Returning to work after spending time as a stay-at-home parent can be both challenging and intimidating. But with a few simple preparation steps, you can eliminate stress and increase your chances of finding the most rewarding employment opportunities. Very few people these days are surprised by the employment gaps on a candidate’s resume. However, preparation is the key to success with most procedures. And, should you return to a workplace after being a stay-at-home parent, this preparation includes careful thought about your professional future and strategic steps to execute your plan.
Job Search Strategies for Parents Returning to the Workforce
If you’re such a parent, thinking about returning to the workforce, it’s understandable that you’d be juggling a lot of emotions, feelings, and thoughts. From the emotional and logistical work of finding the right childcare to finding the right opportunities, there really are a lot of boxes to check. We’re here to help with these job search strategies that can make the transition easier for parents returning to the workforce:
1. Reevaluate your career priorities
Even when filled with parenting chores, time away from the office is a great opportunity to reassess your career prospects and motivations. You’ve already taken a step back and now you can take an objective look at what aspects of your work environment satisfy you and which result in the most occupational burnout.
Of course, you’d want to keep the latter to a minimum, if not a complete stop. So sit back and ask yourself – what do you really want from a job? There is no better time than this break to find an honest answer to this question. If this advice seems too vague, start with the following:
- Part-time vs. full-time: Your life has already changed—for another 18 years or so—so full-time employment may no longer be your best option. After all, time away from the office often shows us that working fixed hours isn’t always the best way to get the job done right
- Gig jobs vs. flexible schedule: One way to balance family and work life could be to look for a more flexible schedule. This could mean an employer encouraging remote, flexible hours or going completely independent as a gig contractor. The second also means you can be your own boss!
- Income Expectations: Of course, everyone wants to earn well, but often, higher compensation comes with more responsibility and extra hours – something you may no longer be ready for. Consider your highest and lowest compensation limits and think about how much you’re willing to offer in return
- Professional interests: Sometimes, our professional interests change. Parental leave is the perfect time to consider career changes — small, like moving to remote work, or major, like a major industry change
2. Be aware of any changes in the industry
If you’ve decided not to switch majors, it’s still possible that a lot has changed while you’ve been gone — especially in innovative technology careers. Of course, it is unlikely that a few years of parental leave will make you learn everything from scratch, especially if you have been informed about the most important news and developments in your position. However, you may need to invest some time to bring your skills up to the required level. Depending on the industry you work in, this may mean enrolling in several seminars, workshops, or online courses, or simply keeping up to date with the new software currently being used in your professional environment.
Related reading: The worst parenting mistakes we make all the time and need to fix immediately
3. Make yourself visible on social media
Parenthood isn’t the best time to be active on LinkedIn or any other social media sites related to your industry — everyone understands that. But it’s also necessary to prepare the ground for your professional re-emergence, and social media offers a unique opportunity to do this from the comfort of your own home. Additionally, as you begin researching updates in your industry, you won’t be able to avoid industry-focused social channels.
Take some time to familiarize yourself with the current state of the business and start engaging with the content shared by other experts in your industry. Alternatively, you can search for websites and groups for stay-at-home dads and moms with similar careers and education. This is a great opportunity to get some industry specific advice on returning to a workplace from people who share the same experience.
4. Get back in touch with your professional circle
Being active on social media already allows you to reconnect with your former colleagues and clients. But sometimes, you may need to be even more active. Consider contacting your former employers, clients or colleagues and let them know that you are available for work. Here, direct contact with people is the best approach.
Even if you’ve misplaced their contact information (which happens to everyone) or people you need to reach have changed communication channels, it’s still best to use a LinkedIn email finder (or extract contact data from any other social network) and send a direct message. This is a perfectly reasonable, natural thing to do if you want to reconnect with people you worked with before.
5. Update your resume
Once you’ve contacted former colleagues, it’s time to start updating your resume. Chances are, soon enough, potential employers will want to see it — especially if you’ve done all the previous preparation steps correctly. Here, the main trick is to explain any employment gaps on your CV skillfully. While no one is surprised by parental leave, you should emphasize that the break from work was planned and, most importantly, temporary.
Plus, there are plenty of ideas for how you can capitalize on any, even remotely, industry-related activities you’ve been involved in while you’ve been away. These could be volunteering initiatives, remote consulting, personal blogging, attending webinars to keep upgrading your skills, or even helping to organize activities at school or preschool — anything works as long as it shows you weren’t completely out of it. from your professional landscape.
Related reading: 6 Stages of Parenthood: Find Out Which Stage You’re in Now!
6. Be prepared to take a proactive approach
Sitting and waiting before someone invites you to send them a resume is not enough sometimes. You can take a more proactive approach by researching companies that may be interested in professionals like you. For this, you don’t necessarily have to limit yourself to Google.
In fact, you can do this more effectively with tools like SignalHire that can help you search for contact information of individual professionals and companies. You can set whatever search parameters you want to get the best results — industry, location, company name, etc. The results will show a brief overview of companies in a relevant industry and contact information of the company’s employees — often top executives and recruiters.
7. Prepare for job interviews
The final tip is to rehearse job interviews with your friends or family — especially if they work in similar industries. After all, making the right impression during a job interview is mostly about confidence and the ability to showcase your skills in the most favorable light. When returning to work after parental leave, it’s vital to talk about your career gap with calm confidence. So ask your trusted friend to rehearse some unexpected trick questions with you and good luck during a real job interview!
With these simple, actionable tips, you can map out a successful road map for your journey back into the workforce and create a career that allows you to have exactly the kind of work-life balance you need. Good luck!
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