3 Ways For Mums To Improve Their Career Prospects

disclosure:  this is a collaborative post

A lot of mums worry about getting back into work after taking time out to look after the kids. Experience is so important during a job search and when you’re up against people who have been working while you were out of the job market, it can be tough to compete. But don’t let that put you off trying in the first place because it isn’t a lost cause. There are plenty of ways that mums can improve their career prospects and beat the competition. If you’re thinking about getting back into work soon, here are some of the best ways to improve your chances.

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Apply For The Right Jobs

This is important because there are some jobs that you’re just not going to get. If they require specific training that you don’t have or recent experience over the last couple of years, you’re not going to get anywhere. But there are loads of careers that are well suited to mums that you’ll have a lot better chance of getting. You might want something that is a little more flexible because you’ve still got parenting duties to deal with and a full-time job might not be ideal for you just yet. You should also look for jobs that make use of the skills that you’ve developed as a mum. Parenting teaches you compassion and empathy, quick problem solving skills, and good organisation. When you’re interviewing for jobs, you can use this to your advantage and play u the benefits of being a parent in place of any recent job experience.

Extra Education

If you’re going up against younger candidates, there’s a good chance that they have a higher education than you. That’s not something against you it’s just that more people are going into higher education these days and a lot more jobs require it. That’s why it’s a good idea to get some more education if you can. It also helps you to build on your skill set and improve your job prospects. Going back into education full-time isn’t an option for most parents but you can do online degrees instead. An online leadership degree is a great choice because it gives you general management and leadership skills that are applicable to a lot of different careers. That opens up a lot more options than a more specific degree. Being able to take the degree at home in your own time is a lot more practical for most mums.

Use Your Contacts

When you’re trying to find a job, you should call in some favours. Any contacts that you had from back in the day before you were a parent are the best place to start. Get in touch with old bosses and colleagues and ask them whether they know about any job openings that they could recommend you for. A personal recommendation goes a long way so this is a better way to go about it than applying through the normal avenues.

Getting back into work is hard for mums that have taken a bit of time out, but it isn’t impossible if you take these steps to improve your career prospects.  

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