A friend of mine recently asked me to
help her with her CV. She’s taken a ‘career-break’ to look
after her three children, and hasn’t worked in the conventional
sense for seven years. She was worried about how to communicate this
on her CV, without coming across as out of touch or a bit rusty.
She began looking back at skills and
experience she could draw on from her previous job, but she was
concerned that it looked like she was delving into the past for
evidence of her abilities. It struck us then that we shouldn’t
skim over the past seven years, but that her experience within this
time was both valid and valuable.
There’s a common misconception that
parents of either sex who take time off work to look after children
spend all of their time cleaning and drinking tea. There’s
certainly some tea and cleaning involved, but looking after children
(and a home) involves a great deal more than that, and during those
years you develop skills that are easily transferable, and would be
beneficial in any workplace.
In fact there are very few paid
positions that require such a vast variety of skills. When you
become a parent there is no training, and often little support. You
have to think on your feet, make tough decisions, and carry out a
multitude of demanding tasks every day.
We looked at the skills that had been
well-honed during the past seven years and these included:
Organisational skills – speak to most
parents and they will say their calendar is the most important thing
in their house. Not only are you organising your own life, but
you’re responsible for numerous little people getting to and from
various schools, pre-schools, swimming lessons, clubs, and social
commitments, often all at the same time. Then there are meals,
packed lunches, uniforms, presents, and countless other things to
think about. Managing an office diary is a doddle when you’ve been
through that.
Multi-tasking – from the earliest
days of becoming a parent this becomes second nature. In fact, if
you’re only doing one thing at once you start to wonder what’s
wrong.
Quick-thinking – when a wheel falls
off a bike when you’re halfway home from the park and you’re
faced with the prospect of carrying both a broken bike and a
screaming toddler home, it’s amazing how innovative you can be.
Negotiation skills – from a
surprisingly young age children are shrewd negotiators, and the
ability to debate and agree on a compromise is imperative.
Learning new skills – there’s
nothing like being thrown in at the deep end, and when you first
become a parent that’s exactly what happens. Within days you’re
an expert on feeding, winding, changing, dressing and all the things
that had previously filled you with terror (admit it, everyone’s
scared of even holding a newborn before they have their own). This
doesn’t stop either. As your child grows up you’re continually
learning new things to keep up with them and support them through all
their new ventures.
Communication skills – as well as
learning to communicate with your children on their level
(interpreting their early utterances, encouraging them to tell you
what’s bothering them, explaining difficult concepts to them),
parents also have to learn to communicate effectively with a host of
other adults at various levels, dealing with problems or situations
that can be challenging, sensitive or embarrassing.
And this list is far from
comprehensive. Being a parent is by far the most difficult job you
could have, and it’s a life-long commitment that doesn’t get
easier! We’d all shy away from putting this experience on our
CV’s for fear of not being taken seriously, but surely any employer
would be lucky to have someone with all of these skills.
By Helen Young
This article appears in our Feb/Mar 2012 issues - click here to read the All Things Local issue of your choice.
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