As many mothers will tell you, if they had to give up their career to look after their children, getting back onto the career ladder can be very difficult. Once the children have become more self-sufficient, you may feel that desire to go back to work or to change careers. So what does it really take to make sure that you are having the right start in a new career, or picking up where you left off effectively?
What Are the Skills You Need To Get Before You Start Back?
If it’s been many years since you’ve left your career, it may not be so easy just to pick up where you left off. But also if you are looking to start a new career that will make you feel more fulfilled, you’ve got to look at it in terms of the big picture. You may have harbored a passion for a certain industry, which means that you may benefit from extracurricular courses.
Learning a language might prove beneficial, which is where the best Spanish classes could give you an advantage over someone else.
But you’ve also got to bear in mind that skills are things you can learn on the job. You’ve acquired so many skills as a parent, and you may think that a lot of these skills are redundant when you are applying for a job, but the reality is that you can use this on your resume to your advantage! Because you’ve had to time manage, learn skills along the way, but also function on your own initiative.
What About When Your Kids Get Sick?
We want to choose a career that really does benefit us in the grand scheme of things, but even if it’s got to the point where your children have gone to school full-time, you still need to figure out how you will handle emergencies or school closures that take place during your working hours.
Some jobs can give parents time off for specific holidays, but you will also need to think about if the career will help you when you encounter these problems.
When our children get sickness bugs, this means that they are off for at least 48 hours, which means that if we are choosing a career that is knee-deep in meetings and is a very intense job with deadlines, are we really going to be able to keep it up?
This is why so many mothers go down the freelance route. It provides the flexibility to earn as much or as little money as possible. However, you may also want to go for a part-time role.
If you are lucky enough to have relatives nearby, this can make things a lot easier, but you still need to discuss these issues with them before you start looking for jobs where you may be away from home for so long.
Are You Prepared To Pursue a Career Trajectory?
If you have a partner that’s already been working their way up the career ladder and you made the sacrifice to stay at home, you have been in a very lucky position! We’ve got to make sacrifices to ensure that our children are looked after until they hit a certain age.
Because up to the age of 10 your children can easily be sent home from school because they are sick and you will have to drop everything. So you’ve got to think about the right career, but also if you are prepared to pursue it. It might not feel like it’s the right time to go back to work and if you don’t know what career you want to pursue, this could make things worse.
But uncertainty is a part of life, and while you may be itching to jump into a career, you have the perfect opportunity to think about the things that will benefit the family unit right now. You’ve got plenty of opportunities to figure out what type of career you want.
Ensuring You Are Going Into It With the Right Mindset
The reality is that in a household where both parents are working full-time, it takes its toll on the mind and body. You’ve got to learn how to look after your body, but also understand that you may find it is a lot more taxing in different ways than purely being a stay-at-home mom.
You may feel like you have a lot more to give to the world, but if you’ve got children that get sick every 8 or 9 weeks on the dot, you’ve got to really think about the careers that allow you that flexibility. You’ve got to follow your passions but you’ve got to plan.