shall I put baby break on my cv?

[sophy]

Am redoing my cv with a view to applying for a "proper" job after almost 7 years (gulp) of working from home (rather sporadically) as a freelance writer.

Question is, should I mention that I took a few years off because of having children on the cv, and if so, how to put it? or should I just say that in the covering letter?

Before dc I worked in TV news, not planning to go back to that (technology has moved on so much), but to get job in a related area.

Grateful for any advice!

you will have to explain the career gap somehow and when I was taking on people for the various shops I managed, I would often look for returning mums as they have specific experience that can be very useful. not sure if that will be relevant for your chosed work but worth a thought and I am sure you can tailor your words to fit the perceived requirements for that job???

I would put it in as otherwise it will be an obvious gap. The skills that you will have used and acquired whilst at home are just as valuable.

Put it in as a career break and be very up front about what you've learnt etc. When I'm recruiting I'm always interested to read that sort of stuff - it's great to get a rounded picture - but jolly annoying to be faced with 3 missing years or whatever. Tends to lead to you thinking 'babies, prison, banker, Labour MP???'

but how sporadic was the freelance stuff? unless you wrote very little indeed I would just put the period down as freelance

I did, but I had loads of voluntary work for the entire period of my 8 year break.

If you're going to have an obvious gap in your cv otherwise, then much better to be up-front about it.

Thanks all, have got it covered.