Bags more time

A NEW LIFE: A former recruitment consultant is glad she swapped her career for handbags

WHEN I phone Jacqueline Dore-Murphy to set up an interview, she is rushing out to make the most of a rare dry afternoon in the park with her two sons. It's exactly the kind of thing she never got to do in her high-profile post as a recruitment consultant, and it's exactly the kind of reason why she now works from home, managing a website that lets people buy and sell their handbags and raise money for charity.

Until last year Dore-Murphy had been juggling work, family and an exhausting commute and thought that, despite the stress, she had it all. But then a broken leg stopped her in her tracks and made her realise what she and husband Greg truly wanted had been on their doorstep all along.

Looking back, she now describes her former, corporate-driven life as madness. "I remember my parents saying to me that we weren't living, we were existing," she says. "But having worked through a recession when it was hard to get a job, I thought I couldn't possibly give it all up."

Born in London to Irish parents, Dore-Murphy spent her childhood summers in Ireland and returned to live here after she left school.

"It was such a shock," she says. "In London there were lots of job opportunities, but of course in the 1980s there were no opportunities here."

She made ends meet as a shop assistant in Dublin, and met and married Greg. Things were still tough in the jobs market, so they went back across the water where Dore-Murphy walked into a post as a recruitment agent in London, and successfully carved out a niche by placing many Irish applicants.

But the country she called home was always beckoning, and when the opportunity came up in 1995 to run an Irish office she and Greg came back.

"I was taking a step down to come home but I didn't care, it was always our dream and if we were going to have a family we wanted them to be born and raised here," says Dore-Murphy, who recalls how Ireland had changed during her decade away.

"We were starting to get an economy going on and it was phenomenal. I couldn't get over the pace."

The couple set up home in Ratoath, Co Meath and Dore-Murphy started to build up her office in Dublin. At first the 20-mile commute wasn't a problem, but as traffic volumes grew, it became a headache.

And when children Elliott and Lewis arrived, the logistics of getting to and from work became even more complicated for their parents.

"You were living under the pressure that you couldn't be late for the kids at nursery, and then you were hoping not to be stuck in traffic, because they would be tired or hungry," says Dore-Murphy.

"We could have been in the car for two-and-a-half hours just to get to work, and I was thinking are we nuts?"

But their careers were flying, and the juggling continued until one day Dore-Murphy was literally immobilised when she was watching Lewis play football.

"I fell down a small bank of grass and broke my leg in three places and dislocated my foot. It was the most horrendous injury," she says.

She spent three "life-changing" months recuperating at home: "Before I wouldn't even have had a piece of toast in the morning, but it went from the madness to being able to chat with the children and cook them breakfast.

"I discovered that I was enjoying nesting, I had never had the opportunity to do it before."

Chatting more with the children during the day gave her another window on their lives, she adds.

"When you are both working and you come home, you do try to give your all to your children but I think you don't realise how much you are missing out on."

She also started getting to know the neighbours, including Aisling Corcoran, who shared her interest in fashion.

"Aisling had set up this internet-based business from home where people could buy or sell handbags. It really struck a chord with me and I thought that's what I could do, develop a business where I can do it from home," says Dore-Murphy.

"So when she said she was thinking of selling it, the old business me kicked in. I got my start-up loan and in a heartbeat it was done and I was the proud owner of TheHandbagExchange."

The site enables people to sell unwanted handbags, and gives 5 per cent of sales to Action Breast Cancer.

"It's the chic-est way to recycle," says Dore-Murphy. "It's frivolous and fun to buy a handbag and you get to help a charity, and also give someone an opportunity to buy luxury; not everyone can afford to buy a new Prada."

She also enjoys the fashion-fix of dealing with high-end wares such as Hermes, Louis Vuitton and Gucci. "I've always had a real interest in fashion. Greg said when I left my base in Grafton Street, the profits in Brown Thomas must have gone down significantly," she says,laughing.

"And my son recently told another mother that his mummy has her dream job selling handbags."

Dore-Murphy now works mornings and late evenings, and while her career move has taken some adjustment, the rewards lie in family time.

"The buzz I get from collecting the boys at the school gate, strolling home with them, it's so lovely. And when I asked one of my sons what was the nicest thing about me working from home, he said 'I get to spendmore time with you'.

"I think if people could see what life could be like if they took a cut in income, more people would be setting up their own business."

• See www.thehandbagexchange.ie