Who would hire a SAHM these days?

[Anonymous]

wow, here I was thinking dcum wasn't as nasty as everyone says. Here are all the nasties in their glory. (with a few calm wise wonders interspersed.) (and the poster calling everyone "idiot"... there is a forum rule about name-calling, right? I don't suppose that is enforceable in any way?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My company is interested in hiring a couple of people to job-share the receptionist position. We're thinking 5 hours each, each day-- a 9-2 shift and a 2-7 shift. SAHMs interested in returning to the workforce would be ideal. We're a small company, very friendly and flexible, and looking for people with a high degree of professionalism and initiative. If anyone is interested, please post your email and I'll send you some more information.

Sure, a receptionist making an hourly wage. A professional making $150,000 or more a year? Hard to see a person who SAH for years in that type of job.

This is incoherent.

While I don't agree with her, it's not really incoherent - I got what she was saying first read. She thinks SAHMS who have been out of the workforce for years are qualified to do hourly wage type jobs, such as reception. They aren't qualified for professional high paying jobs. Again I don't agree but don't see why what she said is incoherent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:like pp, i've also maintained my contacts. when i visited my old stomping grounds in calif 2 mos ago, two offered me jobs whenever i decide to move back. that said, after sah for 1 yr and not working for another yr before that, i started a pt wah position with a research company looking for remote analysts. they targeted sahm because we made a good match both ways. they hired 7 analysts total [including 3 sahm and 4 without children], and after 4 mos and initially promising a 1 yr commitment, only the 3 sahm moms are still honoring that commitment. the other 4 are off to greener pastures, albeit 1 of them is now ft at the same company.

Is this in the IT field? I used to do analysis in my prior job and while I maintained my skills, all the remote analyst jobs seem to be in the IT department. I'd love to do something like that. I would love if you emailed me with more info at bmd1206@ gmail dot com.

PP you quoted. the job is actually in the education research field. not IT-related at all, but we have a great in-house IT staff supporting us, and all of their work makes it possible for us to be remote analysts. unfortunately, i think we are fully staffed at the moment.

[Anonymous]

Well, not every hausfrau or SAHM looks frumpy. I'm a WOHM and when dropping off my DS at preschool in the A.M., I see lots of SAHM's who are very well put together and attractive. I'm the one with dark circles under my eyes, running frantically back to my car to get on the road to my job. I don't see any frumpiness among the SAHM's that I encounter.

Regarding the topic of re-entering the workforce after an extended absence, I think it is only realistic that OFTEN (not always though) a woman cannot re-enter on the same level or salary that she previously enjoyed. Continuing education, staying current on certificiations, PT work etc. do help though.

Good luck to all of the SAHM who are looking for a position. Don't give up! Stay positive and you will succeed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My company is interested in hiring a couple of people to job-share the receptionist position. We're thinking 5 hours each, each day-- a 9-2 shift and a 2-7 shift. SAHMs interested in returning to the workforce would be ideal. We're a small company, very friendly and flexible, and looking for people with a high degree of professionalism and initiative. If anyone is interested, please post your email and I'll send you some more information.

Sure, a receptionist making an hourly wage. A professional making $150,000 or more a year? Hard to see a person who SAH for years in that type of job.

This is incoherent.

While I don't agree with her, it's not really incoherent - I got what she was saying first read. She thinks SAHMS who have been out of the workforce for years are qualified to do hourly wage type jobs, such as reception. They aren't qualified for professional high paying jobs. Again I don't agree but don't see why what she said is incoherent.

Yes. I do not think a woman who has not practiced law in 5+ years is necessarily qualified for a partner-track position at a firm. A contract attorney position? Quite possibly. I've been working as an attorney for over 20 years continuously and I would expect my skills to be mostly outdated in 2 to 3 years. That's not a slam against SAHMs, it's a comment on how fast my specialty moves.

[Anonymous]

I think coming back to work after SAHMhood is like any other experience: it's what you make of it. I had to take two steps back, career-wise, after I stayed at home with my son for his first two years. I interviewed for a staff job with a state agency, for 20% less than I had made the last year before I stopped working. I worked for an IT agency that served the law enforcement community. I had no IT experience or knowledge, but I was willing to learn and, as a former prosecutor, I filled a big hole for them in terms of user community relations.

