Achieving Work–Life Balance as a Top MBA Graduate

At Menlo Coaching, we believe in careful decision making about all the ins and outs of your MBA, including what comes after. Our founding partner David White sat down with Jamie Cheney, a 2007 graduate of Harvard Business School (HBS) and the founder of the successful recruiting company Prokanga, to discuss balancing work and family life and Prokanga’s own approach to flexible recruitment. 

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Flexible Work Recruitment

Prokanga fills a gap that often exists in the business world: it helps people find high-end, flexible work. From a client perspective, this means that Prokanga can look at a number of solutions and help find talent that works full time, part time, or in a consulting capacity. The latter two functions are what allows it to cater to candidates who cannot work full time for various reasons. The end result is clients who have access to a higher tier of talent than they would be able to get in the full-time pool and candidates who are able to do well-paid, fulfilling work despite being unable to work full time. But who are the candidates that are looking for part-time work?

Most often, it’s parents—especially mothers—who find that the current workforce doesn’t accommodate both parenting and full-time work. In a sense, flexible work may be the best post MBA job for moms.

• Many have ascended to the the most elite rank of their current job: they’ve made partner at Goldman Sachs or a top private equity firm. Having stepped away to take care of their children, they find that they cannot enter back into their careers at the same level. Most, quite reasonably, find it daunting to have to start over.
• But many parents, especially when their children are slightly older, find that they miss the workforce and go a bit stir-crazy without a meaningful career. Life without work can be a similarly daunting prospect.

The Myth of Simple Work–Life Balance

For MBAs in top careers, it is often simply impossible to maintain a work–life balance without sacrificing something. Aligning with the paradigm of “Lean In,” Jamie expressed that she herself was caught up in the myth that it was possible to “have it all.” And for many in the business field, working harder and working smarter are options that have carried them to the tops of their classes and, later, their careers. But, postchild and, especially, post–second child (the majority of Prokanga’s candidates join just before or after their second parental leave), Jamie explains that “it’s not about how hard you work, but the [number of available] hours in the day.”

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Businesses like Prokanga strive to make achieving work–life balance more possible by offering the kinds of jobs that allow for people to do high-level work on a part-time basis. For example, a job might include consulting a small private equity firm that is launching their first fund. They might only be able to afford a top-level consultant for three days out of the week which is the perfect opportunity for one of Prokanga’s working moms or part-time candidates to be fairly compensated for the time they are able to put in. 

The Advantages of Flexible Work Schedules

If you are a top MBA grad and you find yourself in a position where you need to work part time, there are many advantages to choosing a flexible work schedule and using recruitment services like the ones Prokanga provides.

• Stay actively engaged in the workforce. First and foremost, flexible recruitment allows you to keep working at a pace that matches your current need of work–life balance without sacrificing the rate and kinds of projects you were used to in a senior position.
• Fill gaps in your resume. One of the sad realities of the business world is the black mark that taking time off to raise children can be when trying to return to the workforce. You can avoid looking like you left work entirely for a number of years by taking on part-time work at a similar level to the full-time work you previously did. This also has the advantage of demonstrating to future employers that your skills are applicable on smaller platforms—versatility that will be essential to expanding your options down the road.
• Meaningful time spent with family. One of the most essential aspects of parenting is ensuring that children get attention from their parents in the first three years of life. That is when significant amounts of a child’s language develops and meaningful attention and care can bolster a child’s chance of success later in life. Even if you can afford the very best childcare, missing out on that time can be a blow, and a flexible schedule allows you to be there for important moments and daily bonding. 
• Continuity. While it is usually not possible to match your previous full-time income on a consulting or part-time basis, making a similar rate with fewer hours is helpful when you return to the full-time workforce. Especially for women, whose well-documented pay gap is partially due to the social pressure to take time off in order to raise children, resuming your work at the same rate as when you left is usually an impossibility. By taking on part-time work, you can reinforce your value to future employers and give your career a contiguity that might be otherwise impossible.
• Intellectual stimulation. While child-rearing can be a rewarding and meaningful experience, it can also be somewhat mind-numbing—especially after a number of years. Working part time while raising children can provide intellectual stimulation that is typically unavailable if you spent the entirety of your day with young children. 
• Not letting your talents go to waste. There is a hidden cost to leaving the workforce in order to raise children: a feeling of letting your hard-work, education, and talent lay fallow. If you’re an MBA with a senior position, you have likely excelled in school, worked long hours, and made sacrifices to be where you are. Giving all of that up in leaving the workforce can make you feel as though you are not living up to your potential. Part-time work can help ease that existential dread and keep you feeling like your life up to this point continues to build to career success, while maintaining that work–life balance. 

All in all, taking advantage of a flexible work recruiter and taking on part-time or consulting projects during child-rearing years can help you stay engaged with the business world and get the most out of your MBA without feeling like you cannot have any time for family or a personal life. 

Learn how to achieve work–life balance and excel in your career with guidance from our trusted MBA consultants.

See more from our interview with Jamie: How One HBS Alum Leveraged Her MBA for Entrepreneurship and Why Get an MBA, Even If You’re Unsure of Your Career Goals