How hard is it for a late 40s SAHM to return to the workforce?

[Anonymous]

Almost any job at all is a good starting point.

I wasn’t in my 40s, but at one point I was having to find a job when I had little relevant experience, funny gaps in my resume from backpacking, and a worthless BA.

I started in a call center.
That led to a job in a better call center where I started picking up real skills and knowledge.
That led to a better non-call center position in that company, continuing to build up real skills and knowledge.
That led to a better job, which led to another better one, and so on and so forth and now I am in a great place. Yes it took time, but so does anything else, and I didn’t have to take on more debt to do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:There are a gazillion admin jobs open at Booz, Deloitte, PWC, Jacobs etc. And the HR dropdown on the hiring menu doesn't even go below 65K.

I’m 50 and have been looking for 6 months. I have a masters degree but it’s completely outdated and the long gap in employment seems impossible to overcome. I’d love to know about these positions PP speaks of that are all above 65k. I was just searching Booz and see much lower (40s). I’ve applied for lots of jobs from non-profit to government to corporate and have only landed 1 interview (didn’t get it because they were worried about tech skills). I’m smart, focused, have great communication skills and learn quickly so it’s very demoralizing to think that staying home as put me on par with someone who didn’t even attend college.

+100
The amount of untapped potential within this demographic is criminal. I'm early 50s with a similar background to you and have applied to countless positions within the federal government and private industry. I have applied over and over to admin positions within FCPS and have never even been called for an interview. Certainly makes you wonder...

What are you alleging? Ageism? How would screeners even know how old you are? If you're literally not hearing back at all, it's just your resume went into the e-void and probably never had actual eyes on it.

Yes, there is software that screens out applications with gaps in work history. People can know your age by the years you graduated or dates of employment (or if you leave those out it's a red flag). I'm not sure that's the PP's problem though. It's hard to get interviewed for a federal job even when you have an amazing work history. The best thing really is having a referral from a real person to the job you're interested in.

Leaving off degree year is not a red flag. And nobody needs to detail or even mention decades old jobs to age yourself. It’s easy to mask your age.

[Anonymous]

It’s a bit paranoid to assume you’re screened out for your age off an electronically submitted resume. Now if you interview, sure, you might have a reason to suspect that.

[Anonymous]

To all the ladies who have been out of the workforce for years and have college (and grad school educations), you need to go through your network, as others have said. You are highly unlikely to get anything applying through a website. There are a lot of small companies who want competent, dependable, low drama people like yourselves but don't do a lot of active recruiting. You need to tell everyone that you're looking for a job and ask them if they know anyone!

[Anonymous]

I don’t understand why people think they should be hired with nothing recent on their resumes. It’s not that hard to volunteer somewhere and get something on there. Anything!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Almost any job at all is a good starting point.

I wasn’t in my 40s, but at one point I was having to find a job when I had little relevant experience, funny gaps in my resume from backpacking, and a worthless BA.

I started in a call center.
That led to a job in a better call center where I started picking up real skills and knowledge.
That led to a better non-call center position in that company, continuing to build up real skills and knowledge.
That led to a better job, which led to another better one, and so on and so forth and now I am in a great place. Yes it took time, but so does anything else, and I didn’t have to take on more debt to do it.

This. I took a class at a local nonprofit which led to a part time job where I was basically making minimum wage. But I worked hard and my next job was full time and I had great benefits for our family though only made around $40k.

Took a couple years off due to COVID. My recent job, I started over $90k and now I make 6 figures.

That is a span of 6 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Almost any job at all is a good starting point.

I wasn’t in my 40s, but at one point I was having to find a job when I had little relevant experience, funny gaps in my resume from backpacking, and a worthless BA.

I started in a call center.
That led to a job in a better call center where I started picking up real skills and knowledge.
That led to a better non-call center position in that company, continuing to build up real skills and knowledge.
That led to a better job, which led to another better one, and so on and so forth and now I am in a great place. Yes it took time, but so does anything else, and I didn’t have to take on more debt to do it.

This. I took a class at a local nonprofit which led to a part time job where I was basically making minimum wage. But I worked hard and my next job was full time and I had great benefits for our family though only made around $40k.

Took a couple years off due to COVID. My recent job, I started over $90k and now I make 6 figures.

That is a span of 6 years.

I’m the 50 yr old job seeker earlier in the thread. Your experience is very reassuring to read. I hope I will be in your shoes in 6 years! I volunteered for 15 years at a non-profit while at home hoping that would help me break back in. Maybe that will help but time will tell. I’m prepared to take a low wage job to get my foot back in the door. I’m reminding myself not to focus on the money but think of it as an investment in myself. For now, I’m taking the awesome advice on this thread and checking out temp to perm jobs (found a great lead today) and law firms.

[Anonymous]

Can she substitute teach? Do you need a degree for that in their area?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:*I'm assuming a nursing program at the local university would probably provide immediate employment but I don't think they can afford going into student debt at the moment.

Nursing students get paid?

All of the nursing students I know seem to be employed all through college.

Employed with pay, or like…fulfilling service hours for their degree? I truly have not heard of nursing students earning income during school

someone could have a job while going to nursing school. i am sure many have.

The earlier poster said nursing programs provide employment. That’s different than having some other job while going to school.