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?

No, because everybody who has a house and family does that.

Also, don't say or highlight anything that you don't have, focus on the positives.

@k1233 Suggestions are good!

Good luck OP!

I agree. I'm a SAHM, and while it may be true it's a but cringy. There is nothing wrong with having a career break to raise your children 🙂

No.

If you don't have experience as an "office manager" you need to set out where you do have experience in each of the requirements.

"As team leader at xyz, I was responsible for managing 3 people and enjoyed developing people's full potential, as well as effectively dealing with underpeformance".

"As PA to abc, I gained excellent administrative and organisational skills as well as strong IT skills"

People peddle this idea that SAHM builds loads of transferable skills, but no one believes it. I'd draw as little attention to that as possible. Use any volunteering you've done during that time.

You'd be amazed how many people women think mentioning their DC with SEN will somehow helps a job application. Don't do that either.

Are you sure you want this job? You sound overqualified.

Agree.
Never say what you can’t do or have no experience in.
Focus on the positive.
Also, are you using an American spellcheck?

@MedSchoolRat yes that's true, I've worked in America and that line would work brilliantly over there. "I honed..." is de rigueur in any cover letter there, lol.

It would genuinely be detrimental just to say you were a SAHM and not big up the skills involved – employers would think that shows you're not savvy enough to make mental connections and "sell" yourself.

My last paragraph refers to America, clearly

It reads as though you have no idea how to organise anything in a professional setting. I'm sure you do, but that's what I would take from it

The only sentence I ever read from a sahp trying to re enter the workforce that made them go in the “maybe” pile was something like “now that my children are grown I look forward to fully focussing on work” to be honest.

god I should clarify - the only sentence directly related to their sahp status I mean!

Transferable skills examples you almost certainly have from your previous role.
Attention to detail
Excellent written & verbal communication
Ability to problem solve.
Ability to translate complex information into action.
Ability to prioritise & meet deadlines.
Ability to work well with a team.

Give relevant examples where you can & if you have experience of leading projects make that clear to show you can lead a team.

@FeetOnly what does an Office Manager’s role entail?

if you can’t answer this question because you’ve never worked in an office environment, you are going to struggle with both your application and an interview.

if you can answer the question though, then you need to pick the elements of your previous role which were similar and really plug these

though an office manager role is usually a senior admin role rather than an entry level one, so if you’ve never previously worked in admin, you probably aren’t a good fit.

No. You are trying to make being at home a skill it's not also there is no z in organisation

Re spelling. Their website and job ad is written in American English and their annual report in British. They are a not-for-profit organisation which does a lot of international work.

The reason not to use it (and you shouldn’t!) is that, even if you did hone skills during this period, that was done in a situation where you weren’t accountable for your performance, so the judgment of your success is entirely subjective, by you (or a small child, who aren’t known for their critical thinking).

It’s no different from the skills a working parent has.

Yeah but it's equally true of someone who wasn't a SAHM.
Cover letters are supposed to sell what you are better at/have more experience at above and beyond other applicants.
Saying you do something everyone does (manage daily family life) is like putting "I demonstrate practical financial aptitude by paying my bills on time" or "I show my commitment and organisation skills by getting my kids to school on time every morning" - yes so does everyone else!

It ends up giving a worst impression that just not saying anything as it looks like you're so desperate for examples your reaching for anything going. Rather than just saying I did x y and z in my previous role. In most cases it doesn't matter if it was a few years ago, you've still got the experience and knowledge.

@JumpToRecipe I always get that response whenever I apply for a job. However, I have a DC with SN who is about to go to secondary... I need to work close to home in case he scarpers, there is a real chance we will have to give up the car. I need to go back to work as we are barely scraping by with the cost of living increases. I cannot look for something involving commuting or to full time hours as I need to cover the holidays. This is the only part time job I have seen come up in our town in a long time. Research jobs and other jobs I am qualified for are minimum of 80%. I can't commit to that.

I suppose in the UK it's more like insulting the employer's intelligence if anything, we all know what is involved in running a household more or less, trying to spin that into something adjacent to corporate responsibilities would be seen as just filling up the page with waffle.

I sympathise. What was your field? Could you tutor / examine?

I think the OP is under qualified for this particular job not overqualified!

She has advanced academic qualifications which aren’t to be sniffed at but achieved them many years ago and has never used them professionally.

Her work history is 18 months in a temp copywriting role which is nothing at all to do with office admin work which is in itself a specialised skill not something that anyone can just walk into with no training and no experience. I know that I rely heavily on my own EA and could not do her role despite having advanced academic qualifications of my own and actually working in an office for 30 years so being aware of some of the things which an office manager needs to be on top of to keep things running efficiently

Isn't there wfh work for an academic to do?

Don't use the home stuff and don't be negative about anything, so don't point out you have no experience. Do say you have excellent time management, organisational skills, fantastic communicator . Point out that you have kept up to date with technology etc. I was sahm for 10 years and it was my volunteering that got me my current job as did a day a week in large recognised charity and also got involved (with a position) in community events . You need things that you can give examples over . So maybe prep now by volunteering
Think you'd probably find it hard to do this job if you've not worked in office before

I meant no offence and after I posted I thought I should have clarified that she is academically overqualified but under-experienced for the role. It is a tricky combination.