Resume Writing Tips for the Stay at Home Moms Re-entering the Workforce

Advise for Moms who want to get back to Work

Resume writing for women who are stay at home moms and are looking to re-enter the workforce can be a tricky deal. Being a stay at home mom is a wonderful thing and all women who decide to do that should be commended, but now comes the challenge of writing a solid resume so that you can get back to working on a full time basis. The main problem for all you stay at home moms is that now when you prepare your resume you will have a gap in employment. This does not look good but there are some things you can do that will help you fill in those gaps and be more likely to get an interview and eventually a job.

Here are some simple tips for preparing your stay at home mom resume:

• Don’t get cute: It may sound cute to put ‘Household CEO’ or ‘Professional kid taxi’ on your resume, but the fact is it may actually hurt you. This is contrary to a lot of opinions and there is no doubt that being a stay at home mom is indeed a full time job, but there are those who will not agree with your decision or wished they could have stayed at home like you did. What you may inadvertently do by getting cute is turn of the individual going over your resume. If that happens, you will never get an interview and obviously you won’t get the job you are after either.

• Look past your home life: Most stay at home moms don’t have much idle time on their hands, but when they do it is generally put it to good use. This can be done in the form of volunteering, continued education, or even some freelance part-time work. By highlighting this on your resume you show the potential employer that you were committed to using and maybe even sharpening your skills while you were not in the workforce full time. Volunteer work is especially great here as many volunteer jobs are more demanding than the jobs you will be applying for.

• Highlight past experience: If you worked before you decided to stay at home with the kids, then you should of course highlight that. You will naturally be putting on your resume anyway, but perhaps there was some way in which you stayed somewhat involved with your former profession. If so be sure to include it.

• Don’t leave the time gap blank: Whatever you do, don’t leave the time that you were at home blank on your resume. You may be the best stay at home mom ever, but the potential employer doesn’t know that, so do your best and make sure something goes down.

Remember, the entire point of a resume is to make it appealing enough to get the potential employer to call you in for an interview. Once you get your foot in the door, you can explain the time you spent at home however you see fit.

Tip: Get help with your resume by consulting with a professional resume service.