Balancing the Grind with Simone Vrabac, General Counsel at JobAdder

Simone Vrabac is the General Counsel at JobAdder, a global recruitment software solution that helps tens of thousands of agency and in-house recruiters from around the world.

1) To kick things off, could you tell us a little about your career background and current role?

I’ve worked in the legal profession for about 14 years. I’m currently General Counsel at a company called JobAdder that creates beautiful, intuitive software for recruiters and inhouse talent teams.

I am lucky enough to have worked in all three major sectors within the legal industry. I started my career in an enforcement role at the ACCC. From there I moved to a boutique commercial law firm in Sydney and then landed a role in-house at eBay.

At eBay, I discovered my love of working as a lawyer within a business. From eBay, I moved to Gumtree. I then had a brief spell back at the ACCC before moving into my current role.

2) What does a day in your life look like for you? Can you take us through a recent workday?

Today, I was up at 6:15. I try to create some space and time for the kids and I in the morning for play, a cuddle or a chat before we start the morning routine.

At about 7, it’s breakfast and daycare drop-offs before starting work at around 8:30. I’m lucky in that I largely work from home, and daycare is walking distance from our house, so I get a bit of fresh air and a walk in on the daycare run.

Once I login, I like to plan my day. Depending on my meeting schedule, I set myself one to two high priority items I want to close that day. Once those two “big tickets” are set, I look over email etc to see what else has to be slotted in as a priority for today, what is a “nice to have done” and “what can be actioned later” or delegated.

I find when I start the day by creating a plan, rather than reacting immediately to emails, I work on the most important/impactful things first. Of course, not every day can start like this. Some days start as chaos and end as chaos, but I try my best to start my days with a goal.

I’m a morning person, so I usually work on my “big ticket” priorities through to lunch. I always lock in some sort of break around lunch. I need it to clear my head and recharge. If I’m lucky I get a walk in too.

After lunch, it’s an afternoon work block before a hard stop at 5/5:15 to collect the kids. I then devote a couple of hours to family time and the “dinner, bath and bed” routine. On a calm work day, I have a couple of hours for life admin and time with my husband before bed. On a busier day, I login for a couple of hours of work after the kids are asleep.

3) What does work-life balance mean to you and how do you work to achieve that goal?

To be honest, I’m still figuring out what a good work-life balance looks like with two small children and a job that I love, but that can be quite full-on at times. I feel pressure on many fronts daily and trying to avoid burnout is a real challenge.

Right now, for me work-life balance is about having the flexibility to fuse work and life in a way that is sustainable mentally, where all the “big things” on the work front get done but that I have the space to spend quality time with my husband and girls.

To achieve this is a constant planning and prioritisation exercise on both the work and home front. The juggle is real! Some days I feel like I fail on all fronts and other days it’s all big mental high fives. My husband and I make a pretty great team.

He works 4 days a week, which helps us manage the load as a family. I’m also lucky because JobAdder truly allows for flexible work, so there is no issue if I need to duck out for a child related event during the day but then put in a few extra work hours after my kids are in bed.

I have found that I am much more productive at work and less stressed at home when I am fully present in what I’m doing on both fronts. So when it’s work time, it’s work time and I aim to get into a flow with that.

When it’s family time, the phone is off and I’m really with my girls and husband. I’ve also made a conscious effort to not beat myself up if things are not perfect. Often, good enough really is good enough.

4) In the past 12 months, have you started or stopped any routines or habits to change your life?

I have stopped checking my phone first thing in the morning and right before bed. I think it has helped both my sleep quality and my morning focus.

Over the next 12 months I would love to make space for a consistent exercise routine, but baby steps! 

5) Do you have any favourite books, podcasts or newsletters that you’d like to recommend?

I love a good Brene Brown book, TED talk or Netflix special. I also like Glennon Doyle’s podcast, We Can Do Hard Things.

As far as books go, I really enjoyed the book Good Habits, Bad Habits: The Science of Making Positive Changes That Stick and I’m currently reading Raising Girls Who Like Themselves, which I’m finding fascinating as a mother of two young girls.

6) If you could read an interview about work-life balance by anyone, who would that be?

Dolly Parton.

7) Do you have any last thoughts on work, life or balance that you’d like to share with our readers?

I don’t think there is a silver bullet for managing work and everything else. It’s such a personal thing. For myself, I just always try to remember that time is finite and life is constantly making tradeoffs of that time.

My ultimate goal is to have lived a full and content life where my time was spent doing work I enjoyed, building great memories with my friends and family and with as few regrets as possible.

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