To think it is impossible to get back to work!

[skippykips]

After 5 years of being a SAHM!
How did you do it? I have spent 5 years being a SAHM. I am now ready to get back into work! Its more of a need financially than a want to.

Understandably many employers do not like a big work gap on a CV. Surely there is somebody out there who will give me a chance to prove I am what they need!

I am feeling so disheartened right now!

I took 10 years out to be at home with three children. didn't try to hide it at all on cv or interviews, and got a job (and then another) very quickly. Depends on the industry I suppose, but I found employers extremely understanding and respectful of my choice.

@ilovesooty Yes I am. I change the skills I have to the job. My cover letter is changed too. I now have a few CVs saved. One that highlights my Customer service skills, one that highlights my placements as a cleaner and so on.

I think I am searching for the wrong jobs. I need to get into something that doesn't require many skills. I've got to start again and work my way up. I think my mistake is going for jobs that I know I can do but, because of my gap an employer will think I am rusty. I need to look for jobs at the bottom of the ladder again. Maybe that is where I am going wrong!

Are you applying for jobs. where you meet all of the essential criteria? If you don't meet all of them you won't get to the interview stage no matter how enthusiastic you are.

I'd cast your net in an area you can walk to, including your kids schools - having holidays off would be a bonus as hceaper on childcare. Also the University.
I'd walk in with a CV to any good prospects locally. It's cheaper to recruit without an agency, and if you're local and keen enough to have touted your CV round you'll be worth an interview

I’ve recently employed someone with a 5 year gap as she was caring for an elderly parent. She got the job because her experience before this was really strong and she interviewed well. I would focus on making your CV as good as it can be, making sure it’s very polished and highlights all of your skills.

Some agency working temping in an office environment could be helpful and might lead to something permanent.

Hi there ...not easy...but it is possible. I was a carer for 7 years and in my 50s ...started volunteering to update cv, took a course and the short term contract..it took time an persistence. Are there any back to work courses in your area? Tailor your cv and keep trying...good luck

@skippykips I'll be ward housekeeper, so organising food menus, serving food and preparing bays for new patients. Just a basic entry role but possibility of working up either into nursing or admin.

I became self employed. Much easier that I had ever thought. Things have worked out so well that I still work from home as a sole trader- and my youngest is 17!!
I am very glad I did not go back to work.

I think after 5 years, it'll be a shock how much most of the job market's changed. It's fucked now; recruitment agencies have taken over, zero hours contracts are common place and you're basically faceless doing everything online just to get your foot in the door. Imagine how many online CVs these companies are receiving. It's not surprising you haven't had a response.

It's rare these days to start with a company at the bottom of the ladder and work your way up like in the olden days.

Sorry if I sound bitter! I'm not really helping but I sympathise. I found it very hard to find work after years out with children.

Can you be a virtual assistant/business administrator and freelance? There are tons of companies offering work like this and you can work from home, decide your hours on many contracts. Anything from £12 to £25 an hour. Just google 'Virtual Assistant Birmingham'.

Register with a recruitment agency and take temping work to start off with.

I got back into work after 15 years as a sahm and I was 49. I found a job within a few weeks but I had just spent 6 months doing a volunteer role to give me up to date work experience. At interview they wanted to know about computer skills - I had done an evening class and regularly used a computer at home. Get a good CV together, present yourself well, prepare yourself well for interview questions and be positive. It is possible. Good luck.

I recruit admin staff for our office which runs a care service. Those who are in work do tend to interview better than those who are returning after a break. I'm sure there are exceptions but they just seem more confident and clued up on the whole. Our last recruit was someone who had been away from the world of work for a while and she was the best applicant in that recruitment round out of - I think - 7. She had been doing temping work a few months before hand and had previously updated her computer skills at a course at the local college. She had really researched what our organisation does and had also become a Dementia Friend - which demonstrated a commitment to our service user group.
This applicant also gained a marginal edge by dressing appropriately, being obviously kindly and friendly and maintaining the right level of interaction during her interview. I suspect that a few practice interviews with someone you know who recruits is a very good idea.

They are crying out for delivery van drivers around here - PAYE, full time (and yes you can do it if you are female) but we are SE so other parts of the country may not be the same. Ditto Royal Mail - find it hard round here to get full time post persons who will stick at the job.

It might be worth mentioning in an interview that 5 years of being a SAHM hasn't meant you've been sitting on your arse? You can spin that in your favour.
It forces you to develop brilliant skills in organisation, time keeping, resilience, multi tasking, managing relations and diplomacy!

I second temping. If you sign up with a temping agency they will put you in roles. Then you get experience and income until you find a permanent job. I have had friends who have been hired full time from a temping job.

Yes to temping. In my experience no point calling companies but we'll worth pestering any agencies you register with. I used to call them at least twice a week when I was looking. If you can convince an agent that you have the basic skills and will come across well they should help convince an employer you are worth an interview.

Your mistake was in not taking the zero hours contract.

This would have given you recent work experience and a reference while you looked for something with fixed hours. I also believe that doors can open for you if you impress people in any role.

Surely some work is better than nothing? It's always easier to find a job while you're already in a job.

Second the temping suggestion. Sign up with a temp agency, take on anything they offer, even if it's below your skill level, do a good job, and sooner or later you will end up somewhere with a permanent vacancy. It has worked for me more than once.

If you do sign up with an agency, try your best to accept all jobs offered - if you pick and choose and turn some down, you won't be the first person they call when that great opportunity comes up.

Good luck!

Please don't spin SAHM skills into transferable workplace skills. It is cringey and may irritate a person who is sifting the CVs. We get it - we all do for our families and are in fact even more super-organised as working parents.

SAHM is a career gap on a CV - admit it, move on. Fill that gap with volunteering, temping or zero hours (nothing wrong with that for current work experience).

It is probably necessary to start at the bottom but with a view to getting a more responsible or permanent role or faster promotions, by taking it in a related sector or one which can utilise your previous skills.

It forces you to develop brilliant skills in organisation, time keeping, resilience, multi tasking, managing relations and diplomacy!

Tread really, really carefully here. I'm not denigrating the job SAHMs do (I am one myself at the moment, although it's not by choice and I'm trying to get into work) but employers really do not see raising children and running a household as comparable to running a department. You can argue that it is, but the vast majority of employers really won't see it that way and it doesn't come across well. I'm no employment expert (obviously) but I have never heard of anyone being impressed by the "CEO of the Jones family" approach. I certainly don't intend to use it myself.

Much better to do something practical and demonstrable that shows you've updated your skills and knowledge of the industry.

I agree with the previous two posters ( and I was a SAHM for many years)

It's very cringey, I agree and - managing relations and diplomacy! really?

I guess you are suggesting scenarios like trying to persuade a two your old to put their shoes on?

I'm sorry but that is not work experience.

@Failingat40 I get it was a mistake. However, what went through my mind was I would be on call from 7am - 7PM...only getting paid if I was called in. So my children would have to go into childcare even if I wasn't called in.
Had it been a typical 0 hour contract where I could tell them I was unavailable at certain times then I would have said yes! The way the worded it was if we need you we will call you and you would need to be here within the hour. It just seemed very insecure.

I have gained some steps forward today with courses and volunteer work.

There's a place for zero hours contracts (bank staff, usually), but the bloody things are overused and abused to fuck over honest working people. It is a disgrace.

It forces you to develop brilliant skills in organisation, time keeping, resilience, multi tasking, managing relations and diplomacy!

Honestly, don’t go there (unless you are applying to work with small children). Most women who work and have children do all that and still manage far more complex stuff and crisis at work than dealing with squabling children. (Sorry)