The Midlives Recycled
Are us Midlifers really a lazy drag-anchor on the creaking UK economy?
"Thou shouldst not have been old till thou hadst been wise,"
King Lear - Act 1, Scene 5.
To be clear, I would trade presumed additional wisdom for youth in a chronotropic heartbeat. Wouldn’t we all? Wisdom is overrated and youth is definitely not.
Mrs Cavell
But this story is not about me, it mostly concerns my wife, I only serve as your unreliable narrator, and to make a fleeting appearance to help test her central hypothesis.
And Mrs Cavell’s hypothesis is this:
It is structurally problematic for middle-aged professionals (especially women) to return to the workplace, after taking a career break devoting themselves to being a mother.
Prior to our daughter being born in 2010, my wife had a long and successful career at Next. She spent over a decade as a Senior Fashion Buyer at Next Head Office, where she led one of the largest womenswear departments. She worked with designers to shape the creative direction each season and bring commercially strong ranges to the market. As an inveterate avoider of the limelight and attention, Mrs Cavell will strongly dislike my mentioning, that she was the lonely recipient of a rare award for her talent and hard work. She will also hate me saying that I offered to take a career-break instead of her, if only because her salary was a significantly higher than my own.
It is an almost universal truism that fashion pays better than bicycles.
They are mediums that seem to best suit extroverts, willing to loudly extoll and proclaim their own virtues without shame or doubt.
The Time of Return
Our daughter is now 15, about to take GSCE’s, maybe go on to university and think about her own career - maybe flying a plane, panning for gold or becoming a shepherd. Who knows?
After putting her ambitions and dreams into a fifteen year perma-frost, it is also the moment for Mrs Cavell to reflect on her own career and self-expression. An inherently difficult process made harder if you are a quiet person awakening to innately noisy time. Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok et al - none of them existed fifteen years ago. They are all mediums that seem to best suit extroverts, willing to loudly extoll and proclaim their own virtues without shame or doubt. But many of us are too easily filled with doubt and questioning with respect to our own virtue and place in the world. Whilst I would say that I would mostly default into the introspective cohort, I am also established and not trying to reheat career dreams from a decade-and-a-half in the chiller. But this isn’t about me.
The Low Line of Sight
My wife gathered up as much self-confidence and self-esteem as she could muster and then set her sights accordingly close to the horizon - maybe work in a shop or find another outlet for her design skills.
But then! John Lewis advertised an opening at our local branch. A moment of opportunity, a door ajar into which the right person could plausibly wedge a foot.
John Lewis was creating a new role and a new work-force of ‘Personal Stylists’. It only paid a fraction of what she used to earn but it was a first step. The remit of the role appeared to speak to so much of her core competence:
My wording :
Styling consultations for John Lewis customers, host style talks, share fashion trends and offer instant style advice John Lewis customers.
Too many friends and family over the years have relied on a typically reluctant and modest Mrs Cavell to be their own personal style-guru, for this to be anything other than a role she was pre-qualified for.
So, she duly pulled her CV together and formally submitted her application to John Lewis, to join their new Personal Stylist intake - excited but also humbled by the time elapsed. Would John Lewis see her intrinsic potential and unquestionable work ethic? How could they not.
Spoiler
I would love to report that of course they did. After all, John Lewis is one of our country’s most trusted household brands. And Mrs Cavell now leads the styling team at our local John Lewis!
The actual facts are that she received a disappointing response:
“Thank you for your application for the position of Personal Stylist .
We received a high level of interest in this opportunity and have now reviewed your application against the skills and experience required for the role. Following that review, we are sorry to advise that we will not be progressing your application to the next stage.”
She didn’t even make it to the interview stage of the process. Which had had been her secret hope - that is to say, be invited to an interview, to be seen by the world and her skills and qualities assessed in a professional environment. A first step.
