Looking for work after long career break

[SilverDoublet]

I've been a stay at home parent for the last 8 years and since my youngest child started school in September I feel like I'd love to get back to work and feel like I have a brain again 😅.

However I'm also terrified, as I haven't kept up with my career since I've been at home and I'm scared to even send out a CV. I feel like I'm too old now (45) and wont ever even get an interview either with such a long gap on my CV.
I'm also terrified that everything will fall apart at home while I'm in work and I won't be able to focus on work cos I'll be worrying about organising lifts for the kids to extracurricular stuff /medical stuff / dentist/ school holiday cover / ordering grocery shopping/batch cooking/homework when I get home.

At the moment I do it all and my husband basically just does his job and comes home to a hot dinner, kids fed and homework done and extra curricular stuff done. He helps out at weekends, but basically hasn't got a clue about what I do all week.

Anyway, just looking for some encouragement and if anyone has managed to get back to work successfully after such a long break. We don't particularly need my income and it won't be much anyway as we'll need after school care for 4 kids. But I desperately need to do something for my own self esteem and mental health I think before it really is too late.

I went back to work after 15 years as a SAHM! I was lucky enough to find a job using my pre-kids qualifications. I started on a six month contract, which gave me the chance to dip my toes back in the water and check it worked for us as a family, and also that I enjoyed it. I then got a promotion and a full time contract (again, very lucky) and have since reduced my hours to 80%, as that works in terms of being around for the kids in the evenings.
I really love my job, and feel so much happier doing this for myself. You should definitely go for it, good luck!

That sounds amazing Fruitflylady. You're really giving me hope, as I've felt unemployable it's been so long. I don't know what it is about being a SAHM but I feel like it's really impacting my self esteem and self confidence now, and I feel I'm viewed as 'less than' by other parents at the school, which has probably no basis in reality... So I think I do need to try to dig myself out if this hole even though it won't make much difference to our finances!!

I felt the same…it can be hard to feel fulfilled as a SAHM. I did lots of volunteering roles, but I never felt as satisfied with myself as I have since I started back at work. I did struggle with depression, but I’ve been much happier since I found work outside of the home.

What is your career history prior to becoming a SAHM? I know some large corporates have ‘return to work’ schemes for people who’ve had career breaks of 2+ years but they do tend to want you to have some relevant experience from prior to your career break.

It's really not that long a gap, and you must have had a decent amount of work experience from before children.

Can you look into doing some relevant volunteering/training now to boost your CV?

What was your pre children career? Do you want to go back to that?

I employed someone with a 15 year career break for children,but she had a good CV from before then and wasn't expecting to go straight back in at the same level.

If you don't need to work financially then how about a chunky bit of volunteering? Charity trustee/school governor or similar?

It can be a great way to build a network too. I am a trustee (alongside working) and the current chair of one of the charities I am trustee of is a SAHM, she gives heaps of energy to the organisation and Iots of professional experience but also as it is voluntary of course her family always comes first