Hi everyone.
Heres my issue. I have been a work from home mom for 6 years. I started my own home daycare.
Before my daughter was born I had waitressing jobs. Next week I have an amazing opportunity coming my way. Im trying to transition into working evenings and starting college classes during the day. A very good friend of mine works for a news station and found out they are hiring part-time and are willing to train the right person, so they arent exactly looking for experience. She is literally going to hand the hiring person my resume. They are also good friends. Plus its the field Im interested in, the behind the scenes stuff. Not actually on camera. Production assitants, etc.
The problem is I dont know what to put on my resume. I mean do they really want to see I was a stay home mom for 6 years and a waitress before that? How can I make mine stand out? Face to face interviews I can knock an interview out of the park, but when they actually look at my resume, compared to others, they tend to pass right over mine.
Help! any advice would be great! Thanks!
Thanks everyone! I love the all the encouragement! thankyou all so much. I have started a list of key points I want to add to my resume & have googled and researched resumes online. My husband is going to sit down with me this weekend & help me work on it. Fingers crossed! this could be a big opportunity for myself & my family!
Feel free to send me what you have and I can try to edit it. I enjoy helping people any way I can and a resume is one thing I can do! ____@____.com
I wouldn't mention "not working" on the resume. Rather starting your own business and all that entails...not just the day to day caring for the kids, but the time management, planning and business/money end, communication with parents. Don't down play the business you created just because it was out of your home. If you want to give those kinds of details, you can do that in the face to face interview. Your skills at waitressing can speak to your people skills, communication skills. Abilty to handle stressful situations and working independently, but also in a group.
If anyone can run a Day Care Center for six years, that is very impressive, watching children are no easy task. What can be harder than facing an interview and letting them know all what you have accomplish in those six years, be truthful, they will love your honesty, let them know that you are a hard-worker and is willing to learn new things. That's enough for me and I just hope that this helps you out a little added with a few more suggestions, just put them altogether and May God Bless You. Now! go get that job!
In addition to the other fabulous suggestions, I wouldn't give short-shrift to the waitressing experience either! When you're working behind the scenes, you're going to run ragged getting things for people and being able to respond to multiple requests, often from many people at once! I think your waitressing background will come in mighty handy!
BTW, good for you for taking on new work and school!
Another idea would be to get the job description and tailor your resume with the key points that they are looking for, but using your experiences. I was able to go from preschool teacher (15 years) to a trainer in the pharmaceutical world by using the daily tasks that I did as a teacher, and just added them to my resume using those key words....I hope this helps.
Running your own daycare is a business and you should treat it as such on your resume. Owned and operated home daycare, or something like that. Then list all the things that you were responsible for just like you would for any other job.
Also, I highly recommend taking the time to compose a thoughtful cover letter which explains your decision both to work from home, but also to attend school and begin this new job. This helps connect the dots that are the jobs and skills listed on your resume. It also gives you the opportunity to highlight other qualities or skills (patience from potty training, or your eagerness to learn this new job) that don't really have a place on the standard resume. When they aren't looking for experience and are willing to train, you have a better chance to just point out your personal strengths and willingness to work hard.
I'm sure you can google examples of good resumes and cover letters to get some ideas, and perhaps your friend can give you some specific ideas of what some "buzz words" they'd like to hear for this particular job.
Find out precisely what they are looking for. Tailor your resume action verbs to those strengths. You have initiative (Initiated private business) - you started a day care. You were consistent, honest, showed follow through, creative. Get a thesaurus. You don't need to mention you know how to clean up drool. But a mom is a great multi-tasker, prioritizes, human resource manager. It's not so much the details you did, but the character qualities developed and strengthened. They can train the details. They want someone who is hard working, reliable, and has background interest in what you will be trained to do, I think. I know you want action verbs. You will do great!!!
I would google resumes...There are different kids - education based (with no work experience), work based (with work experience) and others...so I'm sure you could find some that focus on stuff other that the fact that you worked from home.
However, I would not worry about having that on your resume. You can basically make the resume read however you want because you have been a Jack of all Trades being a mom!!
Whatever you do DON'T LIE! Don't even exagerate. Being a SAHM is the hardest job I have ever done. I am chief cook, bottle washer, nurse, shoffer, referee, cleaner,etc. and you ran a day care so you did that not only for your own child(ren) but for others. Put in your waitress stuff and then your daycare. Include in experience about being a SAHM and learning to deal with running a house, kids, daycare all at the same time. Be honest but don't sell yourself short. Your not JUST a SAHM YOU ARE A SAHM. I recently put "domestic goddess" when filling out an info sheet as to what I do. I am also a "jack of ALL trades master of some!" You go "knock I'm dead!" A.
I had a similar issue as I've been in sales, then a mom, and just not in "traditional" work situations for over 8 years. Go online and look for resources to write the best resume you can. If I can find the one I used, I'll attach the link and send it to you. I also included a recommendation I got from someone at the top of mine - it was a real eye-catcher cause it's never really done. There are different types of resumes - find a format that highlights what you've done, accomplished, etc. vs. just the chronological format. You might even just ask your friend to arrange a coffee meeting or some sort of personal intro - who knows!
Hi J.,
I would create a resume that focuses on your skills, not your job experience. Write a cover letter that highlights your strong points and why you are a great candidate for the position.
Good luck!
I have a friend who was part of a hiring team and I remember her telling me this a long time ago... somehting that stuck out in her head and made a huge impact on her was someone put on their resume :
Accomoplishments:
Raising three wonderful (or amazing) children.
She said of all the resumes that stuck out the most to her. Since that has been a huge portion of your life for the past 6 years and probably one of your greatest accomplishments I say go for it...put that on your resume!!! Good luck, I hope it all works out for you.
