Maternity leave can be a blessing and a stressful experience for mothers who are considering going back to work. Whether you return to the same job you were working at during the pregnancy, or are seeking a brand new job, returning to work can be a daunting task. Some mothers take a longer maternity leave which can put even more hurdles in the way when it is time to return to work. While it can seem like you are hitting a brick wall when you first commence your job search, it is important to keep the following things in mind to make the process easier.
Show how things your experiences out of the workforce are relevant to your job
A lot of mothers do not realize that while they were helping out with the PTA or fundraising with parents at school they were learning essential skills that can be added to their resume. All these activities require planning, networking and communication. These skills are absolutely essential for the workplace, and are key qualities employers look for in their applicants. You did a lot of things during your time out of work – highlight them!
Update your resume
Updating your resume is essential. While your resume pre-motherhood may have got you that wow job, with such rapid advances in today’s modern age it is increasingly difficult to get your resume noticed. It is essential to highlight your old skills alongside other things you have learnt over the years while you were out of the workforce.
When updating your resume it is important to make sure it is no longer than two pages, and that it is not filled with irrelevant information. To ensure that your resume has all the important information required but is not cluttered and confusing it is in best practice to use a simple resume format. A resume in this format should include white space, making it easier to look at and read. They should also have clearly laid out sections and no graphics, with all information spread out in a chronological sequence.
Apart from being easy to read, there are many benefits of creating a simple resume. Due to these resumes not having a particular theme or format they are very universal, which is particularly useful if you are applying for multiple job sectors. The simplicity of these resumes will also allow companies to easily locate information making them much more likely to pay attention to your resume than to others that are filled with information that is hard to find. An added bonus is the time that you will save due to the resume being very easy to compile , saving you time and allowing you to get job hunting faster.
Take more courses
In the United States of America 34 percent of women are more likely to have a bachelor’s degree by the age of 29 in comparison to 26 percent of men, so studying is not a new experience for a lot of women. While it may be hard to fill gaps in a resume or do a full time course with children at home, there are many online courses that can be taken to add more pizazz to your resume.
Keep your expectations lower
While it might be frustrating that you cannot return to the workforce at the same level as you left it is important to remember that there have been various advancements in technology and methods. If you have, in your time off been keeping up with these advancements then it would be a perfect idea to place these in your resume so that companies know your abilities. If however you have been enjoying your quality time with your children and have not got around to updating yourself with the latest information then perhaps keep in mind that you may have to take a role that you are not used to and then advancing back up the career ladder when you get a hang of things.
Roughly 70 percent of mothers with children below 18 are in the workforce – this is a completely attainable and worthy feat! Do not become overwhelmed with the task of returning to work, remember that with the steps mentioned above, you should be able to return to work and maybe even land your dream job while caring for your beautiful family at home.