If you are a stay-at-home mom (or dad) moving towards a return to work, this guide is for you. Spending your precious time at home with your child is a rewarding experience, but many worry that future employers will view the time as a gap in your resume.  

We all know the transition from employee to full-time parent can be difficult, and the same applies to a return to the workforce. All too often, new parents can face obstacles following maternity leave, and find opportunities for career growth have been reduced. These situations can often leave us feeling the need to prove ourselves to inflexible employers who may not understand our situations.  

A silver lining to come from the pandemic is that the world’s workplaces are getting friendlier, and remote jobs are becoming increasingly available. If we can market resume gaps well, and fully explain time outside a traditional workplace we can flip the stigmas and demonstrate the time as a positive. In this 2021 guide, let us provide tips on how to get ahead in your career and how to find jobs for Stay-at-Home moms.  

Checklist to Get Ahead with Your Career 

1. Update your Resume  

When was the last time you updated your resume? Is your resume ATS compliant? Has it been correctly tailored for the individual roles you are targeting? Make sure you’ve triple-checked your resume, avoiding grammatical errors. If you need help in ensuring your resume is in top shape, why not avail of our resume writing service, our certified resume writers create flawless resumes, crafted to impress and land you interviews.

2. Create a LinkedIn account. 

A LinkedIn profile is a key component in personal marketing and job hunting, an essential in relaunching your career. The majority of recruiters check your LinkedIn profile before calling you for an interview. A fully optimized, effective LinkedIn profile can also frame you as a prime candidate for headhunting opportunities, leading to interviews for roles that aren’t even advertised. If you’re targeting creative positions, you may also consider other social media channels such as Facebook or Instagram to showcase your skills.  

3. Write an effective cover letter. 

Cover letters are wonderful tools to create a first impression that wows the reader. Recruiters often only read the resumes of those submitting an impressive cover letter, so your skills should be clearly outlined to ensure they want to read more. A cover letter must be personal, clear, and concise, making you stand out from the competition. List the requirements that you can find in the job details and come up with examples that prove that you are the right fit for the job.  

4. Work on your personal brand. 

A website can help you market your personal brand and let you stand out, particularly for those with design-focused backgrounds. It can feature your portfolio, the quality of work you do, and the feedback of people you worked with. Not everyone can spend the time and effort building a website, so having one can give you an edge over the competition.  

5. Prepare an Elevator Pitch. 

An elevator pitch can be used to great effect both during interviews or networking situations. This would be the opportunity for you to describe your time away as a stay-at-home mom, selling the skills gained and world experience acquired. Here’s an example: “I’m a marketing manager, and I recently took the time to invest in my children. I’ve kept my skills sharp by working on my website – a mother’s blog.”  

Tips on finding a job as a stay-at-home Mom

Here are effective tips for stay-at-home moms who want to relaunch their career:  

• Find a company that is right for you.  

You don’t have to jump at the first opportunity that comes your way as you relaunch your career. Ensure that wherever you’re going to land, it will be worth it for you and your family. Strike a balance between the money it brings, along with the pressure, sacrifice, and time away from your family.  

Before accepting a job, check if the culture of the workplace is healthy and suitable for you. Can they support your role as a mother? Do they regularly hire people in the same position?   

In the interview process, you may also highlight the value of a career break and how it helped you. Maybe you grew personally and learned new skills? Perhaps you had time to take additional courses?  

• Tap into your community.  

One of the best pieces of advice we can offer is to continue putting yourself out there, network, and build your professional circle. Options could include attending local networking events in person, attendance at local networking events, and online groups where you can participate and share ideas. You can often find networking events on social media channels such as Meetup, LinkedIn, or Facebook.  

Another option is sending out emails with your resume to family and friends to make them aware of the position that you are looking for, those close to you can be the best advocates. How about getting in touch with ex-colleagues to see if there are any positions they know you can fill.  

• Be open to part-time or temporary jobs.  

This is the time to broaden your search, so don’t rule anything out initially. Explore a variety of industries, you may find you enjoy different things to those that used to interest you. Look into options for part-time and temporary roles to ease the transitioning process. There’s no need to leap straight into a permanant 9 – 5, test the waters, see what works for your schedule and commitments. 

