It just sucks - not even offered internship - (sigh)
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Anonymous
| SO should the PTA and HOA come off a resume when you're been home a decade? |
Anonymous
Agreed. I'm the PP who stayed home for about 5 years and then went back to work. Yes, I took a slight demotion initially, but since then, I've done very well career-wise. I'm not alone. Most of my friends who've wanted to go back to work, go back to work and while they may not land where they left off, they certainly find good positions and then move up the ladder as quickly as they choose to (some just want to earn a little extra money, some want to pursue a more aggressive career paths). |
Anonymous
You are obviously not hiring anyone if you think a mentally ill parent is mentioned in a cover letter! |
Anonymous
Not in detail, obviously. Sigh. There are plenty of ways to handle this that explain that you haven't been haggling over the bake sale for 10 years. |
Anonymous
Where's the post that says always? I don't see that anywhere. |
Anonymous
Here is the person using absolutes: she says never. |
Anonymous
|
My sister married young and spent MANY years of her life raising two kids. I told her to take classes - to earn a degree - b/c once her kids were more self-sufficient, she'd benefit from a career.
guess what? Her husband cheated on her, they divorced, and she spent years barely making it, working at some low-paying, dead end job. She borrowed money from us, and my parents GAVE her plenty just to survive. She still struggles and was forced to move in with her newly married daughter. My point is this - While my sister's life is perhaps the extreme, the world is ugly. Business is business. There are goals to be met. Therefore, you need qualified folks to get you there. If it's a decision between the new graduate and a mature former SAHM with advanced degrees, the new graduate is "cheaper" and more easily molded to fit the environment. Unless you have your OWN trust fund that can support you through your last breath, not even the SAH can afford to drop out completely. And that translates into taking classes, doing some consulting, and networking. In other words, CYA. |
Anonymous
You do know you're on a thread about a SAHM looking for work, saying she will work for free in order to gain the necessary experience to move up. While your advice might be good for many, there are many spouses who stay home in a high HHI household, so even if they divorced, they would make more than some working couples do. OP has said she is willing to work for free, so immediate cash doesn't seem to be an issue, and like many others you are just piling on. OP it looks like you might want to aim higher and not mention the volunteer stuff unless you can translate it into impressive numbers. You might also reformat your resume so that it's not chronological, but addresses skills and experience. Finally, have you considered doing something independent so that you are not beholden to an employer? If you consult or have your own clients then you can work as long as you like. Could you write articles about the industry or start an industry blog? Then you have an "in" for meeting people. It's painful now, but it won't be always. GL! |
Anonymous
I honestly don't know how you'd cover a gap spent raising kids or caring for an ill parent. If I'm on the hiring end, I want to know what the candidate can bring to the organization. If there's a 10-year gap, for example, there's also a huge learning curve in the technology area. I do think technology - as it advances very quickly - is a major obstacle for people re-entering the workforce. I'll speak from experience. As an educator, after many years in the classroom, I held different out-of-classroom positions (training teachers, for example). When I returned, I had to quickly learn all the programs specific to the classroom. Although I was familiar with these programs, I had never been given accounts to use them, as they weren't a necessary part of my previous positions. My management was excellent, and while the curriculum guides were new, they posed no problem b/c I had also written curriculum during that time away from the classroom. Still, I had to digest quickly at least three new programs that were multifaceted. Eventually, I become comfortable with these applications, but it took about a semester. I'm taking summer classes, in fact, to gain more knowledge. I would think that in any healthy relationship, a working spouse would encourage the SAHP to take classes to keep skills fresh - or to take on a bit of consulting if it fits w/in a field. For example, I helped a pal - who was out of work - by hooking her up with a curriculum-writing position (contractual). This consulting job turned into a FT position for her. If you're motivated, you WILL keep your skills updated. That's how I look at things. (And btw, I did help in caring for an ailing parent. I was PT for 6 years so that I could have a bit more flexibility in my schedule. And my husband did more than his fair share during that time.) |
Anonymous
Yes, I realize that. However, as I (and others) mentioned before, it's about CURRENT skill level. So what if OP is willing to work w/o pay? Are her skills updated? If not, why would I bother to take her on versus someone fresh out of college who HAS the skills required for the job? Interning is really about sharpening skills - not learning the basics of a profession. I interned in college years ago. I rearranged my schedule so that I could work three full days a week. There were many applicants applying (probably close to 100). They hired two, of which I was one. Even then - with experienced future college grads competing for these slots - earning a spot (paid in this case) was tough. And tbh, if the SAHM DOESN'T need the job (as you mentioned in your post), I'd prefer to hire a candidate who does - especially if that candidate has student loans to pay off. |
Anonymous
If you are looking for reasons not to hire someone, you can always find them. Outside of IT jobs, there are few area where currrency of skills actually matter. Someone who has ten years of consulting or legal skills is still going to be able to do more than a freshly minted graduate with six months of internships. Technology is such a pervasive part of life, that gasp, even sah parents are using it on a regular basis. The argument that sah parents can never ramp back up comes from working parents who want that to be the case, it isn't reality. And I am another poster who went back after 5 years off to a highly sought federal legal job. |
Anonymous
This is exactly it. So what if OP is willing to work without pay? Honestly, that's not necessarily even an appealing quality. An internship is meant for someone in the learning phase of their career, not for someone who's left the workforce to be on the PTA. |
Anonymous
Motivated grad, not any grad. And I agree. |
Anonymous
+1. I have a huge family and big circle of friends (with wildly varying degrees of education and drive) and I know exactly ONE who never went back to work after a break for child or elder care. One. She is in her mid 60s now so would have been retired probably about 4-5 years ago and also from a different generation where it was probably easier to stay out for her. Most people return, its not some white whale and I'm also of the opinion that OP might be aiming too low. My DH once was talking to me about hiring (not a hiring manager in HR, he's the department head at his job so he gets the candidates from HR) and he told me, totally unprompted, "I always like hiring SAHM coming back after a couple years, they get less overwhelmed with multiple projects". Stereotype, sure, but man he got some good loving for that one. |
Anonymous
Intern positions are meant for grads, period. OP is not starting from the bottom, so she shouldn't apply at the bottom. |