We have heard a lot of talk lately about how social media and the Internet have changed the art of job hunting. And to some degree, that's certainly true. But Stay At Home Moms have unique needs when they beging a job search, and the way they approach this project can very well mean the difference between a short and successful job hunt, or a long and discouraging one.
The first piece of advice we have to share with Stay At Home Moms is this: The job search itself should be viewed by you and more importantly, your family, as your job. This means that you need to have solid childcare arrangements in place, at least a small wardrobe of appropriate business attire, and set “hours" during which you will be focused on finding a job.
You should strongly consider using this time to transition your family. This is an important way to help your family take your working life seriously and to begin your own mental and emotional shift from full time Mom to employee.You may need to get children used to a different sleep schedule and/or adjusted to a new childcare arrangement, divvy up household chores, transportation, or childcare duties, cut back on outside activities, start a master family calendar, or prepare freezer meals to get you through the first weeks of work. Iron out all the kinks before they become emergencies. The time to discover that your toddler is allergic to the new babysitter’s dog is not during your first week at a new job.
There will also be costs associated with your job search that you will want to be prepared for. Some of these might include joining networking organizations, meeting contacts for coffees and lunches, transportation, printing your resumes and business cards, updating your wardrobe and hairstyle as necessary, and long distance phone calls.
A consideration at this point in your job search should also be creating a professional image to present to potential employers. Your email address should be something simple and reflective of your professionalism - firstname_lastname@domain.com rather than threeboysmama@domain.com for example. This also applies to the outgoing message on your voicemail box, and your personal webpages and blogs.
When embarking on a job search, we urge Stay At Home Moms to Google themselves regularly and to be aware of what information they are broadcasting on the Internet. If you haven't already made your personal blog and MySpace or Facebook pages private, you should strongly consider doing so, especially if (as is likely with a Stay at Home Mom) they reveal more personal linformation than professional. Many of these pages, used for staying in touch with family and friends, have information that a prospective employer need not know, such as health information, political and religious affiliations, and details about your space and children.
Employers will want to know that you have already gotten all your ducks in a row with regards to these personal matters- and it’s immensely helpful to be able to say, “Why yes, I AM available to interview tomorrow,” rather than find yourself scrambling for emergency childcare and wondering what in the world you will do with the kids once you are offered a job.
In our next post in this series, we will delve deeper into organizational tips for your job search, and identify and discover relevant positions. Meanwhile, as always, we welcome your feedback and stories of challenges you may have faced as a Stay At Home Mom re-entering the workforce. We also greatly appreciate tips from other professionals to share with others through this blog and our newsletter.
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