When I left the workplace to become a stay-at-home mum, one of my biggest considerations – bigger, even, than the no money I would actually bring home after spunking it all on childcare – was the large gap it would leave on my CV.
It might be the 21st century, but apparently it is still not the done thing to take a few years out to raise small children (the future generations, I say with a dramatic eyebrow raise) with the intention of going back and continuing your career afterwards.
Jobs, alas, don’t wait.
To my mind, this discrimination against mothers wanting to return to the workplace is crazy; surely no one works harder than someone who is used to slogging away 24 hours a day, taking zero personal time and as few loo and snack breaks as possible. Job too icky for the general public? Involve puke, pee or poo? Call a mum; it’s nothing she hasn’t seen before.
Now I’m out of it I don’t see that I’ll ever go back to working in an office and doing the soul destroying commute in every day.
Work-wise it was alright, but it didn’t inspire me, it didn’t stir my passion, it didn’t make me leap out of bed every morning with excitement although I can’t imagine anything would these days. I love my bed.
But, as it turns out, mothering comes with a plethora of transferable skills (and not all poo related) which might just lead me up a different path. If my freelance writing dries up or I need to make a more steady income, I think I know where I’m headed:
Some blogging buddies and I had a bit of fun look at the skills we’d gained since having kids, and imagining our next career moves:
(Sam, Mouse Moo and Me Too)
(Kat, Candyfloss & Dreams)
(Suzanne, and another ten things)
(Donna, The Sleep Thief’s Mummy)
(Faith, Raising Moonbows)
(Alice, Living with a Jude)
(Faye, Glossy Tots)
(Jenny, Accidental Hipster Mum)
(Laura, Savings 4 Savvy Mums)
So there you have it.
haha this is brilliant – the things that we learn as parents!
Love your writing always makes me laugh
This is brilliant Fran! Just remember we are all superstars x
Fab, love this one! I reckon I could be one of those Police Officers they call to talk someone down from a ledge or a roof, surely the amount of times I've had to talk Harrison down from the edge of an epic meltdown would stand me in good stead? Or perhaps a bomb diffuser, I think that might actually be easier than defusing a toddler!
Love this – I could never go back to working for someone else – I'm sure I would be sacked within a day for tantruming when I couldn't watch a TV in the day
Yep negotiating with a child has to be harder than an adult. Even a mad one.
Haha not a fan of daytime TV here but I do like being able to do what I want with my day and not have to be polite to idiots on the phone!
Thanks Clare!
I could fill both sides of a CV…
Thank you ?