Returning to work after you’ve taken time out to look after your family can be difficult. An employer picking up your CV to see you haven’t been in paid work for the last eight years would probably consider you haven’t got enough up to date experience, given the rapidly changing employment environment and fast evolving office technologies. You know you can do the job, but how do you persuade an employer to give you an interview?
First of all, look at what experience you do have. Make a list of any pre career break jobs. Whilst technologies and processes might change, the basic principles of dealing with people, communicating effectively and working as part of, or managing, a team don’t. Summarise a brief description of your main responsibilities, quantifying and qualifying each aspect where possible. If you supervised people, say how many and at what level. If you managed a budget, say how much. If you dealt with suppliers, state how many and in which countries. Next focus on your achievements and initiatives in these roles. Again, quantify each statement. If your job was sales focused, say how much revenue you were responsible for and highlight your sales performance. Highlight any initiatives you led or were involved in, such as implementing new systems or business processes.
Next, think about any part time or informal work you’ve done. Keeping the books, writing the invoices or typing up letters for a partner’s or friend’s business is valuable administrative experience. Producing the newsletter for the local community centre demonstrates good editing and copywriting skills. Making and selling jewellery at craft fairs shows a creative and entrepreneurial streak.
Now, consider your unpaid work during your career break. Have you been involved in nursery / school activities, maybe as a member of the PTA or on a committee? Have you been involved in fundraising or organising activities or social / cultural events? Have you helped coach the kid’s football team? Have you lobbied the local council to save the green belt, or build a bypass? Have you been involved in any community or charity work? What about leisure interests - are you (or have been) a member of a sports team, choral society, gardening club? Focus on the skills that each of these activities has required – you’ll find them pretty similar to those stipulated by employers!
Having collated your ideas, presentation is key. A traditional reverse chronological CV will only highlight your lack of recent experience and does not provide for including unpaid work experience. Instead, consider a Functional CV (details in previous Ask the CV Coach blog) which focuses on your core transferable skills and de-emphasises when or where you’ve worked. List key headings (working with people, team supervision/ leadership, administration etc etc) and summarise evidence of your skills in each area, using examples from your paid and unpaid work experience.
Highlight any relevant professional qualifications, and focus on any training you have undertaken to develop and update your skills. Feature these first if they are particularly relevant to the job, or else summarise in a separate ‘Qualifications & Training’ section near the end.
Scan the newspapers and Internet looking at job adverts for your target sector, paying attention to the latest jargon your industry sector is using, and reflect that in the vocabulary and tone of your CV. Enlist the help of a professional to review your CV to make sure it looks up to date and reflects the style of the moment. Use your covering letter to summarise why you are suitable for the position, emphasising your flexibility and adaptability.
Tom Hackforth
Principal Consultant
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