Making effective decisions for stay at home mum

[ojojoj1]

Hi

I have an interview on Monday and I have to demonstrate making effective drcisions. I have been out of work for a while now being a single mother to my 6&9 year old I have no idea what example to give . Please help

What type of job? Do you have an intray test? You must have had to make decisions about your kids, eg school, childcare if you previously worked after they were born. Do you have any system of budgeting? Have you had to make decisions about changes for you and the kids?

Good luck.

Have you ever volunteered at your DC's school/preschool/ pta etc? Even just once? You could think of something from there (or make it up, they won't know...)

Job is in civil service, yes I volunteered in library at school but there was no decision making involved putting books back on a shelves that's it

I would have thougt that in this situation that your decision to change jobs would be a good one? Or you could refer to a previous decision in another job? They will usually ask you how you came to the decision (fact finding is your friend here) and sometimes to give an example of a decision that was wrong ( what would you do differently?)

This is extremely hard I'm not saying that we dint make decisions every day but hardly any time it's based on fact finding

I had to decide what school to put my daughter into , does that count ?

Making the decision to go back to work?

Holiday choice? Why you chose a certain location? School choice? Activities!

How about something like, choosing a bank account for your children? Or choosing which childcare / groups they go to? Have you made any big decisions, like moving house, or deciding where to go on holiday, what car to buy etc? All they're looking for is your ability to do research, e.g. ask friends, family, people you know who may have an interest in that area, ask a specialist e.g. Estate agent, bank cashier, travel agent etc, weigh up pros and cons, costs and benefits and making an informed decision. They'll want to see your not afraid to make decisions, and maybe add in something about learning from past decisions.

Ok. Take a step back.
The purpose of the question is to see if the candidate can make a decision and how they do it.
Unless its a management job generally the answer being looked for consists of
Decision to be made
How i went about it
Did i need to consult anyone?

Buying a house or moving is always a useful one if you have been out of the workplace a while

School choice is a fab one! So write a list of all the things you considered...within catchment/ outside of catchment (risk might not get in), distance from home - walk/drive, where friends are going, informal feedback on social media / reviews, looking at official Oftsted Report, going for a visit. How did you decide...analysed pros and cons of each. What made you decide which one in the end? Are you happy with your decision? Is there anything you would have done differently?

Budgeting? Deciding to be a sahm meant you had to weigh up your lifestyle choices against budget and manage effectively

This was a difficult decision as you recognised there were lots of emotions attached and as a single parent had to make this difficult decision on your own but you sat down worked out you budget, maybe go into some detail about that. State some compromises etc Remember to say how it worked out and say if you would do anything differently or if you have been happy with your decision. You could even use it as a way to say after you have answered you used the same approach in deciding to get back into the Job market and you are confident you have made the right decision and it's absolutely the right time for you to pursue a career.

Good luck!

What grade is the role?
Remember STAR:
Situation;
Task;
Action; and
Result.
Don't spend too long on the context. Remember to focus on your role, use "I" not "we". You can use the example you used in your application. This did not happen in past years, but it is widely seen as acceptable today and people are not marked down if they do this (must say I'm more impressed with candidates who have bothered to use a second example so it's not a rehash of the application).