Did I enjoy it? Certainly not the work portion. But I loved the people and I learned a ton about IT, which I suspect will pay off in the future. The most important thing: I got to transition back into the workplace somewhat gradually, in a position where the demands were somewhat lighter than in my former job, so that by the time my dream job came along with another state agency I was able to make a very smooth adjustment. If I had only focused on what I was losing by taking a 'lesser' job, I wouldn't have been able to make the most of what my transition job had to offer me.

The moral of the story is straight from Goerthe: "Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it." Take what you can get, and run from there. Five years from now you'll be back on top.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a SAHM mom. Super Qualified in Child Care and Nutrition. HOWEVER, I decided to start my own business. I am a Mary Kay consultant and I work less than 10 hours a week. LOVE that I still get to stay home. LOVE that I have time for me. LOVE making women feel as beautiful as they truly are. Guess that comes from the nurturing side of being a mom. ALSO, all the people giving flack for being a SAHM. Just give CONSTRUCTIVE ADVICE. No more rudeness. There is enough hate in this world to be passed around. How about some love.....

Just curious -- how much do you make with Mary Kay? My sister has started to sell it, with the dream of being able to eventually quit her full-time job and stay home with her daughter. I personally would be shocked if she ended up being able to make enough to do so, and would love to hear your success story.

not the PP you quoted but my mom put me and my brother through private school for 7 years with MK and college. Working only when we were at school. She was home for sick and no school days and all our school/sports events.

That's awesome! I'm no expert but I imagine the economy is different now. Are there still a lot of people buying MK? Maybe, I don't know. I had heard some of those types of businesses are suffering as people cut back. Not to mention, there are so many inexpensive, high quality drug store alternatives now. Just seems like a different market than when your mom was doing it. But like I said, I'm no expert. It just sounds risky.

I have a friend who recently stopped selling Mary Kay, and was in a ton of debt as a result. I would make sure you know what you are getting into.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My company is interested in hiring a couple of people to job-share the receptionist position. We're thinking 5 hours each, each day-- a 9-2 shift and a 2-7 shift. SAHMs interested in returning to the workforce would be ideal. We're a small company, very friendly and flexible, and looking for people with a high degree of professionalism and initiative. If anyone is interested, please post your email and I'll send you some more information.

I've been home for 15 years. I would die of boredom working as a receptionist! I'm sure I'd be great at it - for the first couple of weeks, maybe even for a month. After that I'd be so bored, I don't think I'd be able to get out of bed in the morning to come in to work.

I have not lost my skills. I've done a ton of volunteer work in my field, unpaid, but still, I've done a professional job. Yet now when I send out my resume, I get nothing. I am working full time at three volunteer jobs, and hoping to make some connections that will help me find paid work.

I don't think it's my age or lack of paid work. I think it's the recession more than anything. I get lots of praise for the volunteer work I do, and I can see that I'm valued and clearly more skilled at doing what I do than all of the other volunteers and some of the paid professionals in the organizations where I volunteer. They see that too. But they have no paid jobs, which is why they need volunteers.

It's the recession, stupid.

[Anonymous]

As it looks now, I will be returning to the workforce at the same level of pay. I was at home for 6 years. It will be for a contractor. OP, you might want to look at contract work to get back in. This will allow you to get your billable rate up before going perm with a company.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a SAHM mom. Super Qualified in Child Care and Nutrition. HOWEVER, I decided to start my own business. I am a Mary Kay consultant and I work less than 10 hours a week. LOVE that I still get to stay home. LOVE that I have time for me. LOVE making women feel as beautiful as they truly are. Guess that comes from the nurturing side of being a mom. ALSO, all the people giving flack for being a SAHM. Just give CONSTRUCTIVE ADVICE. No more rudeness. There is enough hate in this world to be passed around. How about some love.....

Just curious -- how much do you make with Mary Kay? My sister has started to sell it, with the dream of being able to eventually quit her full-time job and stay home with her daughter. I personally would be shocked if she ended up being able to make enough to do so, and would love to hear your success story.

not the PP you quoted but my mom put me and my brother through private school for 7 years with MK and college. Working only when we were at school. She was home for sick and no school days and all our school/sports events.

