Networking

It’s Mothers Day, and today we celebrate!

May 10, 2020 Leave a Comment

This year is not like others, and we know it. This, is a very different one. This year, Mother’s Day touch us deep, in our hearts. Today, we must celebrate!

Today we celebrate once again, being mothers. So many meaningful thoughts come to our minds like when we became pregnant, or first child, our fears, our challenges, those long days and nights awake taking care of our children, when they were sick, or just watching them sleep… the first time they walked, or talked, or started kindergarten, and so on…

Some of us, have older kids, grown-up kids, and others as me, have small kids. In my case one of 4 and one of 5. Quite a challenge I may say!. The good news about these small creatures is that you are their superhero, you have plenty of hugs, of kisses, and so much mommy mommy a day, that you loose count. But you are there, just for them, because you love them.

These last months, we gave much more than usual, I know… we are doing our best to balance between being mothers, professional women, and learning to be teachers, and cookers, and artists, we are gardeners, we do everything in the house… we are there for everyone.

So today we celebrate!. We celebrate having the chance to spend much more time with them, more hugs and more Mommy! than usual, be there for their needs, watch them grow, be surprised by their creativeness for the good- and the bad. Play with them, love them so much…. it’s impossible not to celebrate our Mother’s day. We must make it special.

This year, we are really super moms, we have the challenge to readapt our schedules, and learn new skills. We deal with our professional goals, making space to became teachers, to manage homeschooling, discover how patient we can be, discovering we can be so creative while teaching to write and read, to count, or becoming the best story teller. We give up lot of our personal and professional time as well, but in the end we know it worths it.

We have the privilege and the chance to capture this moment that is unique, to embrace this uncertainty and make the best of it. Sometimes is tiring, it’s hard to keep the good mood, to be there smiling for everyone, believe me, I know. What has happened with my own time, just for myself?!… But then, there are wonderful, incredible moments that become like a gift. Those are the moments when you realize that today, like no time before, you can be having a family lunch or riding bikes on a week day with your kids and husband enjoying a family time… that is priceless.

Today we celebrate!. We are mothers, and so much more… Today is our day. Give ourselves a chance to be pampered as we deserve. These months have been tough, we know that, so let’s be gentle with ourselves, enjoy our kids and family, let this day be a special one, and celebrate!

There is nothing more beautiful than waking up with my kids jumping on my bed, filling my heart with kisses, and drawings, and those incredible smiles… Today is My day, and I will definitely celebrate and enjoy it in every way.

I wish you a very special Mother’s day, and that you take the time to appreciate what you have, to let yourself enjoy and be loved. This is a special year, so make this day special and just celebrate being a mom!.

Frazer Jones and iwibdus online workshop collaboration

April 23, 2020 Leave a Comment

Frazer Jones and iwibdus have collaborated again for a second but now online workshop “How to Get a Job Interview in Germany”.

Frazer Jones has been recruiting for the HR market in Germany since 2008. Their local presence in Düsseldorf gives them the advantage and knowledge of the German HR landscape and expert knowledge of the industry. They are the only global leading specialist HR recruitment consultancy with a network of 11 international offices. Their team recruit across the financial services, professional services and commerce & industry sectors.

Katharina and James ran the 2 hour course. We discussed the structure of your CV, the Dos and Dont’s of a CV and James told us some horror stories about people’s CV business Headshots.

If you are looking for someone to do your headshots, Dena Barrie at Everyday Images is a member of the iwibdus network and she did our headshots. Check her out if you need one.

The 10 Summary Points that I took away were:

Highlight your Strengths – be clear on what you can offer an organisation.
Be creative if you work in a creative industry – we saw examples of amazing CVs that were very creative. If you aren’t in a creative industry – a normal format is fine.
Be detailed but ensure any details are relevant – Germans love details so dont miss anything out but make sure it is relevant to this job.
Explain your gaps (anything over 2 months). Be honest! Explain if you were moving house or you were doing training. This is all important to a German Recruiter
More than 2 pages for a German Market is ok – James said he had seen good relevant 5+page CVs.
Have a Linkedin Page and a Xing page– make sure you are active on these platforms. People will check.
Speak to the Hiring Manager if you can – call them and talk about the role
Make sure you have the mandatory skills – don’t apply unless you meet the mandatory requirements. Don’t waste everyone’s time!
Apply with a tailored CV and covering letter – obvious one but you need to tailor to the specific job.
If you don’t hear back in 7 working days, ask for feedback. Be polite!

We plan to have more of these events as this one was sold out in just 2 hours!

Thank you again to Frazer Jones and Katharina and James (with Robert in the supporting role). We really appreciated the training session!

April’s Mini Sparks of Meaning – a Positive Psychologist’s view on Flourishing During Times of COVID-19″ Session 2

April 20, 2020 Leave a Comment

Mini Sparks of Meaning Session 2

Nina Jankovic from Spark Positive and iwibdus were back this week with more mini sparks of meaning.

Nina started the call with reminding us about last week’s slides and asking if we had any examples of where we had followed the mini sparks…

Our audience told us about playing the bouncing game and staying a safe 5m distance from each other. We heard about random acts of kindness between neighbours. Valeria gave us the example of changing her attitude to her children and being more thoughtful about not what she had lost, but what she had found in homeschooling.

Nina then started telling us about Negative Emotions being as important as Positive Emotions.

We can change our thinking from I am … to I am feeling…

For example “I am frustrated” to “I am feeling frustrated”. Detaching yourself helps you realise that emotions are not permanent.
Nina showed us the emotion wheel.

Think about the function of the emotion. What is it telling me? What does it get you? What is buried underneath that? Sad, frustrated anger?

Emotion Wheel

Younger Children

Our audience asked about how we help our younger children in the crisis and support their emotions. Nina suggested using an image showing emotions to help younger children point to how they are feeling. This is an image that I googled.

Ask children “How are you feeling right now?” Ask them to describe how they are feeling and use language that they can understand.

Be comfortable yourself and demonstrating your emotions. Show them that emotions are fleeting. Maybe, give them more chances to misbehave. They are learning in this new environment too. Be tolerant of their misbehaviour!

Make sure you have time to recharge and a safe space to unwind. You will need to make sure you are ok as well!

Teenagers

How do we support our teenagers through Corona?

Tune into their rhythm. Be available when they want to talk to you, don’t make them fit into your schedule. Maybe try an activity and indirectly ask them questions or start conversations. Don’t force eye contact. (My mum still gets the longest conversations with my sister in the car as they are side by side.)

Recognise that Teenagers don’t need us. Also realise that you don’t need to know everything about your Teenager’s life. You need to trust yourself and them.

We discussed playing video games with them – asking them teach us how to play Fortnite. Show an interest in their world and recognise that their youth is different to ours.

Overwhelmed by the News?

We asked about feeling overwhelmed by so much news and what we can do. Nina suggested that we try 3 days in a row where we read no news. She guaranteed that if we needed to know something – someone will tell us! Believing that we will be fine is important!