So....tell me all you career wizards out there...

[Sheherezade]

How would you handle a resume with a near 10 year gap in employment due to child-rearing? I'm getting together a CV.

I've done lots of volunteering in the classroom and such, but that always seems lame to me on a CV or resume. What's your opinion? I've almost resigned myself to the idea of returning to school as a job on-ramp. Recently, a near perfect job position appeared nearby - so I'm tempted to apply. It's a science education enrichment center literally down the block from my house. And the international corporate headquarters touts the "local connection" of it's employees. So tempting. I don't want my *embarassment* of raising my children to hold me back now.

Advice please.

[DCJenn]

Most places understand that raising kids involved more CEO work than the average CEO. Include the volunteer work, make sure you're up to date on the trends and if you get an interview, reference the journals.

Jenn

[mommax3]

Angie,

I would go for it, and go ahead and list the volunteer work you have done at the schools. It sounds like it wll mesh well with the job you are interested in. I am not a career guru by any means, but I think that by listing the volunteer jobs you have done as you would a paid job, and describing them using the oh-so-popular "action words", you will let the interviewer see what you are capable of and give them a jumping off place for questions, etc.

When I interviewed with the supt. of schools for the job I currently have, I mentioned that although I hadn't taught full time for 11 years, I had spent time educating in some form, either in or out of the classroom, during each of those years. He asked me "If you love education so much, why has it taken you this many years to come back?" (which I thought was a little belligerent, tbh) but I began to answer, saying that during the years that my children were small, I thought it was important to be with them, especially because my husband was gone so much. I didn't even get through the first sentence before he nodded and waved his hand dismissively. It was almost as if he had to ask, even though he knew ahead of time what my answer would be. Now, this guy is pretty old-school, and to be fair, it was the day before school started, so he had lots on his mind......but it was kind of a jerky way to ask the question! I lived through it, though. I had worried about the gap on my resume, too, and figured that I would have to address it at some point. My thought was that if they had a huge problem with the fact that I stayed home with my kids, the job probably wasn't going to be a good fit for me anyway.

Go for it. It sounds perfect!

Sally

It sounds like a great job Angie - and YOU would be a coup for that kind of center. It could be a great way to make it work for both of you. They land a PhD, and you land a job even though you've been out for 10 years.

I agree w/Jenn & Sally -- list the volunteer work, use the "big words" to make it sound applicable, and go for it!

I agree with the above. I think an additional way to address and explain is in the cover letter. That gives you more latitude than the resume format, IMO, or another angle. You probably thought of that already but I'll second it as an idea.

It sounds interesting and like a great fit for your skills and interests. Let us know how it goes.

[Auspicious]

And organize your resume by skill set rather than chronologically. (Maybe you already did that.)

Good luck!