That's awesome! I'm no expert but I imagine the economy is different now. Are there still a lot of people buying MK? Maybe, I don't know. I had heard some of those types of businesses are suffering as people cut back. Not to mention, there are so many inexpensive, high quality drug store alternatives now. Just seems like a different market than when your mom was doing it. But like I said, I'm no expert. It just sounds risky.

I have a friend who recently stopped selling Mary Kay, and was in a ton of debt as a result. I would make sure you know what you are getting into.

I'm a FT WOHM so have no time, need, or desire to sell Mary Kay. I was just shocked that someone had made a living off it and stated it was probably a time and place thing, since there are so many competing products today and we are in a very different economy. Not sure where you got from my post that I wanted to sell it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My company is interested in hiring a couple of people to job-share the receptionist position. We're thinking 5 hours each, each day-- a 9-2 shift and a 2-7 shift. SAHMs interested in returning to the workforce would be ideal. We're a small company, very friendly and flexible, and looking for people with a high degree of professionalism and initiative. If anyone is interested, please post your email and I'll send you some more information.

I've been home for 15 years. I would die of boredom working as a receptionist! I'm sure I'd be great at it - for the first couple of weeks, maybe even for a month. After that I'd be so bored, I don't think I'd be able to get out of bed in the morning to come in to work.

I have not lost my skills. I've done a ton of volunteer work in my field, unpaid, but still, I've done a professional job. Yet now when I send out my resume, I get nothing. I am working full time at three volunteer jobs, and hoping to make some connections that will help me find paid work.

I don't think it's my age or lack of paid work. I think it's the recession more than anything. I get lots of praise for the volunteer work I do, and I can see that I'm valued and clearly more skilled at doing what I do than all of the other volunteers and some of the paid professionals in the organizations where I volunteer. They see that too. But they have no paid jobs, which is why they need volunteers.

It's the recession, stupid.

I don't think that it is JUST the economy and according to the experts, we are no longer in a recession. Being out of the paid workforce for 15 years is a very long time and you will probably have to start at a lower level and while being a receptionist is not the most exciting position, it is a start. I think the PP who posted about this opportunity is really nice for letting people know about this job share and I'm sure, she will get lots of feedback. I was out of the workforce for a little over a year staying home with my son and I still had to take a pay cut when I got back to work. It took me about six months to find a suitable position and I'm very grateful for my job and the paycheck. I would even take a receptionist position just to get back in and I would be the best receptionist that the company ever hired. You never know what opportunity you will encounter while working as a receptionist for the company. Good luck to you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My company is interested in hiring a couple of people to job-share the receptionist position. We're thinking 5 hours each, each day-- a 9-2 shift and a 2-7 shift. SAHMs interested in returning to the workforce would be ideal. We're a small company, very friendly and flexible, and looking for people with a high degree of professionalism and initiative. If anyone is interested, please post your email and I'll send you some more information.

I've been home for 15 years. I would die of boredom working as a receptionist! I'm sure I'd be great at it - for the first couple of weeks, maybe even for a month. After that I'd be so bored, I don't think I'd be able to get out of bed in the morning to come in to work.

I have not lost my skills. I've done a ton of volunteer work in my field, unpaid, but still, I've done a professional job. Yet now when I send out my resume, I get nothing. I am working full time at three volunteer jobs, and hoping to make some connections that will help me find paid work.

I don't think it's my age or lack of paid work. I think it's the recession more than anything. I get lots of praise for the volunteer work I do, and I can see that I'm valued and clearly more skilled at doing what I do than all of the other volunteers and some of the paid professionals in the organizations where I volunteer. They see that too. But they have no paid jobs, which is why they need volunteers.

It's the recession, stupid.

I don't think that it is JUST the economy and according to the experts, we are no longer in a recession. Being out of the paid workforce for 15 years is a very long time and you will probably have to start at a lower level and while being a receptionist is not the most exciting position, it is a start. I think the PP who posted about this opportunity is really nice for letting people know about this job share and I'm sure, she will get lots of feedback. I was out of the workforce for a little over a year staying home with my son and I still had to take a pay cut when I got back to work. It took me about six months to find a suitable position and I'm very grateful for my job and the paycheck. I would even take a receptionist position just to get back in and I would be the best receptionist that the company ever hired. You never know what opportunity you will encounter while working as a receptionist for the company. Good luck to you!

