I got into the mining industry after a PhD and a postdoc for both the love of the work and the job security. Working in exploration, I worked to develop as a technical expert, with a view to becoming less field based and more office based at the time I would want to start a family.
As the saying goes with best laid plans, they did go awry. Circumstances changed in the company I was with, and my planned career path was put on hold. I felt quite trapped, stuck in a fieldwork heavy role with no career progression, knowing that I was trying for a baby, and relying on parental leave with that company. I didn't want to leave and risk not having access to employer paid parental leave.
While on my parental leave, I felt quite anxious about returning to work. I eventually realised that I wasn't anxious about working, so much as I didn't want to go back to that job. I was still in a largely field based role. I did not know how I would negotiate going back to work but not going back to the field and not knowing when I would be ready to go back to the field.
So, I started looking for other jobs and got a short-term contract position. The job was based in Perth and was a senior role - a two-step up promotion from my previous role. As soon as I signed the contract I resigned from my previous job. Taking a short-term contract over a permanent position might sound like a risk, but to me the bigger risk was the uncertainty and the feeling that I would have been stuck and unable to progress my career if I had stayed.
My new job is not an administrative or database role, I am doing technical geological work that I find enjoying, challenging and stimulating. I am working in a team of peers who have young kids and understand both the juggle and the fact that you are still the smart and competent person you were before. It's been one of the best career decisions I have made.
I have been back at work for a couple of months now. My baby is 10 months old. I am working 3 days a week, and for those days, my partner takes part-time government parental leave from his job and stays home with her. We find it's a great balance.