The Mom Resume – Where to Start

It is becoming more and more common for homeschooling moms to also work part-time. Some work outside the home and some work from home. But either way, getting that job usually starts with a resume. And writing a resume is one of the hardest things to do for yourself.  Writing one when you have very little professional experience is even harder! I owned and managed a recruiting agency for over two decades and one my greatest gifts to my candidates was helping them rewrite their resumes. So I want to give this gift to you as well. Let’s get started with the Mom Resume and where to start.

Overview of a Resume

The job of a resume is to get you an interview, not tell the potential employer everything they might ask in an interview. The resume is designed to be the first step in a process. It is the first impression a potential employer will have of you and should give an overview of your skills, strengths, experience, and education. There’s not a perfect resume format to use. The one you use needs to help you present your strengths and skills and help the employer quickly determine they want to talk with you!

Now I have to tell the very unpopular truth… there is nothing harder than writing your own resume. I have been helping people write resumes for 25+ years and I can tell you this is a universal truth. But the good news is, you can and will do it!! But I wanted you to know if you are struggling, it is normal. I think most of us don’t like to brag on ourselves, so it is hard to write a resume that screams HIRE ME yet is humble. So, let’s just get this out there. You have to do a little patting yourself on the back for your accomplishments in your resume. The person reading it has to be interested enough to want to talk to you about the job. I will help you write your resume in this series, so don’t worry!

Your resume should showcase your strongest skills and achievements providing a view of what you do best. It should be concise and factual, not a recant of every single thing you have ever done or every aspect of your career. Be sure your resume gives scope to your responsibilities. You can show scope by including details that explain the size of the projects and teams. For instance, the size of the organizations where you’ve been employed, the numbers of people managed, the size of budgets managed, etc. It helps companies get to know you when they get a feel for the companies you have worked for. If the companies are not nationally known, provide a very brief description of the companies where you worked.

Never provide personal information such as marital status, health, age, race, etc. No employer intends to discriminate; however, our philosophy is not to give any information that would aid in unintentional discrimination. Finally, never provide your references as part of the resume.

Where to Start on Your Resume – Homework

Before you can write your resume, you will need to gather some information.

  1. You need to have your dates of employment for any positions you plan to put on your resume. If you can’t remember them, maybe contact a friend or family member who might be able to help.
  2. Brief descriptions of the companies you worked for. Seriously, no more than a line or two.
  3. You will need to detail what you did for that company. Sometimes you can google the position and the company and find a job description or a resume of someone else that will help you jog your memory. (That was a secret recruiter tip 🙂 )
  4. References. We will not be putting them on the resume, but you will need them eventually. So brainstorm who you will be using. We will talk about these later in the series too.

Gather all of this information and in the next article of this series, we will start working on your resume.

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