Many women returning to the job market underrate their skills and abilities. That's why it is so important to sit down with a blank sheet of paper and list your interests, skills, and accomplishments. This requires discipline and time, and may take a few hours or several days before you come up with a good list, but the results will be worth the effort. One way to get started is to ask your children. They'll get you off to a good start. Once you begin committing your thoughts to paper you'll be surprised at how much information you'll uncover.
When you begin to commit this information to paper, don't be modest. You want your resume to flaunt your talents. This is not the time to underestimate your abilities. For example, if you have had a variety of unrelated work experiences, include them. You can mold the facts into a selling resume.
You must create a career profile of who you are and what you've done.
The who-you-are part requires that you understand the kind of person you are and know the kind of job you want.
Ask yourself, "What do I like to do? What am I good at? What salable skills do I have? What have I accomplished? The answers to these questions should be written on that blank sheet of paper, then transferred to your resume after you have refined them.
If you have been a homemaker, look back at your past history. Did you help your husband in his business? Did you help manage his office or keep the books? Were you active in a political party, raising funds or helping your candidate get elected? Even if your candidate lost, you have relevant material for your resume. Did you write campaign ads or participate in promotion or public relations for your party? Were you chairperson for the United Way campaign in your neighborhood? Did you raise funds for your church or synagogue? Did you do volunteer work? Have you had any special training that could be used by a corporation in a specific job? For example, if you have a knowledge of computers, you could train a company's employees in their use.
If you've been out of the job market for several years because you retired and decided to go back to work, the same principles apply. Use your past experience to frame your resume. While you were "retired" you may have done voluntary work, helped out a friend in business, or engaged in hobbies.
These accomplishments can be included in your resume.
Homemakers shouldn't forget to include work done after college, before being married. This experience can also be used on your resume. Many women during the course of their married lives perform daily jobs that are relevant in the corporate world. For example, a homemaker is a manager, a planner, a diplomat, an administrator, a writer, a practitioner of public relations, a politician, a problem solver, a nurse, a telemarketer, and a counselor and adviser, to mention some of her many and varied skills. In fact, many of the most important and desired skills, as Nella Barkley of the Crystal-Barkley Corporation notes, are used outside the workplace.
But these skills are valid and important, because they can be transferred to the corporate world. The ability of a person with good interpersonal skills, for example, is invaluable in the business world. So don't sell yourself short.
Let's look at some sample lines with specific headings that might be included on a homemaker's or widow's resume. Management:
- Created, wrote, and produced advertisements credited with winning local election.
- Planned, executed church's annual fund-raising campaign. Result: $30,000. Largest amount raised in church's 50-year history.
- Organized, coordinated local United Way campaign. Increased donations 40 percent over previous year-all-time high.