After 15 years out of my profession (8 year detour into another profession, 7 years as SAHM), I had to start at a junior role again. It was fine, 6 months afterwards I got a bigger pay bump and new mid-level role. I mommy-tracked myself however and stayed PT at that mid-level for 5 years while going thru a long and slow divorce. As soon as the divorce was over, took a senior role at another firm with an even higher salary.
Since then - well, I think things would have been fine and dandy if I wanted to stay in my stable sector but I wanted more and I wanted to make up for lost time.
I wanted bigger profile projects at bigger profile firms and the post-pandemic burst of hires helped me make that lateral move into a different clientele sector. It is far more competitive, the projects far more complicated and I'm still looking for career stability.
While the it has been a bumpy road this year I do feel enormously lucky that I made this lateral transition. Everyone I know in my previous sector is still stuck in that sector. It is VERY hard to differentiate out. It's sort of like going from LL Bean/Land's End to Dior/LVMH.

It's not that I am ambitious. I am looking for career flexibility at a global firm so that I can transition to the town where my mother is getting older to help care for her and then transition to wherever my kids end up in their adult lives.

[Anonymous]

Do you really want to work and have a career or dabble and get paid for it? As others have said, by quitting and being a SAHM for years, you’ve already tipped your hand. If you’re serious, you need to start at a humble position and demonstrate that you’re serious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't want to hear shit about staying home so as not to miss those precious, precious moments with your special, special snowflake.

I thought we "agreed" that the use of snowflake on DCUM was passe'.

This is just mean. I’ve always worked and am a mom of three. Kids are precious. There is nothing wrong with staying at home for all or part of your children’s childhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My company is interested in hiring a couple of people to job-share the receptionist position. We're thinking 5 hours each, each day-- a 9-2 shift and a 2-7 shift. SAHMs interested in returning to the workforce would be ideal. We're a small company, very friendly and flexible, and looking for people with a high degree of professionalism and initiative. If anyone is interested, please post your email and I'll send you some more information.

I've been home for 15 years. I would die of boredom working as a receptionist! I'm sure I'd be great at it - for the first couple of weeks, maybe even for a month. After that I'd be so bored, I don't think I'd be able to get out of bed in the morning to come in to work.

I have not lost my skills. I've done a ton of volunteer work in my field, unpaid, but still, I've done a professional job. Yet now when I send out my resume, I get nothing. I am working full time at three volunteer jobs, and hoping to make some connections that will help me find paid work.

I don't think it's my age or lack of paid work. I think it's the recession more than anything. I get lots of praise for the volunteer work I do, and I can see that I'm valued and clearly more skilled at doing what I do than all of the other volunteers and some of the paid professionals in the organizations where I volunteer. They see that too. But they have no paid jobs, which is why they need volunteers.

It's the recession, stupid.

I don't think that it is JUST the economy and according to the experts, we are no longer in a recession. Being out of the paid workforce for 15 years is a very long time and you will probably have to start at a lower level and while being a receptionist is not the most exciting position, it is a start. I think the PP who posted about this opportunity is really nice for letting people know about this job share and I'm sure, she will get lots of feedback. I was out of the workforce for a little over a year staying home with my son and I still had to take a pay cut when I got back to work. It took me about six months to find a suitable position and I'm very grateful for my job and the paycheck. I would even take a receptionist position just to get back in and I would be the best receptionist that the company ever hired. You never know what opportunity you will encounter while working as a receptionist for the company. Good luck to you!

After 15 years out of my profession (8 year detour into another profession, 7 years as SAHM), I had to start at a junior role again. It was fine, 6 months afterwards I got a bigger pay bump and new mid-level role. I mommy-tracked myself however and stayed PT at that mid-level for 5 years while going thru a long and slow divorce. As soon as the divorce was over, took a senior role at another firm with an even higher salary.

Are you the OP? because this thread is nearly that old.