Being a mom is the toughest and the coolest job one can imagine, but there comes a time when the family nest becomes empty (at least on school days). It is high time that you consider returning to the workforce that you temporarily left some time ago. We are here to help you get back on career track smoothly and without additional stress. Whether you want to pick up where you stopped or whether you plan to move in a different career direction, start with an impressive resume.
Yes, despite this working ‘gap’ on your record, you do have skills and experience to show off. So here’s the guide on how to do it accurately and properly, without cheating on an employer or hiding your true talents. In this guide, we will look at the most important parts of a resume and how to make them shine for a full-time dedicated parent like you. We will offer advice on format, possible experience to include, and picking and listing skills. Finally, we will include a sample of a resume for you to use as a ‘cheat sheet.’
A decade or even 5 years ago listing your jobs in reversed chronological order (from the recent to older ones) was a normal way to build a resume. So a job title and years were the first to jump into an HR manager’s eyes. But as life tends to run faster and faster, HR people and consultants started to talk about a functional format that is more structured (and easy to skim). It is listing your skills, responsibilities, and experiences first and then listing your jobs somewhere at the end, where not every HR will be eager to look for them.
Today it is typical to offer this functional format as a solution for a stay-at-home-mum resume. Like, you list what you really can do (and you can do a lot), you advertise your skills, but you mention the career gap casually, so that an HR may not even see it. This is outward cheating, and so you’d better go for a more honest resume format.
Resume vs. objective in the header is also a matter of taste. Objective header (like: I can do this and this for your company because I have this experience under my belt) is more proactive. It promises benefits for an employer right from the start vs. advertising you personally. So to build a CV that will land you in a good job, the objective header may be better.
While deciding on the format keep in mind the following: today, most recruiters use software (Applicant-tracking system) to skim resumes to look for the skills they need. So it is more important what you say and how you say it, and the format comes last. We will show you a sample resume below, and for now, we just say that go for a combination of everything. Namely, put skills forward but then honestly list your employment and mention the career gap openly (but carefully).
And while typing the final product, do not overdo with style: use simple, readable fonts, give easily read headers and include only the most vital info. The details can be discussed during the interview. Make reading your resume a pleasure for a tired HR.
Even if you had only one job before becoming a mom, it is not a reason to make the experience section look poor. Remember what you did and what you organized for kids and their peers, how you helped a school, where you volunteered and what you achieved. Maybe you even worked part-time? It all fits, just organize it nicely.
Most probably, you did some volunteer job. You joined some school auctions, community events for kids, or helped at a local charity fundraising. Mention it. Name it simply ‘volunteering,’ name the event, time, and support it with some figures or achievement. Like, ‘raised extra funds above the expected sum or helped to achieve set goals.’
If you volunteered by running (successfully) social media groups and pages, go ahead and say it. It will be a big star on your resume if you apply for some communications or online marketing job.
If you found time to do some paid work between your parenting tasks, you are a hero. So show it. Call it ‘freelance’ or ‘part-time job’ and name what you did (and what you have achieved). For example, you made souvenirs and sold them, you did online tutoring for students or even took some remote projects and delivered them successfully. It all meets expectations of an employer looking for an active and inventive worker, so tell on the resume that you are the one.
Yes, absolutely. List them (or one) in chronological order. Give your position, responsibilities, and major professional outcomes. They show that you have been in the job already and so will be able to get on tracks fast.
Yes, name it as it is. Do not try to hide it because HRs will find out during an interview anyway. Avoid humorous or cute titles like Chief Home Executive or the like. Just lay it flat and quiet – ‘stay-at-home mother’ or ‘stay-at-home parent.’ Here you can include safely all vital things that you did while being a mom – multitasking, planning, managing, negotiating, and many more. Skills also belong to this experience, but it is better to place them separately, like in the functional format. We will look at them below.
As a mother, you have come to own a whole bunch of useful skills, some close to those of a superhero. But for this particular job that you apply for, you need to pick those skills that fit best. Read through the vacancy and see what is expected from an applicant – for example, outreaching to media or influencers, negotiating terms of cooperation or providing content for publications on their platforms. Consider what you have been doing as a mum or at your previous job:
There’s a whole lot of useful skills under your belt. Look at the example above and decide what of mentioned skills meet the demands of an employer. You will most probably see that you do have qualifications to get the job.
What are the most typical job skills recruiters look for?
– Computer skills – be specific, name software and applications you know well;
– Communication skills;
– Managerial skills (call them organizational skills if you like);
– Tracking and supervisory skills;
– Specific job-related skills.
But there is a set of soft skills that any employer wants to see in workers. Do you have them? Check them:
– Adaptability;
– Creativity;
– Flexibility;
– Multitasking;
– Interpersonal relations skills;
– Time management;
– Self-organizing skills.
As a mom, you do have a lot of them, so never be shy to name them in your resume. But what about formal education?
Include it as well. But as you need to impress as much as possible, give not only your place of education and major but also focus of studies and major projects you completed. For example, if you studied Marketing, mention which kind of marketing, digital, media, or other, and name some of your projects, like this:
– Coursework: Targeted marketing in social media;
– Coursework: Storytelling in Marketing: creating value for customers;
– BA thesis: Customer Feedback processing: space for improvement in the next rounds of marketing.
If you have certificates of training, coaching or internships, be sure to mention them. Not in this section, but add a separate section of Courses and Certificates and put information there.
Now the best part. Look at a sample of a resume to impress and build your own one, a sure key to your next career step. Since we talked about building a combined resume, we suggest that take a format of a functional resume (two columns). Put your personal data and skills in the left columns so that they are clearly visible, and put the rest in the right column. See for yourself, though. Use some online template or go for a simple Word document, just be sure to write professionally and show yourself off.
Margaret J. Page
Marketing Manager 334 Streety Street Pageford, PA 14567 (555) 777-8888 LinkedIn profile (if any)
Skills Oral communication – high Written communication – high MsOffice – competent Social media skills – high Research skills – very good Creativity – high Time management – very good Adaptability – high Interpersonal skills – high
Interests Books Psychological research Yoga |
Motivated and ambitious marketing specialist with 2 years of professional experience in designing and running campaigns. Completed the projects successfully with full customer satisfaction (sales growth by 30% average). Will eagerly contribute to a marketing team by designing and supervising campaigns, communicating with customers, researching trends in digital marketing and implementing the successful ones.
Experience 2016 – 2018 Stay-at-home parent Parented a baby daughter. In the meantime, developed a set of skills and competencies that will help in marketing career: – Networking with mothers, community building; – Devising, negotiating and delivering kid events in conjunction with other parents (6 in total); – Run Facebook page for drama class. 2017 Co-organized the local fundraising event. Devised a marketing plan to attract more funds than in the previous years. The fundraising yielded 50% more money than the previous events. 2014-2014 Junior Marketing Manager Came up with concepts, marketing plans and strategies for various companies and events. All implemented successfully. Communication with marketing team and customers, supervision of the projects. Time management and management of teams and individual contributors to the campaigns. Summarizing and evaluation of campaign results.
Education University of Pageford Major: Marketing Focus: media marketing GPA: 4.0 Relevant projects: – Coursework: Targeted marketing in social media; – Coursework: Storytelling in Marketing: creating value for customers; – BA thesis: Customer Feedback processing: space for improvement in next rounds of marketing. |
Take this as a template for your CV and get yourself the best job that you deserve!