• Highlight Your Soft Skills 

Hiring managers value soft skills now more than ever. If you offer a strong work ethic, outstanding time management, and finely-tuned organizational skills, you could gain a head start over others that struggle to manage in these areas.  These should be reflected in your resume and cover letter, as well as demonstrated at interview stage. 

Getting back into the workforce can be challenging after spending years as a stay-at-home mom, but don’t let the different struggles deter you. You know your skills, and you know what you can offer to the world. Don’t give up and keep going, mama! 

For new graduates, and those seeking a career change, the battle through an extremely competitive job market is all too real. We are bombarded with ads for positions that offer disappointing salaries and little to no benefits, the trend globally is to cut costs as much as possible. Companies are overworking their employees and this combined with inadequate earnings leads to dissatisfaction in the workplace. In the current situation, getting any job can be a difficult task, but applying for entry-level roles can appear near-impossible. The competition is huge and you need to find some way to stand out from the crowd in the eyes of your potential employer.

Let`s explore some options that people who are new to the job market can do to boost their chances to secure an interview.

You should think about your future even while still in college. Think about your formal education as the cornerstone of your future career, and as something to build on. When you finish college, you are not a well-formed expert in your area, you are a beginner in your field and you have much to learn. This is very important to realize from the beginning of your job search. Many candidates get disregarded because they feel that their diploma guarantees them a managerial position from the get-go and this could not be further from the truth. You need to invest time and energy to better yourself and to demonstrate the ways in which you’re the ideal candidate.

Internships, courses, summer jobs:

Let’s move on to extra-curricular activities. Having a degree in economics does not set you out from the crowd, there are thousands of people with a similar background applying for entry-level roles. Having a degree in economics and an internship in your chosen economic area, well that`s going to get you noticed. The keyword here is investment. I have heard “I would rather sit home and not get paid than go to work and not get paid” too many times. You will get so much valuable knowledge on an internship and you will see how a company operates. If you are good they will, at least, give you a good recommendation and references and there even might be a position waiting for you when you finish your studies if you are exceptional. Take courses in fields that you are particularly interested in. Even summer jobs working at a local store will prove to your potential employer that you are a responsible person with a good work ethic.

Resume and cover letter:

A high-quality resume submitted with a concise cover letter are the documents that are key in getting invited to interview. As a fresh graduate, your resume should not exceed a standard A4 page, clearly demonstrating the skills you’ve gained throughout your studies and extra-curricular experiences. Be concise and precise. Don`t be too descriptive. A recruiter needs to know exactly what can he expect you to be able to do from your resume. Keep your resume clean and simple, removing excess information. Always ask yourself, is this information useful for the recruiter? The cover letter should tell the recruiters in a few sentences why you are applying for that specific position and company. Introduce yourself, mention the specific position you are applying and explain why your skills would allow you to excel in the advertised role.

Traditional values:

Always keep in mind that some traditional values are valued in candidates for a good reason. Make sure that you are at least ten to fifteen minutes early for your scheduled appointment and dress up. I am not saying to wear a three-piece suit but a tucked-in button-down shirt will be highly appreciated by your recruiter. I have already mentioned several times that the competition is tough and most candidates that apply for entry-level positions come with similar skill sets so it is all in the details. If there are two candidates with the same knowledge and level of experience and one came sloppy and was late and the other one came dressed sharp and on time, who do you think will get the job?

Communication:

Communication is key, to be more precise, good communication. Many managers argue that young candidates today have terrible communication skills. Volume is too low, words are mumbled not spoken and sentences don`t have a good natural flow. There are several reasons for this opinion: the statement is, at least in some part, true, there is the age gap, texting is now almost the primary way of communication for young people and everything is in various gifs, smileys, etc. Prior to going to the interview, you should definitely have a practice one at home. Talk about the points that are stated in your resume and try to have answers pre-determined and have a friend question you. While in the interview make sure you speak clearly, to the point and try to keep a good sentence flow, everything should be as natural as possible.

