5 Ways to Stay Marketable as a Stay at Home Mom

You might want to stay marketable as a stay-at-home mom if you decided to focus on your kids for a time while they are young, but intend to go back to working in your career field after the kids get to a certain age. It’s not uncommon for stay-at-home moms to even want to go back to work at that point, even if they didn’t know they would want to. That’s only a few off the top of my head. Obviously, there is a myriad of reasons a woman may choose to re-enter the workforce.

As much as we wish the world was more evolved in 2021, it is not. Women who prioritize the needs of their families are often punished for choosing to step away from the workforce for a few years. This ‘gap” in their resume sometimes be used to deny women opportunities they are more than qualified to fill. Many women never return, finding completeness in homemaking or becoming momtrepreneurs. However, neither of these solutions will fit every woman.

In the same breath, anything in life can happen. Marriages break down and end in divorce, or worse (not to be morbid) spouses pass away. I believe a woman should make it her business to be self-sufficient, just in case.

1. Learn New Skills

Keeping your skill set fresh and current by learning new skills is always a great idea, particularly to keep up while you are out of the labour force.

YouTube

You can literally learn anything for free on YouTube. As a matter of fact, if you really wanted to, you could learn content for whole degrees (minus the actual degree that is). I recall being in college and spending hours on Calculus lectures on YouTube. Today, the content bank of YouTube is, even more, vast, and recent. You can go to college, learn to do nails and hair, literally anything you choose.

Learning Platforms

Other avenues to learn tradable skills such as platforms. Other courses are Google Digital Garage, Coursera, Alison and LinkedIn Learning, there are others available as well. One of the best things about learning on these platforms is that most are free unless you want proof of certification.

Another awesome feature (and perhaps the best) is that they are self-paced. More often than not, you can learn at your own pace indefinitely or within a more than generous time frame.

2. Get or Maintain Certification in your Profession or a New One

If you are qualified as a licensed professional or a highly skilled one, maintain certifications and acquire new ones while you are at home. Maintaining your professional designations will require you to stay current in order to satisfy certification requirements. This is a good way to stay current in your field as it keeps your mind and skills sharp for re-entry into the market.

3. Learn a New Language

Being bilingual or multilingual is always a selling point for your resume. You can amp up your resume by learning a new language. This is is different than learning a random language your want to learn. Depending on your geographic location, I would say be strategic and learn the language of a neighbouring market OR if you are in a country with more than one official language and you only speak one, learn the other. It could also make you more marketable if you live and work in an area where a high percentage of the population speaks a language you don’t.

4. Work Part-Time

You can also cut back on your hours instead of stepping completely depending on your home life situation and the type of work you do. Even though caring for the family and home full time is a job in itself, when children are older, women can find satisfaction in working a less demanding schedule. Besides, more money coming in benefits the family, no?

5. Pursue Higher Education

Pursuing higher education while you are out of the workforce is also a good option if finances, time and mental capacity allow it. I say that because family care is mentally, emotionally and physically demanding. Studying can be part-time though. Besides, it will look great on your resume to reduce some of the gaps. It is always an option to slowly ease your way back into a career.

I hope you find these tips useful. Let me know if you do or decide to take up any of them.