Taking a career break when the kids are small is a choice lots of parents make, but getting back into the workforce afterward can be a struggle. With a child-shaped gap in your resum\u00e9, you might find that some employers are reluctant to make you their number one candidate over someone who hasn\u2019t had that time out. So what can you do to boost your employment appeal after taking a break for the kids? Here are a few top tips and some re-entry friendly roles to help you on your way\u2026<\/p>\n
Sell your new skills<\/strong><\/p>\n There is nothing like becoming a parent to teach you about time-management and multi-tasking! There\u2019s no need to be ashamed of boasting about the skills you develop as a parent, they\u2019re of equal value to any technical training or on-the-job upskilling you might have undertaken. Make sure you shout about them on your resum\u00e9. Learning to prioritize, managing deadlines and managing your time are all part of parenting \u2013 not to mention conflict resolution!<\/p>\n They might not suit everyone, but with those time-management skills and the ability to reason with often very unreasonable little people, some customer service advisory roles <\/a>or front-of-house jobs such as hospital receptionists <\/a>or hotel receptionists <\/a>could be ideal. They also get you back into contact with other people, perhaps something you\u2019ve not had much opportunity to do when you\u2019ve been home with the kids for a while.<\/p>\n Keep up to date<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s important not to lose track of industry developments while you\u2019re taking time out from your career. Make sure potential employers know that you\u2019ve been keeping one eye on the latest news as well as keeping one eye on the kids, perhaps using your resum\u00e9 to highlight the trade journals you\u2019ve been reading or the online magazines you\u2019ve been following.<\/p>\n The key is making it clear to potential employers that you\u2019re still as up to speed as the candidate who hasn\u2019t taken the career break. It\u2019s also a good way of staying connected with the big wide world.<\/p>\n Get networking!<\/strong><\/p>\n The best place to look for a job if you\u2019re re-entering the workplace is through an online service like Adzuna<\/a>, but it\u2019s also worth getting back in touch with old colleagues and bosses. Word of mouth and making use of your contacts can open doors, especially if they\u2019re willing to recommend you to other people or if they have heard of some current or upcoming vacancies.<\/p>\n People skills are crucial in so many industries, but the warm, caring and human touch you develop as a parent can be invaluable in community work roles<\/a>, or in other similar professions where being able to empathize and talk to people are important.<\/p>\n Update your skillset<\/strong><\/p>\n Getting back into work after time at home raising children could be an ideal opportunity to either upgrade the skills you already have or embark on a completely different career path. You could consider going back to school and gaining further qualifications or training in a subject you already know something about, or make a fresh start \u2013 learn French, re-train as a nurse, take a course in coding! Whatever you decide to do, it can only enhance your resum\u00e9 and help make you stand out.<\/p>\n If you pick up new skills a whole new world of possibilities opens up to you. There are plenty of creative and design jobs <\/a>out there, and many will be with creative companies who are more open-minded and laid-back about childcare and working arrangements. Plenty of retail roles <\/a>are also more flexible when it comes to fitting in shifts around your continuing childcare duties, so keep an eye on the jobs boards for child-friendly positions.<\/p>\n A career break to bring up kids is far from the end of your career! Show employers that the break has been a bonus and not a hindrance to your working life by highlighting all the new things you\u2019ve learned along the way. Re-entering the workforce after being home with the children can be a great excuse to try something new and take your career in a whole new direction \u2013 search Adzuna.com <\/a>today to find your perfect job and let\u2019s help you start that new chapter!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Taking a career break when the kids are small is a choice lots of parents make, but getting back into the workforce afterward can be a struggle. With a child-shaped gap in your resum\u00e9, you might find that some employers are reluctant to make you their number one candidate over someone who hasn\u2019t had that Continued \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,137],"tags":[140],"class_list":["post-165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-finding-a-job","category-life-at-work","tag-featured"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}