It truly is tough out there today and I hope that this article helps all of you who are at the beginning of your professional careers! If you decide you wish to seek professional help with your resume, feel free to contact us.

So, your resume and cover letter got you through the initial application phases, and you have been invited for an interview. Now you need to prepare.

No matter if you are an entry-level applicant hunting for your first job or you are a seasoned industry veteran looking for a career move and a new challenge, interviews are always exciting and nerve-racking. It is a make or break moment, a small window of opportunity that could determine your future, for the next couple of years at least.

Preparation is key, so let’s take a look at some of the areas you can focus on prior to going to your interview.

Getting to the interview:

It’s essential that you’re not late to the interview, this is, by far, the worst initial impression you can offer. Do a test run to the office in the days prior to the interview, making sure you don’t get lost and make sure you have plenty of cash on you in case you need an emergency taxi.

Presenting yourself:

Dress to impress, do a little research into the company culture and keep it formal, but don’t overdo it. Make it a priority to turn off your phone as soon as you get to the interviewing offices, making sure there’s no chance of it ringing during the interview.

Practice your answers:

Make sure you know your resume word-for-word. It is natural that you are nervous and that you might stumble a bit on some answers but there’s no reason you shouldn’t be confident when discussing your professional history. Develop answers to questions surrounding past projects and achievements mentioned, can you expand on the detail? Define ways in which the experiences allowed you to develop certain skills?

Communication is key:

Be mindful of the age and technological gap between you and your recruiters, especially if you are applying in companies within some “traditional” industries such as law. You should avoid using slang and ensure that you vocalize and verbalize everything you want to say clearly and loud enough. Retain a professional attitude, listen carefully and pay attention to what your recruiters are saying and asking you.

Prepare some questions:

Questions are a great tool for you to use in the interview. Yes, it is you who is being interviewed but the last part is most often reserved for your questions. You can show here that you are really interested in the company that you are applying for by asking about an ongoing project or further possibilities for professional education should you be selected. At the very least be sure to ask when can you expect feedback on how you did and if there will be any more rounds of selection.

Preparation prior to the interview date will increase your confidence, calm your nerves and increase the chance of success.

Cover letters, most people don`t like writing them and when they do, they’re never the focus of the application. A lot of people believe that the cover letter has lost its relevance today and are reluctant to input time and effort into its creation. The cover letter is as important as it was ever been if not more! Here, I aim to offer an insight into the importance of a cover letter, along with some solid advice on how to write an attention-grabbing one.

So why is a cover letter important?

In today`s job market every open position receives high volumes of applications. Most big companies today use a combination of applicant tracking software and a recruiting officer to find suitable candidates. A cover letter is an important tool in separating you from the crowd, it’s an insight into your personality and a way of bringing some life to an otherwise dry application. In a sea of resumes with similar expertise, a good cover letter will tell the hiring manager “Hey, I am the right person for the job and the right person for your team!”

How can I write a good cover letter?

To write a good cover letter you need to address a few key points, let`s explore a bit to give you the best possible chance for an invite to an interview.

Do the research!

Research the company you are targeting, and try to go beyond their about us page, focusing on their core values. Show the recruiters the ways in which your expertise and personality align perfectly with the company, and why you want to work for them. Maybe it is their special environmental policy, or you are fascinated by some research or project they are pioneering. Maybe you love the fact that it was the first one to implement a new way of working, whatever it is, it should display you as an answer to what they’re seeking.

Make it personal

You need to assure the recruiters that you will be a good fit for the team and the overall corporate culture. This is why you should be yourself when writing the cover letter while still maintaining a professional tone. Again, take the time to get to know the company, If they regularly play a sport as a team or have some recurring activity that you also like don`t forget to emphasize that fact. Most importantly put in focus what are the unique advantages of what you will bring to your new team!

Be clear and concise

Recruiters are reading hundreds of these letters on a daily basis so always be precise. It is the quality, not the quantity that counts.

There you have it, now that you understand the importance of a good cover letter, be sure to implement this advice when applying for your next position. If well written, it could be the tipping point.