Spring has arrived in South Africa, and perhaps that is why I have been thinking about seasons.
Not the weather kind. The motherhood kind.
I started my corporate career full of ambition, never really thinking about kids, until I was in my thirties. Having a child changed everything.
I was one of those women who loved being pregnant. I loved feeling the baby move and kick. I didn't mind my bump at all. I loved the anticipation of becoming a mom.
And then the baby arrived.
Everyone talks about the newborn bubble. Mine involved a lot of eating, not nearly enough sleeping and quite a lot of screaming. I am not sure I loved the newborn phase. I think I survived it.
But babies grow.
They sleep a little longer. They eat a little better. You begin to feel vaguely human again. And I loved being a mom.
Then another season arrived.
I began to miss work. And with that came guilt. I was fortunate enough to be a stay-at-home mom, so why wasn't that enough? I adored my children. Why did I also miss using another part of myself?
When the children started playschool, I started RecruitMyMom.
Suddenly I was building something while still being the mom I wanted to be. And over the years, we helped thousands of other people find work too.
Then came primary school.
I built things with my children, read with them and helped with projects. (Yes, I was that mom.) I shouted from the sidelines, cried when they were on stage, sat through every music concert and waved goodbye to every bus leaving for school camp. My business grew as they got older.
Then high school arrived.
They were suddenly at school until 7 pm some days. They needed me differently. And, despite everything people warn you about teenagers, I loved those years too. My little children were becoming young adults, and I genuinely loved their company. I had more time on my hands to build on my career.
Then university.
The house became quieter. Bedrooms stayed empty until weekends. My daughter got a boyfriend, and I had to adjust to the fact that we were no longer always just the four of us and that was fun too.
And then, shock horror, they finish university.
They get jobs. They move away. They start adulting all by themselves.
The house gets even quieter.
So, obviously, you do something completely sensible like get a puppy!
And some of it sucks.
Because you loved being needed, you like being their mom. But you also don't want to become That Mom who phones every day asking what they had for dinner.
And that is the thing about seasons.
You don't always realise you are in one until it is ending.
There were seasons when my children needed almost all of me. Seasons when I desperately missed work. Seasons when I somehow managed both, and now there is a season where my children need less of my time, and my work has become an enormous part of my life again.
Perhaps that is why RecruitMyMom has always felt so personal to me.
For so many women, careers don't develop in a straight line. Neither does motherhood.
There are seasons when we want to accelerate. Seasons when we need to slow down. Seasons when flexibility is everything. Seasons when we are ready for a new challenge, and seasons when life changes, and we have to work out who we are now.
None of those seasons diminishes the others.
So, this Spring, if you are entering a new season of your own, embrace it. Whether you are returning to work, looking for greater flexibility, changing direction, stepping up, starting again or simply wondering what comes next, know that thousands of women in the RecruitMyMom community are navigating their own seasons alongside you.
As for me, I am still adjusting to mine.
The house is quieter. The children are building lives of their own. The puppy is causing chaos.
And being their mom is still one of the greatest joys of my life.
I wouldn't trade it for all the money in the world.
About the author:
Phillipa Geard is the Founder and CEO of RecruitMyMom, an award-winning South African recruitment company she founded in 2012. RecruitMyMom connects employers locally and globally with highly skilled South African professionals across permanent, part-time, contract, fractional and remote roles. A social impact entrepreneur and long-standing advocate for women’s economic empowerment, Phillipa founded RecruitMyMom with a vision to ensure that skilled women, particularly mothers, can remain economically active and build sustainable careers while giving employers access to an exceptional pool of professional talent. Under her leadership, RecruitMyMom has grown into an established recruitment company serving thousands of employers and building an extensive community of skilled professionals across a wide range of disciplines and seniority levels. Phillipa’s leadership and entrepreneurial impact have been recognised through numerous awards, including: * African Excellence Award – Most Empowering Female Recruitment Company (2023) * Santam Fairlady Women of the Future Winner (2019) * FNB Innovation Finalist (2019) * Job Creator of the Year – Entrepreneur of the Year Awards (2018) * Small Business Entrepreneur of the Year (2018) * National Woman in Business Champion (2017) A sought-after speaker and commentator, Phillipa shares insights on women in the workplace, recruitment, flexible work, entrepreneurship and the future of work. Follow Phillipa on LinkedIn ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/phillipa-geard/)
