Here at Otter, we know that being a stay-at-home-mom isn’t easy. Our founder Helen Mayer became a stay-at-home-mom by default in 2020 and she immediately realized how much work went into an average day with toddlers (especially in the height of a pandemic). As she founded Otter, she also spent a lot of time thinking about the skills she developed in her time staying home with her kids that were applicable in the workplace. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be highlighting some of those unique skills. We hope this series will encourage many of you moms who may be looking to re-enter the workforce to consider how the work you’ve been doing is and should be valued by employers!
To kick things off, let’s talk about household management. If there is a parent who stays home as a full-time caregiver, this duty almost always falls to them. But there are also many working parents who have to tackle this as well, on top of their jobs outside the home. Household management includes so many things:
- Home organization
- Scheduling appointments for the family
- Creating children’s schedules
- Managing family finances and budgeting
- Upkeep and maintenance of the home and scheduling of outside workers
- Decision-making about everything from plumbers to summer camps
- Planning vacations
- Running errands
- Cooking and preparing meals
Workplace value
Given how long the above list is, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that household management requires a whole host of skills, most of which are highly valuable in the workplace - leadership, advance planning, organization, and decision-making are just a few of the talents you might want to highlight when job hunting. These skills are critical for many job functions, from the executive-level on down. From communications roles to business development, and from administrative jobs to leadership roles, these skills when packaged correctly will appeal to employers.
Re-entering the workforce
If you're actively looking for work, you should highlight the way you have made your family’s life run more smoothly, and how you can also make a team, a division, or a company operate more efficiently. Highlight these skills on your resume and don’t be afraid to bring them up in interviews. A good employer (the kind you want to work for!) will be impressed by the way you can weave in this valuable experience amongst previous professional experience.
Stay tuned for a new skill soon!