Who would hire a SAHM these days?

[Anonymous]

I reentered by taking a data job at a university. Friends found new roles as event planner and social media/digital communications managers.

[Anonymous]

I went in-house after staying home for 8 years. I was offered a part-time gig through a professional/personal contact who had known me a long time. This person had a need in their department, had not found anyone they wanted to make an offer to through regular interviewing and resume screenings, came to me asking if I would apply, I applied, interviewed, got it. Been there 3 years.

This was not the kind of connection through which I thought I would get a job, so you should reach out through your entire network, professional and personal.

[Anonymous]

This thread is from 2011.

[Anonymous]

I think getting a job after taking significant time off is extremely difficult if you’re just sending in your resume with no one on the inside looking out for you. Most employers get many resumes from qualified applicants who haven’t taken time off, so why would they go out of their way to hire someone who has, unless there’s a connection? Have you spoken to your former colleagues? I think that would be a great place to start.

[Anonymous]

There is so much work out there. You just have to be willing to do something other than sit in the office. Doordash, uber, most restaurants are hiring.
I make $30-$50 an hour at the restaurant and we can't find workers.

[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.
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.

Interesting that you revived a 12 year old thread to tell us this. Yay, you.