So, to the PPS who dislike "voluntary departure due to motherhood" -- what phrasing do you suggest?

Anonymous wrote:I have an aquaintance who decided to quit working after having her first baby.

On LinkedIn, her profile is still active but she listed under her most recent job "Voluntary departure due to motherhood."

Guess she isn't planning on going back (which jives with what I know of her, very "being a wife and mother is everything"). Why not just deactivate your profile?

If you think fulltime childcare isn't work, you've never done it.

She changed her work, to something much more important than a stack of papers on a desk.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Past hiring manager here. It's totally emotional. I look at the whole package, and since it's about real people, it can't always be quantitative. I've been at family friendly companies where the motherhood thing would fly and at others where it would not. If I gave my boss an application that said anything about motherhood he would throw it in the trash. If the candidate was awesome otherwise and well above the rest of the pack, I might be charitable and ask her to delete that and resubmit before I passed it to my boss. (That would also tell her upfront that it might not be a good fit for her anyway.)

Ditto, although I'm just on the management team, not in an exclusively hiring role. I took time off after my second was born and went back to work part-time a few years later. The "gap" period is blank, and if you scroll down on Linked In, you'll see volunteer activities during that time. Basically, anyone could guess what I was up to but calling it "voluntary departure due to motherhood" just feels weird, pretentious, and unprofessional.

This.

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Anonymous wrote:Because it allows people to still contact her. She's not working; she hasn't vanished from the grid.

+1

Agree. I don't get what is obnoxious about this.

+3
I think it's worded in an adult manner.

It sounds like she is planning to go back at some point and is explaining why she is not currently employed.

+1

If I saw this on a LinkedIN profile of an applicant, even years later, I wouldn't consider them. Sounds ridiculous and self-important.

And you sound like you have a chip on your shoulder, simply because this woman stated the reason she left. If she hadn't stated this, and then years later re-entered the workforce, a hiring manager would have to ask about the gap on her resume. This way, she doesn't have to explain. She owns it and good for her.

If you think that, fine. Many hiring managers on here (I'm a new one) think saying this is a mistake.

There is an option to post an update, kind of like a FB status update, but most people on LinkedIn don't use it. Your friend probably just didn't realize this was an option, and instead thought she needed to post it on her profile instead.

To your question as to why keep LinkedIn active - well, presumably she might want to work, even if part-time, again sometime in the future and maintaining professional contacts helps with that. Easy.

Anonymous wrote:
I'm in a similar situation. Also, I don't understand something a PP said - that saying you left to care for an ill/elderly family member is somehow more acceptable than saying you left to care for your children. That makes no sense to me.

This may seem harsh, but here's the truth - when you tell an employer you were taking care of a sick or elderly family member, they may very well assume that the person either died or their health issues have resolved. It seems like a more finite period of need. When you tell them you took a break to raise children (and assuming it's obvious the kids are still young), the employer hears "Great, she's going to need a lot of flexibility for 10+ years because she's the main caregiver in her family."

Whatever you tell them, you just have to put their mind at ease that you aren't going to need a lot of special treatment, unexpected time off, etc. If you tell them, "I took a couple years off to care for my elderly mother, but now she has moved in with us so it is a lot easier. [3 minutes later] Yeah, I'm really interested to know about telecommuting," - that is going to reflect poorly on you. If you tell them "I took a few years off to be with my kids, but they're now all in school and we have a great backup babysitter, so I'm ready to get back into my career full-time," then they are going to see that you aren't planning to take lots of random time off.

It isn't necessarily about kids vs sick/elderly care, but it is about if the employer has to read into things, they might think that a sick/elderly commitment has ended where they generally won't assume a child responsibility has ended.

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Anonymous wrote:Why do you care? Jealous?

Not op but - seriously? What a joke. It's like the people who say their job is "CEO at Liam and Addison Inc." Just embarrassing.

Or Domestic Engineer at Smith House.

Nothing against SAHPs, but only lame dorks do this.

Most SAHPs don't do this. But I see nothing wrong with the situation OP described.

