Photo by Anastasia Shuraeva:
If you’ve been a stay-at-home parent for a few years, the time you spent raising your children likely came as a cost to your career in traditional sense. So when the time comes that you want to reenter the workforce, you might be worried about what you’re actually qualified to do anymore. Luckily, there’s so much you have to offer to any employer after you’ve spent time at home caring for your children.
To help you get ready for this and feel more confident in yourself, here are three tips for reentering the workforce after being a stay-at-home parent.
Recognize This Resume Gap As A Gift
For most jobs, you’ll submit a resume when you’re applying. But on your resume, there’s likely to be a bit of a gap between your last paid employment at the job you’re currently seeking to apply for.
While gaps in a resume can sometimes be problematic, try not to think about your resume gap in this way. Rather, think and present this time spent at home as a gift. It has allowed you to learn and grow in ways that you likely couldn’t have if you’d have stayed in the workforce. So when you’re speaking to potential employers about this gap in your resume, talk about how beneficial this has been for you both as a person and as an employee.
Market What You’ve Accomplished At Home
Just because you haven’t been out in the workforce doesn’t mean you haven’t been working. The skills and abilities you develop as a parent are vast, so use this to your advantage when marketing yourself for a new job.
If you developed new skills or took any courses while you were a stay-at-home parent, like a bookkeeping course or design classes, make sure you include these on your resume. You can also talk about big projects that you’ve taken on, your volunteer work in your community, leadership experiences you’ve had, and more.
Know The Type Of Schedule You Need
Depending on what your options for childcare are and what type of schedule you’re trying to keep now as a working parent, you might need to be more particular about the kinds of jobs that you apply for when reentering the workforce. Especially if you’re needing to be more flexible, you might need to look for remote work options, part-time work, or jobs with more flexible hours.
And since the time that you’re going to spend away from your family is valuable to you, you’ll want to make sure that the work that you’re doing will be worth your time, which might mean holding out for the perfect job that’s a good fit for you and your family.
If you’re planning on reentering the workforce after being at home with your kids for years, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you through this process.