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PR Mums is a pioneering new model for a hybrid recruitment company, community hub, and events platform.
We have the ambition to equip mothers with a practical and psychological pathway back into employment after maternity/childcare, enabling them to re-establish their pre-pregnancy career trajectory.
At its core PR Mums is a PR & Communications recruitment business connecting those returning from maternity leave and former PRs with employers.
This is underpinned by a community offering support via training, events, mentoring and an online forum when issues and guidance can be openly discussed without judgement. Finally, PR
Mums will campaign and advocate to address issues that impact the lives and careers of the community.
Because of the identifiable problem and no existing concerted solution. To date attempts have been sporadic or isolated and the problem is as large as ever.
PR Mums is not driven by a lofty and long-term vision, but instead by an immediate and urgent mission to address clear and present endemic industry challenges and to help increase the number of women in senior and leadership positions. This is our first-year ambition, but we aim to expand this beyond the industry and support all parents.
PR Mums Offer/Benefits
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There are so many benefits! Apart from jobs, you will be connected to an awesome and ever-growing community of like-minded people to discuss any professional issue or challenge. Plus, you will have access to amazing PR Mums events, training and campaigning.
Community
The PR Mums community exists as a place for members to discuss the PR & Communications industry, personal challenges and seek guidance or support.
Not at all. The community can also meet IRL as PR Mums will host a calendar of events and training to help provide additional insight into the industry, topical issues, policy and anything that will enhance personal development.
Not at all. Once you have registered for roles at PR Mums you will be invited to become a community member.
Once you have registered as a candidate you will be invited to join the community, attend events, training and more, where you will have a chance to chat to fellow members, share your thoughts and challenges online and IRL.
Yes. Sign up for potential opportunities and enjoy the benefits of the community.
Events
We will be working with leading voices across our core topics to create engaging monthly events and content, which will show up as in-person or virtual events, podcasts and beyond. They are all meant to help us learn, share a point of view, and grow personally and professionally.
Only the best for our members! We will be working with high profile leaders, authors, academics, politicians, companies, talent, agencies, figureheads. If you have a suggestion let us know!
We work with our community and industry leaders to identify the core issues that are most important to mothers/women in the workplace. From fertility to parenthood, flexible working to parental rights, the gender pay gap to the pension gap, menopause to parental care and more. If you have a suggestion, please let us know!
Please check our social media pages and website for updates on events and how to book tickets.
All events will be free or heavily discounted for the PR Mums Community members. Non-members are more than welcome to attend too, but tickets will be full price.
We welcome anyone to get in touch with an idea for an event. If you have a topic you’re passionate about and want to be a speaker, showcase your venue, or if you think there is an issue we haven’t raised, let us know!
Campaiging
If it impacts the ability for working mums to achieve their professional goals we will campaign for change. This isn’t about taking on individual cases but holding the industry to account and work together for change.
We work with our community, industry leaders and experts to get under the skin of core issues that impact mothers/women in the workplace.
If we help one mum get back to a career she loves, we have done our job. But we want to do more: we want to effect positive change, unlock opportunity, and create a better industry for working mums.
Through our online community and website.
Register to be a PR Mum candidate or contact us.
If we need to absolutely! Many voices are stronger than one.
Both organisations do incredible work to create positive change across a multitude of industry challenges and issues, but they can’t do everything. We hope to work with both organisations and fully support their work.
No, but wouldn’t it be great if it was! We aim to make it so.
PR Mums is not driven by a lofty and long-term vision, but instead by an immediate and urgent mission to address clear and present endemic industry challenges and to help increase the number of working mothers in senior and leadership positions. This is our first-year ambition, but we aim to expand this beyond the industry and support all parents.
Signing up to PR Mums
Joining
Register for roles with PR Mums and you are automatically invited to join the community.
Candidate
Absolutely not! Anyone can register for roles with PR Mums but the focus will be on flexible roles that help support talent with additional responsibilities, such as childcare.
The UK PR sector is over 65 % female. But for far too many female PRs who choose to have a child, when their family starts, their career stops – with little prospect of a return in the future to their former trajectory. Even after a typically ‘normal’ maternity leave of 6–12 months some people can feel out of the loop with diminished confidence trying to balance their career and family life. We want to provide guidance and support.
YES! We have to start somewhere, so we are starting with Mums, but looking to the future, we aim to expand beyond the industry and support all parents. For example, research from Pregnant Then Screwed indicates almost half of all dads say they would move jobs for more family friendly working conditions. Childcare policy is important to and impacts all working parents.
We want to ensure anyone who has childcare responsibilities, or other work/life challenges will be properly supported in the PR & Communications industry. Great talent shouldn’t be lost because of childcare, lack of flexibility or other responsibilities impacting employees.
At present, we will be supporting talent who have previous experience within the industry. Maybe in the future we can look into how we support career changers who bring valuable expertise to the industry.
Company
There are many things employers can do to attract and maintain great talent, especially women returning to the workplace after mat leave or extended childcare. PR Mums is happy to help employers identify areas they can improve to support these individuals.
Company Operations
People
Following eighteen months of consultation and development, with the support and financial backing of Hector Proud, Rory Scott (Directors of creative agency Idea Generation) and the photographer Rankin.
PR Mums was born from a need to address the myriad of gender-based inequities in the workplace resulting from parenthood.
Inspired by Digital Mums who Hector supported in their pilot phase, the idea to harness the excellent talent of women who had taken time out from PR & communications due to childcare and offer a pathway back to their former career.
He loved the idea and wanted to get involved. We are exceptionally lucky to have Rankin provide our photography and consult on creative direction.
The recruitment business is helmed by Emma Padden (Managing Director) but the community platform is driven by a board of ‘Founding Mothers’ - Alexandra Heybourne (Director, Freuds), Ali Maynard-James (Managing Partner, Manifest), Bethany Pearson (Director, Grayling), Jessica Hope (CEO, Wimbart), Jo Vyvyan-Robinson (Partner, Freuds), Nicola McKelvey (Director, Freelance), Shilpa Saul (Inclusive Communications Director, The Unmistakables).
Their role is to help drive conversation, answer questions, and provide mentorship where relevant. The PR Mums community is an invite only space for members to talk about PR and Communications without judgement.
Further to this the Founding Mothers role will extend into advocacy and campaigning on issues that impact women in the workplace from substandard parental leave policies; cost and availability of childcare; the lack of flexible or part-time roles; issues of diminished confidence; physical dislocation and isolation; these factors (and many more) intersect to dissuade and obstruct a return to work.
Commercial
PR Mums is a pioneering new model for a hybrid recruitment company, community hub and events platform. We help candidates find a pathway back to their former career, and provide access to an online and IRL community for them to share their career challenges with a group of like-minded people for guidance and support. Personal and professional development is provided through events, training and activism. A percentage of revenue is channelled back to help fund the community.
Community Funding
Leveraging the revenues from the core recruitment service, PR Mums will reinvest at least 25% of its profits into an ongoing community and events programme, designed to variously, boost confidence; open opportunities; facilitate networking; access training; initiate mentorships and update skills – with the universal ambition to help re-establish both the path and trajectory of their former career as quickly as possible.
Contact
You won’t find us in a map just yet. PR Mums does not have an office, but we are happy to meet in person for a coffee, or virtually if easier.
Please call +44 (0) 7526797418 or book a call here.
