While it’ll take hard work and dedication to launch a new career that reflects your passions, it’s a journey that’s well worth taking.
It’s only been in recent decades that the onset of motherhood has not meant the end of one’s career. Far from it – with new responsibilities and new joys, new mothers can launch a new career during and after their period of maternity, starting a new life in a different workplace. While it’ll take guile, hard work and dedication to get into a new position that reflects your passions, it’s a journey that’s well worth taking. This article provides all the tips you’ll need to get there.
Set Aside Time
As a mother, you’re highly likely to have less time on your hands. Taking care of children is a full-on and at times exhausting new responsibility, and one that can often threaten to eclipse the time you set aside you yourself. It’s in this time that you develop as an individual, learning new things, researching opportunities, making contacts or simply taking a moment to relax.
After you become a mother, it’s important to keep setting aside some time each day for you to complete a short list of tasks. Whether researching, studying or applying for jobs, you need to keep the momentum up by finding the time in your day to concentrate on your own future.
Find Opportunities
Entirely depending on your passions, your dreams and your capabilities, there’s virtually no end to the opportunities that you can seize as a mom. With childcare or a nanny, you’ll have enough time to work on a full-time basis should you wish – or you can choose a job for which you are able to work a little more flexibly, with a little more time off to spend with your children.
Start researching the opportunities for work in your area in order to start your journey towards a new career as early as possible. Make a note of the jobs that sound exciting, and those which you’d dearly like to give a go now that you’ve become a mother. With a list of those jobs that most inspire you, you’ll be able to take step-by-step measures to reach a point where you’re hired for the job.
Consider Your Resume
Dig out your last-edited resume and give it a look over. Where are the skills gaps, and which areas of your experience should you highlight or background? What’s no longer relevant, and what will you be able to use in a new job application that will impress employers? There is likely to be a gap between what experience you currently have, and what you’ll need for your new job.
You of course need to identify this gap before you’re able to plug it. There are three main areas of your life that employers are going to require evidence of your suitability from:
- Education – You need to prove that you have the level of education required in the specifications for the job you’re applying for.
- Experience – The work you’ve done in the past, and the positions of responsibility you’ve held, will be taken into account by all employers.
- Qualities – Can you prove that you’re reliable, timely and efficient at work? Employers are looking for these qualities and more in their applicants.
If on browsing your resume you’ve discovered you need to fill in these gaps, then it’s time to get stuck in to improving your education, experience or qualities so that when you do eventually apply for your dream job, you’re an ideal candidate.
Education
This is the most convenient gap to plug, thanks to the growing corpus of online courses available for you to study from your laptop at any time of day that you get the chance. It’s the perfect scenario for moms who need to split their time between caring for their young and planning for a successful future career.
If you’re particularly enthused by policing and detective work, you’ll be able to browse the best criminology programs in Ontario to get you started on a course that’ll qualify you for the job. If you are looking to sharpen up your design skills, you’ll be able to take short courses on the programs that’ll help you start your graphic designing career. Whatever your passion, you’ll find a course on it online.
Experience
Some jobs require you to have experience – either in an industry, or in a particular role – before applying. This will always be detailed in the specifications of the job, where you’ll be asked, for instance, for two years’ experience in publishing, or experience managing a small team.
If you’re short of this experience, it’s time to take some lesser roles that’ll help boost your confidence as well as your resume. Search for junior positions, or get the experience you need in local businesses for a year or two to start developing all of the skills you’ll need for the career you’ve set your sights on.
Qualities
These are more difficult to develop – your personal qualities, like timeliness or determination, are something you should constantly be working on, irrespective of the roles that you’re interested in. Personal development and proof of your drive and ambition are key indicators that you’ll do well in your job, so it’s something to continually focus on as you start applying for jobs.
Consider joining a local group in order to take up a position of responsibility; work on a personal project and publish it on an online blog; or volunteer for a charity to make the most of your free time and prove your worth.
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The Application
Finally, you’ve done everything you need to do to make a convincing application to the job of your choosing. It’s time to ready your resume, prepare a knockout cover letter, and wait for interview opportunities in which you’ll be able to prove just how ideal a candidate you are.
Ensure that you maintain positivity in the face of rejections – these are path of the course for those in a hunt for ambitious roles and exciting companies. Keep plugging away with your applications, ensuring they’re as impressive as possible, and it won’t be long before you’re launching in a new career you’ll complete alongside your parental responsibilities.
This guide should help you get to grips with the tasks you’ll need to go through in order to apply for the job positions that you’re most excited by after becoming a mom.
