Going back to work after bringing up kids, what do you put on your CV?

[hamsterballs]

Need to find a job now my youngest is starting reception. What do I put on my CV where there is a big gap? Or just leave the gap and expect them to assume? I have had a brief job in the last year, and done a course.

What qualifications do you need to be a cleaner?

Is cleaning irrelevant for a cleaning job?

I think I put down 'Home responsibilities'.

No they don't tbf. A lot of stay at home mums do a lot of the admin side of paying bills, booking holidays, booking doctors dentist appointments.

Just explain there's a gap because you've been raising your family.
Nothing to be ashamed of whatsoever!

Put down anything relevant to employment, but for being a parent, just put parental leave or something like that. Bringing up kids is not a job so has no place on a cv.

"After a period of domestic responsibilities I am now looking to return to the workplace."

I don't think it can have been too bad because I was phoned by several agencies. It was only when they discovered just how long the period was that they backed off

Cooking and cleaning is quite irrelevant for a lot of jobs anyway,

Yes it is. You are stating the obvious by giving an example which does not in any way detract from what I said.

You are just arguing for the sake of arguing. Usually the sign of a weak position.

You are saying your partner does not do it because you do the admin for him. It does not detract from the fact that many WOHMs do it because they don't have the luxury of a SAHM who will take over all the admin for them.

OP, I just started a new job after 8 years as a SAHM. I was very open about it, and they were very understanding of the career gap. They said they hire lots of mums who are returning to work (it is a job in a school). I know a couple of other SAHMs who got jobs after long gaps as well 😊all the best, you can do it!

Thanks all for the good luck wishes and the great advice!

I'm only after a minimum wage basic admin job. But that means I'm up against a lot of people.

Good advice about going after maternity cover!

Put “career break to raise family” or something and put dates. But also include any RELEVANT experience gained during this time like your course.

DO NOT put running a household and budgeting on your CV as suggested by a PP - it’s a bit embarrassing (sorry to PP). That’s what working parents do too. These are not transferable skills, they’re just day-to-day things that everyone does.

best of luck to you. I took a career break and went back to work 10 years ago and now back to where my peers are earning a good salary.

wishing you all the best!

I see I'm far too late to add anything new but if it helps, not only did I have a 3 year gap in my CV when I was a SAHM, I'm now in a position to do quite a lot of recruiting and interviewing.
By all means put, GCSEs 1994 or whatever but I don't give a shite what you got in biology or whatever.
Having said that, based on my own experience I go out of my way to recruit women (especially mothers) as I know how much of a doddle office work is compared to the coal face of small child rearing 😁 so they are normally amazing employees and super efficient.

Good luck!

@blueshoes it's not a 'luxury' to stay at home. I do the admin for everyone in the home because that is part of my job as a stay at home mum.
Stop putting stay at home mums down and belittling what they do.

@blueshoes it's like saying a lot of working parents have the luxury of going to work and paying for a cleaner to clean the house, a nanny to take and pick up their kids for school and make the dinners and organise the children etc.

If I had been grooming horses for the last 10 years then I would put that on my CV.

If I had been grooming horses for the last 10 years then I would put that on my CV

Good way to get your CV binned unless you're applying for a job involving horses.

Well of course if t would be binned if I was applying for an admin job.

You don't actually know what you're arguing about, do you?

I have to clean and cook and book dentist appointments and get my child to school on time, and work 40 hours a week. These are not skills exclusively belonging to SAHMs.

@LovelyAutumndays just accept it's not a job. I'm a lone mum of two, no cleaner, no one to cook my meals or do my 'admin' and I work 37.5 hours plus I'm doing a masters.
If I have a 'day off' I do exactly what you do, I look after my children and clean the house, I probably do some 'admin' too. It still feels like a day off. If being a SAHP was a job then I wouldn't feel that way would I?

I'd say that if it's not a skill/experience that you'd mention if you already had a job outside the home, then don't mention it.

I cook, clean, arrange appointments etc, and I work full time. No one would ever expect me to put that I clean, and keep on top of schedules and a household budget on a CV. So why would they be valuable skills for me to list on a CV if I didn't already work outside the home.

(Of course there are some jobs where some elements of your home life may be relevant, in which case you'd mention them either way)

In all my job applications (I'm a teacher), the forms stress that you must account for any gaps on your employment record. I've never really understood this though. What proof is there? If I say I was at home looking after my dc from 2008-2010, I could just as eaaily have been on a beach in Hawaìi or robbing banks (as long as I didn't get caught).

@LovelyAutumndays does not and if she did, another good reason to bin her CV.

I am now putting her into the Troll category.

Parenting is not ft work. At all. Unless you are also childminding others while your own kids are home it is not work in that sense.
It is quite offensive for sahm to argue it is work when all other mums / dads also do all the admin, housework, clubs with more logistical planning.