heelp - writing my first cv in a very long time. Any advice on how to describe the last five years as a SAHM?

[worriermum]

I've typed "Employment History", and then "2004 - present:" and am stuck. "At home raising my child" or sounds so lame. Is there a confident, professional way of phrasing it, without sounding apologetic? Grateful for any advice.

I'd start off by identifying any more formal roles you may have had e.g. volunteering with a mother and toddler group, parent volunteer in school, or detailing your involvement in any one-off projects e.g. a fundraising event or large-scale childrens party. I'd treat these as mini-jobs and try and relate the skills you used in these roles to the paid employment you are seeking.

Perhaps you should call youself the primary care provider, instead of SAHM, with responsibility for x,y and z. Working alone you would need to be self-motivated, organised, good with budgets adn timescales and so forth...

Does that help as a starting point? You need to feel comfortable with what you put so you can discuss it sensibly at interview.

what is the job for? may depend how you phrase it.
i recently interviewed a candidate who had had several years at home looking after child and just put that on the CV - he talked about it in a v interesting way, nobody on the panel thought it counted against him, we judged him on his previous experienced and he didn't feel the need to hide it or make any pretence about it.
the job was in a pretty family-friendly organisation so he was unlikely to be judged for having been at home. but a lot depends i think on how you tackle it in interview - he sounded confident and unapologetic about it so the panel didnt see it as a handicap, i think.

I've recently done the same and on my CV, before the work experience bit, I put a statement that went something like.

'I am returning to work after 3.5 years bringing up my daughter' then a bit about the kind of role I'm after and why I'm keen to get back into the work place to continue my career.

On the work experience bit under my last job I put 'reason for leaving: maternity'

I've had interviews and no-one has questioned my decision to take time off with my daughter - it just hasn't been an issue, and I've just accepted a job, two weeks after sending out my CV to various companies/agencies.

If you're having trouble creating your CV (I couldn't remember anything I'd done!) use the reed website - it's got an easy to follow format for creating a CV (and it's where I got all my interviews from.)

Good Luck!

Don't underestimate the skills you have learned as a mum - managing the most challenging, unco-operative people on earth - children!!

It gives you super powers of negotiation.

It's worth mentioning, at an interview if not on the CV.

Agree with previous posters, as I returned after a 7 year gap last year. I called it a career break!

Doing contract work so still have to explain, but most people just accept that you have taken a career break to look after a young child.

career break to raise family
or
career break for family reasons, if you don't want to spell it out that you have children

agree, i wouldn't think anything of it, just need the time accounted for

I called it a career break on my cv