Our shared professional experiences, mainly in higher education, have seen us journey through roles in outreach and recruitment, service delivery and programme design, culminating in senior strategic leadership positions. Individually, we've been fortunate to volunteer for fantastic organisations, contributing to their success and growing our experience and networks. Cathy has been a committee and board member for local and national bodies and charities, including Chair of the North Grantmaking Committee for BBC Children in Need. Carol has been UK vice-chair of the Higher Education Liaison Officers Association and a trustee and governor of several schools and educational trusts. 

Our proactive decision to become a jobshare partnership unlocked fresh professional and personal potential. At the time, there were limited best practices, role models and resources to draw upon. Something we passionately aim to rectify for future jobsharers. Understandably, we experienced the classic fear of the unknown, with plenty of questions to consider. 

• Would we split work tasks equally or develop specialisations based on skills, experience, and preference?  
• What reporting mechanisms would keep each other sufficiently informed without cumbersome admin? 
• Would management, direct reports and peers value and view us equally?  
• How would our team members and line managers adapt to the new approach? 
• Could we maintain our individual identities, sense of role satisfaction and contribution whilst successfully capitalising on a seamless partnership? 
• How could we use this way of working to unlock new potential and opportunities? 

Sound familiar? The answers became clear from building our bespoke jobshare partnership from the ground up. We learned on the job and feel passionate about sharing our experiences, knowledge and tools so others can benefit effectively and seamlessly from the transformative benefits of jobsharing.