I've seen domestic engineer or CEO of X Household (barf) - but only on lame FB profiles.

Do NOT use this on any professional networking site. You will look like a moron.

Anonymous wrote:Sabbatical kind of implies academic, doesn't it? I like the idea a few pages back where you end date your old job and then just put
Jane Smith, Accountant or Analyst or Administrative Assistant or whatever
xx-present and leave the firm blank.

Yes, sabbatical means you're still working in the academic arena.

Although you can teach your children the ABCs while staying home, it's not a dissertation.

lol

Anonymous wrote:I'm in a similar position as your friend (quit to SAH), and I struggle with "explaining" this on my resume. I'm still active in my field, although not fully employed, and I do periodic consulting or short-term PT work from time to time.

My resume looks sort of sketchy because I had very "regular" FT, high-profile positions, followed by leaving, having a gap in employment, and then working freelance, low-key jobs. I could easily see someone wondering why, and so I see the appeal of listing something like this on my resume. I haven't done so, but I can see why a person would do it.

I wish there was a standard way for people to explain and list a period of SAH. I don't think it's something people should be "ashamed" of or try to hide, but it also feels like you have to explain yourself. I'm not intending to apply for FT positions like I used to have -- I now work some very PT, mostly-from-home consulting-type positions. But I often feel I want to explain my change in interest from FT, high-powered work to this, and there isn't a reasonable way to do so that doesn't sound defensive or like I'm providing too much personal info.

+1
I'm in a similar situation. Also, I don't understand something a PP said - that saying you left to care for an ill/elderly family member is somehow more acceptable than saying you left to care for your children. That makes no sense to me.

I'm in a similar position as your friend (quit to SAH), and I struggle with "explaining" this on my resume. I'm still active in my field, although not fully employed, and I do periodic consulting or short-term PT work from time to time.

My resume looks sort of sketchy because I had very "regular" FT, high-profile positions, followed by leaving, having a gap in employment, and then working freelance, low-key jobs. I could easily see someone wondering why, and so I see the appeal of listing something like this on my resume. I haven't done so, but I can see why a person would do it.

I wish there was a standard way for people to explain and list a period of SAH. I don't think it's something people should be "ashamed" of or try to hide, but it also feels like you have to explain yourself. I'm not intending to apply for FT positions like I used to have -- I now work some very PT, mostly-from-home consulting-type positions. But I often feel I want to explain my change in interest from FT, high-powered work to this, and there isn't a reasonable way to do so that doesn't sound defensive or like I'm providing too much personal info.

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Anonymous wrote:Because it allows people to still contact her. She's not working; she hasn't vanished from the grid.

+1

Agree. I don't get what is obnoxious about this.

+3
I think it's worded in an adult manner.

It sounds like she is planning to go back at some point and is explaining why she is not currently employed.

+1

If I saw this on a LinkedIN profile of an applicant, even years later, I wouldn't consider them. Sounds ridiculous and self-important.

And you sound like you have a chip on your shoulder, simply because this woman stated the reason she left. If she hadn't stated this, and then years later re-entered the workforce, a hiring manager would have to ask about the gap on her resume. This way, she doesn't have to explain. She owns it and good for her.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do you care? Jealous?

Not op but - seriously? What a joke. It's like the people who say their job is "CEO at Liam and Addison Inc." Just embarrassing.

Or Domestic Engineer at Smith House.

Nothing against SAHPs, but only lame dorks do this.

Most SAHPs don't do this. But I see nothing wrong with the situation OP described.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because it allows people to still contact her. She's not working; she hasn't vanished from the grid.

+1

Agree. I don't get what is obnoxious about this.

+2
I really don't see the problem. She was explaining (briefly) that she left to stay home with her baby. As PP said, she hasn't vanished from the grid.

Sabbatical kind of implies academic, doesn't it? I like the idea a few pages back where you end date your old job and then just put
Jane Smith, Accountant or Analyst or Administrative Assistant or whatever
xx-present and leave the firm blank.

hate the wording.

how about just listing "Sabbatical"