Is this genuinely a good sentence for a cover letter?

[FeetOnly]

During my career break, I honed my organizational and time-management skills through managing my family's schedule, finances, and household responsibilities.

Been a sahm for a long time. Not very good at applications or interviews. Looking for templates online and came across this.

Tips welcome for changing an academic cv into an office type role - ditch the publications?

That's encouraging - I'm also a SAHM looking to go back to work after a break!

Can you say which charity you work for?

Sorry OP - I didn't want to take over your thread (and agree that you shouldn't use that sentence).

I have read some really horrible CVs with people puffing up their achievements, This seems fine to me, pointing out the obvious if you are a SAHM, but the person reading it may never have thought about those sort of everyday tasks. To me just needs a final sentence to tie it to the job.

Sorry no, it's not needed

Do you mean you've never done office admin and now you're applying for Office Manager?

Basically...

@Liorae I gave genuinely seen people list bring a SAHP as 'CEO of the Smith Family'

Cringe

Definitely do not say that you don’t have direct experience. Relate your transferable skills to the experience and skills they have stated you need for the office manager role.

WRT to your career break, say exactly what @Viviennemary said - clear and to the point

I think I’ve read that this is the sort of thing that makes prospective employers 🙄 in the same way as admissions tutors do with all the prospective students proclaiming grandly “I’ve always been passionate about…” in personal statements!

I find the whole "I learnt x y and z from being a parent" in a CV off putting and twee. Working parents and most adults learn these skills. Just mention taking time out to raise your family then focus on your previous experience.

I would look at the job description and try and find specific examples from your past research and writing to illustrate how you're a good fit. You'll presumably have a high standard of written work and administration (getting ethics approvals done in time etc), time management, comms, meeting competing deadlines, self motivation, use of whatever IT programmes and systems you used. Without direct experience I think better to show how you're an unusual but well qualified match from past work rather than scrabbling around trying to make your home life a selling point. Everyone has a home life to organise.

As a hiring manager, I wouldn't bat an eyelid at you being a SAHM for a while. Claiming that you honed skills of organisation and time management there and not in the work you did previously would raise an eyebrow with me to be honest.

Surely you had to manage your time, prioritise and be organised in your studies?

No, leave it out as the others have said. Also, lose the buffering phrases - eg "I'm confident that". Give evidence - eg through xyz experience I've shown that...

Oh god no. It would make you look a bit daft to say ‘managing my family’s schedule’ because everyone manages their family’s schedule! But ‘deciding whether to have baked beans with tea and whether to go to soft play or swimming’ isn’t on most people’s CV’s for a reason. It isn’t work relevant. Like pp’s have said I’d just say ‘in year x I took a career break after having my child’ or something.

What I mean is, it makes the writer look a bit stupid because it implies they think it’s important to mention that they are capable of organising their own finances and household schedule, when in fact that’s what every single person does. It’s a given.

No.

word of warning- you may find it very difficult to “step down” from academia to admin.

most will look at your cv and either assume you will move on asap, or you’ll be an insufferable know it all. They will go for someone whose qualifications fit the role.

I tried leaving quals off, still doesn’t work as your gap is even bigger and unexplained. Or even adjusting to a “research” role at a uni didn’t work. Not one interview for loads of roles.

i suggest if you want to look at admin roles go for government based roles- nhs, police, civil service. Job applications are points based, so as long as you hit minimum requirements and score points you’ll get the job. Although there’s an art to it- find someone already in if you can. Once you hit the formula you’ll consistently get interviews.

these type roles also actively promote moving around and up within the organisation, i was asked on my first day where I was looking to go and that they’d arrange for days to shadow people.

Unless the person reading the CV still lives at home, not doing any housework or paying any bills, it's pretty unlikely they don't have an understanding of everyday tasks. Organising finances and household management is a given for most adults, SAHP or otherwise. It sounds very silly.

I wouldn't use it at all not least as working mother, I would read it and think that my time management and organisational skills would be more impressive as I did that while holding down a full time job...

The fact is that, as lots of pp have pointed out, many working parents are having to do all the things you’ve mentioned on top of a full time job! Now that’s an achievement, and I speak as an erstwhile SAHM.

I wouldn't. It sounds like you don't have anything to offer and you're making stuff up. Would you say somebody who has kids and who hasn't been a stay at home mum has more skills? I'm not sure that I would, personally, because I don't think the SAHM skills set you apart. All you are saying is basically, I can do normal life without a job!

@EmmaEmerald I do feel like a fraud even applying for it. A friend said I should give it a shot. She said for general administrative and organizational matters: incoming and outgoing correspondence, as electronic and physical mail, telephone, physical and electronic archive) as well as organization of maintenance in the office and purchasing of supplies organising all the contributors of the publications, dealing with submitting, literature databases, organising the data, buying stuff for the lab counts as experience for this. Ditto records and filing. She says taking minutes isn't so different to taking notes at lectures/conferences etc. That I can request training in coordination of the IT system, having had experience in using different systems in the lab.

Please no. That would go straight in the bin.

I don't think it really adds anything and I'm assuming the skills you mention have been demonstrated elsewhere. I'd be more interested for example to see what you had done during the last 2 years to stay up to date eg sector magazines/podcasts you subscribe to or CPD you've done.
I think its perfectly acceptable to draw on this experience in your interview so mention how you devised a spreadsheet firmonitoring feeds, or used an app for scheduling etc. Might also be an opportunity to demonstrate resilience during stressful periods and how you managed your wellbeing.

"Whilst I do not have direct experience as an Office Manager, I am confident that my transferrable skills make me a strong candidate for this role."

Good intent but you can word better. Such as,

in my past roles as xxxxx I was required to meet multiple, oftentimes competing, deadlines. My excellent time management skills enabled me to successfully deliver all work on time. These transferable skills would enable me to work effectively and efficiently as an office manager.

OR

Over my career in academia, I have developed many skills that are transferable to the advertised role.

Then think of the skills you have built as an academic - time management, working to deadlines, research ie finding information you don't know, communication, written communication, analysis and independent thinking, working with details but also developing a big picture - and work these into the requirements of the role.

Do not put the sentence from your first post anywhere. It would have a negative response from a lot of people. At the end of the day, if you don't get Billy to soccer on time is it the end of the world? No. If you don't meet a hard deadline in an organisation, you can cost them significant money eg you miss a tender submission cutoff date. The two aren't comparable and if someone thinks they are then it tells me they don't understand the requirements of the role they've applied for.

I wouldn't admit to having "no direct experience..." that just says "sift me out".

I also wouldn't apply time management to a domestic situation as they are very different contexts. If you mess up a "deadline" at home, well it isn't going to cost you £££000 in budgets. If you miss deadlines on a project it could cost a lot.

Can you take an online course in time management then you have good reason to mention you continued to keep your skills up to date while on your career break. Yes it's only a course but formal CPD is normally valued by recruiters