Grantown journalist joins mums returning to work with PR firm
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A PR company's drive to bring mums back into the profession has been hailed a success after exceeding its own target.
Muckle Media, which has an office in Inverness alongside other bases in Edinburgh and England, hoped to help at least 10 women to return to the communications, PR, digital and marketing sector with its Returners to Communications programme, supported by the Scottish Government's Women Returners fund.
Muckle Media managing director Nathalie Agnew has three children under five herself, so understands the challenges in juggling home and work life.
She said: "During my career in big London agencies I’ve seen so many highly talented women become burnt out or decide not to come back after having a family due to rigid working conditions with no flexibility.
"I hope that changes over the past 12 months to working practices will open the door to more women returning to work and finding that perfect balance between their careers and family life.
"We had over 60 applications for just 10 places, which we increased to 12 to meet demand.”
The successful applicants include Grantown resident and former Strathy reporter Jane Candlish, who is a mum to two young boys.
The new recruits will be able to work from home and with flexible hours
The programme is currently only available to people based in Scotland, but if the pilot programme goes well the Muckle Media team would like to extend it elsewhere to support growth plans outside of Scotland.
A partnership with the Chartered Institute of Public Relations will also see all qualifying returners receive free, temporary CIPR membership.
Ms Agnew added: “Whilst technology and trends are moving fast, core skills such as creativity, storytelling, critical thinking, strategy and account handling are very high in demand, and learning and adapting to new technology is not as difficult or daunting as it sounds.
“Life experience gained during a career break, whether that’s travelling the world and seeing new cultures, having caring responsibilities or juggling a household and raising toddlers, all bring extra skills to your mix, that could be invaluable to a future employer.
"I’ve come to realise that if you can handle a toddler or two you can probably handle most things!
“We fully understand that this might not look like the best time to come back to work on paper – during a global pandemic with limited access to childcare and potentially additional home-schooling responsibilities, but as many of our team are working mums ourselves, we get it and will put a support framework around the returners and make everything as flexible as possible.
"We’d love to hear from anyone interested in taking a small step towards a career in PR, marketing or digital.”
