How Long Did It Take You to Find Your Professional Job Back After Being a SAHM?

A woman I met, told me when she tweaked her resume to show no gaps in her "employment" (ie. she put in her volunteer jobs into her resume) she started getting phone calls and was offered a position after being out of the work force for 10 years. (She had a degree in forensic science and said nothing too much had changed in that industry however). I can't imagine having to go back now myself. I have been out of gainful employment for over 11 years. Good luck!!

Good for you!! I believe a lot of it depends on your profession and your location.

The Dallas area is booming.

I left corporate when we started to build our first house and then daughter came along soon after that. I've always been SAHM but I also acted as my hubby's customer service/assistant because he was in outside sales with HQ located usually in the NE.

That worked well for us because in 2005 we started our LLC in the same line of business and we are currently in our 6th year running our own company full time.

If you are not on LinkedIn, you might want to sign up. People send me resumes all the time and I get contacted by recruiters a lot as well. It is a good place to start networking.

Best wishes to you!

I would consider doing temporary work as a way to build current experience and get your foot in the door at prospective employers. Also, if there's a professional association for your field, get involved now. The more you can do to show you're up-to-date, the easier it will be to find something.

Never, lol.
A big gap just won't do it. I would not be able to find anything.

Now, your situation might be different. But nobody would want to hire me even with multiple degrees, so that's the end of that. Without any experience and a huge gap...well, enough said.

It would totally depend on the career of the person wanting to go back into the work force. I don't know what your profession does exactly.

Do laws change over time where you would need to go back to school for a semester or two to learn new laws? like a CPA would?

Do you have a certification that is expired? Out of date? My husband taught at the local vo-tech, he taught Computer A+ certificated classes. If someone in this area called HP and said my computer has crashed, it's under warranty, where do you want me to take it under our contract?

My hubby was registered with the company to work on their computers. He knew how to build them from the ground up so he could take it apart, work on it, put it back together and know exactly what was wrong.

He left the vo-tech to work in a higher line of IT for a company.

If he had been staying at home, now wanting to go back to work he'd basically have no degree due to not having taken any classes to see what new laws had been put into effect and what new technology had been developed.

I left to have babies after working in politics and research. I rejoined the workforce part time as a legal receptionist while I did my MBA part time. My youngest was about 1 year old. It took me two years to find the job I am in now, and it was just after I'd competed my MBA. I have been in this CEO job for three years and have become a national leader in the field in that time. The further education really helped to boost my career.

It took me about a year. Granted, for 8 months, my heart wasn't really into it, but once I set my mind to it and reworked my resume, I started getting interviews.

Good luck!

Our family's experience for what it is worth... My husband was SAHD for right around one year. With 15+ years in his industry, it took him about five months to find a job. Even then that initial job was a step down and not quite the same industry. After one year, though, he job hopped to get he got back into his industry squarely and at a more appropriate pay grade. The SAHD thing was an issue he faced in interview after interview much to our collective exasperation. Good luck.

Good for you!
I don't have a to share, but do you have volunteer experience in the last 5 years? I think that would go a long way on your resume to show you have been using your skills part time.