I have been at this PR agency for absolutely ages and for all its failings it feels like home. You can’t help but think that any successes you have had are because you have been here for so long. Why on earth would another agency rate you, surely you are really only doing ok because nobody has yet clocked you?
  
If I didn’t have a family I don’t think I would be as worried as I am. The toughest thing to manage is logistics. When I was child free I could just stay as late as I needed to complete the work, I could knuckle down and get stuck in for as long as it took to complete the job. Now that just isn’t an option and I reckon that will be difficult in the first few months as I am struggling to understand new clients and new processes. I am seriously wondering why I have decided to move at all. Surely I should have stayed at a job that is cool with my coming and going around the needs of my family. Now I am moving into the unknown and they might not be as forgiving around nursery pick-ups, sick children and all the extra stuff regularly thrown at you.
 
Like many women I handle the lion’s share of the house and child duties. This has been fine for the last three months as I have worked my notice period but my husband will find his life also changes as I will need him to start picking up a lot of these things. I cannot expect a new employer to be happy with me leaving at 4:55 every day just so I can do the nursery run. Nor I imagine will it be ok if I am always the one that takes my kids to the dentist, doctors, parents evening or waits for any house deliveries. As for Working From Home, I reckon I can forget that if I want to have sort of positive profile amongst the team. 
 
You see, I reckon people’s perception of me will be the most difficult thing to manage at my new job and in a PR agency it is all about perception. If people perceive me to be any kind of slacker then how will they respect my decisions and trust my opinion? That is why I need to put in the work so I can build the respect that I currently have and that is what will be so difficult to achieve with everything else that needs to be done in my day.
 
So why have I decided to move job, am I being selfish by allowing my ambition take priority over my family? Why would any woman decide to leave a company that looks after her? Is it really such a hardship to have your career stall and be taken for granted.
 
So many questions. I really hope that I haven’t made a massive mistake in deciding to move on. I also really hope that my new employer is sympathetic to my position and cuts me some slack as I adjust to a new role.  However, for all this posturing only time will tell whether what I’m doing is worth doing.
 
Wish me luck.
 
This blog follows on from the author's previous blog Musings of a senior PR consultant