Maybe being a SAHM all these years has wrecked my career

[mackerel]

I've always clung on to the notion that I'd be fine, but as I've recently applied for 2 jobs, one for which I'm amply qualified, the other for which I'm over qualified and didn't get shortlisted for either I'm beginning to wonder. the one job i had feedback on said I had no gaps and was a strong candidate but there were candidates with'more recent experience'. I thought I stood a great chance at being shortlisted for a social work post, being a senior social worker with a very strong track record. Nope. Wrong again. Have I just spent 8 years at home and totally stuffed up my chances of a good career. I'm so down and I feel like my professional pride has just been pulled apart. I used to be really successful and be seen as someone with a good future in my sector and now I can't even get an unqualified post. I know my skills are still there, if not stronger from raising all my DC, but apparently I've become a bit invisisble to prospective employers. I can imagine all of my friends who have given me a slightly hard time for my decision to be at home with my 4 DC saying' told you so' in not so many words. the awful thing is, I really want to be at work part time now and there are so few jobs where I live that I can't see it happening for a long time.

oh come on you have only applied for 2 jobs.

can you talk to former collegues for advice on getting back into work?

Yes but they were jobs I should have at least been shortlisted for. I would have been 8 years ago. I think that you do lose some of your confidence when you've had a career break and it's really shaken mine. I did talk to colleagues and my boss and friends who work in the same filed here and all thought I'd have no problem. I'm just in the immediate aftermath of rejection. don't worry, I'll be back to normal tomorrow.

Keep applying and also investigate voluntary work/work experience in your profession. If you don't get a paid post immediately I can't iamgine they wouldn't jump at you if you'd had a bit of recent experience, evevn if you know you don't really need it!

Good luck.

If they are not considering you because you don't have "recent experience" that could been seen to be discrimination as it's predominently mothers who take time out to have a family and so consequently don't have "recent experience".

If you are looking at Social Work I presume you are applying to local authorities? Perhaps a phone call to the HR department to chat it over might be an idea?

I'm not suggesting you use terms like sex discrimination but perhaps raise your concerns with them? Keep it friendly and light. Steam in and you'll get yourself black-listed.

Another idea is if you volunteer to do some unpaid work experience. That way you get some experience and can check out if it's somewhere you want to work.

Sympathies btw. I've been there. Some people are just a bit crap at recruitment if that's any consolation. I've even applied for HR jobs that have had dodgy discriminatory practices included in the job spec

No way. You can't get down after only applying for two jobs. Keep your pecker up!

It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when.

Keep at it. Review your C.V., get friends to check it out.

Thankyou. I'm sure I'll be back on fighting form tomorrow, but just wallowing in a bit of self-pity at the moment. I'm doing some out of hours work in a related field at the moment, but when my youngest is at school may do some more vol. work. It just seems that you can be professionally super qualified and experienced but that it counts for nothing if you've had a break. I know they are interviewing newly qualified social workers. What is going on? i feel really cross and like shouting, "but I could do the job really well, honestly". I shall phone for feedback calmly however!

Oh please don't get discouraged after ONLY 2 JOB APPLICATIONS...
It is a real tough economic climate, with loads of people applying for the same jobs. Yes it is competitive and someone with no gaps might fare better, but you need to keep trying. I know people who have JUST been made redundant in all sorts of sectors, who have been applying for dozens of jobs and still no interviews.

Yes. I guess that when I was last working the market was more buoyant, also I worked in London where job opportunities were thick on the ground. Maybe I didn't realise up until now how tough things are out there. It's been a reality check if nothing else and I'm giving myself a strict talking to.

If they are interviewing newly qualified SWs perhaps a letter to HR asking them to review you application is in order?

I think you can only do this if you meet all the essential and most of the desireable criteria.

And that's as a last resort btw.

Not sure how the salary scales work in social work but going by friends' experiences in teaching (especially colleges/6th form)often the more experienced teachers get passed over in favour of newly qualified ones who are paid a lot less - could this be an issue in the areas you're applying for?

What were your job applications like? LAs, in my experience, shortlist via a bureaucratic process. Did you write a comprehensive personal statement that demonstrated that you met the essential and desirable criteria? If you didn't, then you wouldn't get shortlisted.

Don't get disheartened. If it is a failure on the application form then you can easily address that and get interviewed next time.

I can sympathise with OP as I am in a similar position, had a great job in my field in London pre DC,a part time job after DC1 and a move to a more rural location and now have been a SAHM since DC2 was born 6 years ago (except for a few bits of freelance work). I would love to be in part time work now and it is dispiriting to not even get interviews for jobs I know I could do easily.

Hope your next application is luckier...

It's a standard LA application form. I def. met the essential criteria and DH who works in senior position in allied profession and was also senior social worker triple checked it too. DH recruits and interviews and we were really careful to make sure that I ticked all the criteria boxes. He's as baffled as me. Hope to get some feedback today, but as ever thanks for your ideas and comiserations. kamer, it is hard in these rural areas to find work, isn't it. When I moved here someone warned me that there are lots of highly qulaified professional women here who can't find work because there are no jobs and very little turnover. Now I know what she means.

Well, in that case you do need to get feedback. Good luck!

I sympathise, but don't let this knock your confidence. The job market is vicious at the moment and competition is fierce.

Keep going. Try to get something recent on your C if you can - even just voluntary. Are there any conferences or CPD courses you could attend that show you ae up to date with current thinking in your field?

Eight years out of the job market knocks your confidence more than anything. Keep applying for jobs. Don't give up!

Social workers: we need some in LB Haringey where I live. Please come and work here!!!!

have you tried the social work council? They do run 3 month 'refresher' courses (west sussex council for example) - unpaid, one day a week I think. This is a gentle intro back into social work with legislative updates, current practice models etc.

I hope this doesn't come across as a mean question - I'm just genuinely curious - but didn't you think that taking 8 years out of the job market would affect your chances of getting another job?

One of the reasons that I felt I had to go back to some kind of professional work was to maintain my employability but I'd like to know if that's the wrong way of looking at it? I'd love to be a SAHM for a while at least

I have made a few phone calls and it would appear that, for example, adult mental health do not consider it my career break to be a barrier. They said that they felt a period of refresher training and induction on the job would be fine.
My local authority ius roling out a return to social work for childcare s.ws only, which I'll attend but I do feel annoyed at having to spend two days being shown how to fill in a form to register as a social worker, given I am already successfully registered.
I suppose I didn't really think too much about my employability in the future. To be honest, I work in a field that is trying to attract good quality, skilled non-working social workers back into the profession. Or so they say. I made my choice based on what my DH and I wanted for the children and if I had to make my choice again it wouldn't be any different.
I've actually been in work for the last 15 months in a very related field doing on call out of hours work.I work in a field that is pretty female dominated. There must be loads of female s.workers who have had career breaks. Unless you live a forward thinking local authority like West Sussex or Cumbria who both do there own in-house refresher training, there is no formal pathway back into this profession. It seems crazy to spend loads of money trying to attract new trainess, whilst not also harnessing the skills of the already trained, skilled and experienced workforce out there who'd like to be back in practice but can't get there.