still need constant attention.

Plans vs reality

The plan - Sticking to routine, hour(ish) chunks of learning or home tasks, we then stop for ‘break time’ and lunch, throw in a couple of PE with Joe session a few times a week too. Once the kids are busy, I can work in between their routines. The new learning day ends at about 230, then they have free time to watch TV, play, read/ xbox/playstations etc. – I can then knuckle down to work for a few hours. Following advice from others, I have a dedicated work station, aka kitchen table. No TV on during the day.

Reality – The reality is that we are ‘trying’ to stick to routine, but I hadn’t accounted for a zillion questions from my 7 year old and daily tantrums from my toddler, then the need to try to help figure out GCSE Maths and English on top, and manage the meltdown when the WiFi drops out. You can guarantee that as soon as I open TEAMS or ZOOM for a video call, complete chaos commences. Children suddenly need a drink/food/nappy change/help with work/lost the ability to read/forgot what they were doing. Then there is the dog, he and the other Moon dogs seem to like to talk to each other too once we are on a team meeting, once one starts then suddenly all the dogs are ‘talking to each other’ too!

Once the kids are settled into a task, then I can concentrate on work, I can work in the evening/weekends too, around the children, the daily tasks are now ‘family tasks’ and everyone is helping out with ‘chores’ – the children are actually enjoying cooking dinners, gardening,  baking cakes etc.

Spinning plates

So I find myself now spinning several plates – multitasking! keeping on top of work, home schooling 3 children and entertaining a toddler, plus managing the normal every day tasks – my advice, try to stick to a routine that works for your set up, be reasonable and understand the need to be flexible, the importance of friends and family and staying connected too. WFH can be really lonely, and as well as everything else going on we need to be aware of our mental health, at Moon we have video meetings every week, as well as non work related quizzes and chat video calls too, just to have a catch up, we all miss the social side of having a gossip at the printer!

My role at Moon is as an Executive Search Consultant, I am also the events coordinator. We had big plans for this year as its our 20th anniversary, plans may have changed slightly, but we still have a very busy agenda, for when this is over, and in the meantime we are looking at hosting online events and roundtables with some great business leaders, so watch this space…...

Search is still going on, Moon are still working, all our staff now working remotely, hosting video interviews, and finding new ways of getting the right candidates over to our clients. We are still successfully placing candidates and continuing to build strong relationships with new and existing clients. In our area of expertise, we are used to working under the radar, confidentially, and understand the need to be extremely flexible, that element of what we do hasn’t changed. Our team are great at adapting to change, working under pressure, and in awkward situations.’