Most of the stay-at-home moms feel intimated when it comes to creating a resume. The major reason behind this fear is that stay-at-home moms usually don't have much work experience. It is really hard to explain the long gap which created due to a long time spent at home. So if you are a stay-at-home deciding to return to work, this article is just for. Given below are some important tips and suggestions to help you create a well crafted resume.
Pay Attention to Your Volunteering Experience
Just because you spent a longer period of time at home doesn't mean you didn't do any work which provided value to someone else. Though it wasn't a paid position, you must have added value to someone else's work. Even if you helped a family or business tackle a particular problem, it can be counted as a valuable experience. Your volunteering experience includes tasks like contributing towards the growth of the community or running events at your kid's school. Remember, volunteering experience adds a lot of weight to a candidate's resume. While creating your resume, you should focus on your volunteering experience.
List Your Functional Skills
While volunteering, you must have developed a couple of functional skills through activities like even planning, project management, travel arrangement, fundraising etc. Skilled acquired through these activities are really valuable. Such skills are transferable and can be used across a wide range of jobs. Therefore, don't forget to showcase your functional skills while writing your resume.
Include Your Relevant Past Experience
One of the most important things for stay-at-home moms to remember is to include relevant past experience in the resume. Not using a skill for a longer period doesn't make it totally obsolete. So, list out the duties or tasks that you performed in your past jobs. The point to select those skills that can be relevant to the job you want to apply for. Skills from your past job can definitely be included while you create the resume. Most of the stay-at-home moms miss this point.
Gather Testimonials from Volunteering Organizations
An important tip for stay-at-home moms is to collect testimonials from those organizations where you volunteered and add these to their resume. You can gather testimonials from people as well as organizations where you provided value through volunteering. Such testimonials can come from families, friends and relatives whom you helped tackle problems. These testimonials can add a lot of weight to your resume, attracting the attention of the employer at the same time.
Build Your Online Presence
This is one of the most important tips for stay-at-home moms. Hiring managers find candidates also through social networking websites like Facebook, Myspace, Linkedin etc. So, if you are a stay-at-home mom preparing to return to work, don't forget to build your online presence. Create your personal profiles on popular social networking websites. After you have created your profile on these sites, also spend some time expanding your network of contacts. Grow your online presence as much as possible to attract employers' attention.
Following the above mentioned tips can really help you create a resume that sets your apart and grabs the employer's attention. Remember the hardest part is always the decision that a stay-at-home makes for returning to work. Rest can be easy if you are well prepared. So, are you ready to craft a winning resume?
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