How does raising a child look in one's CV?

[aiti72]

A CV question: How do you tell about staying at home with a child for three years? I'm thinking how I could make it sound positive from an employer's point of you.. or do you even mention it in CV? My problem is that for the last ten years I have been six in higher education(finished MBA in 2004), one doing temp work and the last three at home with my daughter. How sad is that for a career.. Now just carefully thinking about going to work.. Any advice how I tell that for the past three years I've learned how to make a mean banana porrige? Obviously it doesn't help that my native language is Finnish, not English. Thanks, ladies.

I'm an employer and I wouldn't question it. But then, I'm a mother too.

I imagine for industries where you need to be up to date on changes, technology etc - it could be a problem.

family commitments?
career break?
i doubt they would question your 3 years, i dont think they are allowed anymore?

If an employer doesn't like the look of a CV they are under no obligation to interview an applicant. I think it would be nigh on impossible to prove discrimination?

There was a case a while ago where an applicant from an ethnic minority with exactly the same qualifications as another candidate claimed discrimination as he was not called for interview, but I'm not sure what the outcome was.

I would have thought it's tricky to not put it on your cv. When I look through cvs to shortlist people, I automatically look for any 'gaps'. So i think it's far better to just put eg 2004 - 2007 Caring for my young children. Don't just leave it out, because the employer is more likely to wonder what you were doing during the absent years. I wouldnt see it as a problem - you're simply stating the facts. It might be useful to draw up a list of skills you've gained during the time, but equally i wouldnt try to exaggerate and pretend that making playdough and changing nappies is directly relevant to the job!

Don't just leave a gap, put it career break to have a family or something, no problem. Good luck!

how about in the careers section you say something like:

2004-2007 Developed hand-eye-bottle co-ordination skills in the baby-rearing environment (located mostly at home, but with occasional team-building activities at tumbletots)

I always look for CV gaps and something like this would make me smile and probably get the person onto the interview list (all other things being equal)

By the way, you may want to think about contract work to start with? with an MBA you will presumably want to be aiming for a reasonable career role, but the 10 year gap would be risky from an employer point of view, so you might need to build up credibility in terms of throwing yourself back into the market place.

Good luck

Oh Squiffy, that is good!! Thank you so much, that is exatcly the attitude I'd like to take towards this, a bit of happy self irony. I definately need to build up credibility, even though I'm not aimig for a big career role. It's just that my self-confidence employment-wise after all these years is so low I doubt they would take me stuffing envelopes.. Thank you all for your kind answers!