Rock Your Return to Work :: A SAHM’s Guide to Returning to a Career

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For a variety of reasons, many of us become stay-at-home moms after birth. However, there comes a point when our sweet babies are in school, and then what? We can either transition to housewife (or “homemaker”), or we can choose a paying profession outside of the home.

Many go with option B, especially if you were a SAHM because your potential childcare costs exceeded your expected income — though there are other motives besides financial motivation.

But, oops! There’s a huge gap in your resume of Grand Canyon proportions. Not so good for career-hunting. What to do?

Rock Your Resume

Functional resumes are your friends. A functional resume focuses on your skills and experience, rather than on your chronological work history. It is used most often by people who are changing careers or who have gaps in their employment history. Google is your friend if you are looking for examples of functional resumes or attention-catching phrases to use, or usually, your local library branch may have some handy guidelines printed for you.

Another handy tip I heard from the WIA office is not to put your street address on there– they may google it to take a peep at your residence and neighborhood and make snap-judgments.

Rock Your Resources

Check out SC Works and the federal program WIA (Workforce Investment Act). This service has a variety of helpful things to get you employed, such as (but not limited to) a career counselor/caseworker to help you in your quest for employment, up-to-date career advice, free workshops and job fairs, and testing free of charge (e.g. Workkeys). You can search their database for jobs (and even get it to self-search using predefined keywords), or apply for up to $8,000 in training (pending approval on a case-to-case basis). They even offer clients mileage reimbursement for the first few weeks of a new job.

Rock Your Re-train

Check out Midland’s Tech QuickJobs Program or other training/college programs. QuickJobs are career training programs that have been developed for fields where job growth is expected over the next five years. Many QuickJobs programs can be completed in less than three months, and some QuickJobs careers have annual earning potentials over $60,000. In addition, many are eligible to receive scholarship funds.

WIA (mentioned above) can also help find appropriate training and potentially alleviate costs for those with income eligibility.

Rock Your References

Admittedly, this one throws me. Not only do I have to go back years to get “professional” references, but many of my bosses and fellow employees have also moved on. Most of my current non-relative contacts are other stay-at-home moms who have no idea how I function in a professional environment.

  • Volunteer, volunteer, volunteer — Not only will you get some more professional contacts, but you also help fill up that resume gap at the same time! An added benefit: Limitless possibilities and making the world a better place!
  • Teachers — If you do choose to go back and (re)-train or even go to the academic side of college, work hard and ask your trainers and professors if they would give you a reference.

Rock Your Reputation

HR departments at potential employers LOVE social media. For the sake of job-hunting, automatically assume they have access to as much of your account as you do– even if you think it is locked down. Don’t let their minds linger on whether “John ThugForLife Doe” or “Jane LikesToBeScantilyClad Doe” are your besties or your second cousins you can’t get rid of without family drama.

Some options are to slightly modify your name to hide (e.g., instead of first and married-last-name, consider middle and/or maiden), make a dummy account with your real name and “likes” that your employer would appreciate, or simply deactivate temporarily as you look for jobs.

Also, make sure your email address is “professional” and preferably memorable, and not the same one you use to sign in to social media or the throw-away one you may use for ad sites.

Rock Your Reflection

Back in my days of gathering/analyzing statistics for hospitals, I would wear professional-yet-covering clothes that flattered my then-svelte figure. My footsteps were punctuated by the no-nonsense click-click-click of a high heel smartly striking a tile floor as I walked swiftly and with purpose. Makeup was flawless, and hair was simply but immaculately styled.

Let’s just say, my style has taken a drastic 180. Now I don the SAHM official outfit. You know, pajamas, bare feet, hair in a half-ponytail half-bun. If I have to go out, I’ll tug on some yoga pants and maybe, if I have time, pull my hair all the way through the ponytail band. Needless to say, no makeup.

Sadly, my clothes no longer fit the way they once did. Even my shoes.

Now, is it smart to go interviewing in ill-fitting attire or in pajamas? Not really. (Though wouldn’t it be awesome if it were?)

Time to update the appearance. I’ve heard it said that you dress for the job you want. Personally … not going to lie here … I’m more than a bit tired of my $0 salary, so now I want a job that pays, preferably good money. So I gotta step up my game. Time to pull a Macklemore and run to Goodwill, get a rocking interview power suit for $20.

Happy job-hunting if/when you re-enter the workplace!

Do you have advice for moms who are headed back to work? 

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