The great job hunt of 2008.
Oye Vey.
I have been “unemployed for almost 7 years now” (think echo chamber here).
That is a long time.
(Still echoing….)
I never had intentions of being a SAHM. I longed too, and wanted to, but started working full time at the age of 15. Staying at home never seemed like an option for me. At 15, I was a nurse aide, and during college I started passing medications, I ended up quiting my University education, and decided to get my Licensed Practical Nursing degree….
I learned I could stay at home full time, when my Mother fell ill with cancer.
She was very sick, and I was getting life and death phone calls about once a week. I would have to leave my job, and travel 12 hours to care for her, and then I would return to my job.
This turned out to be not only frustrating for me, but to my employer at the time. They were good about it, for 6 months. But then they needed someone reliable. I could not make promises to them. so I bowed out of my position, and decided to temporarily relocate and care for my Mother.
It was a huge decision for my Husband and I, at that time. But in the end my husband said to me. “If you do not do it, will you be able to look in the mirror in 10 years and feel good about it?” I also made that decision, before children. I was pregnant at the time, but had no children here. I decided that since the Drs. had given my Mother 3 months to live, I could manage our finances for that time. My Mother was only 57 at the time, and was very fearful about going into a long term care situation, so much so….we all knew if we did that she would die in a week. I also knew, it would eat up ANY and all of my working parents money, they might loose the house etc…
I went home to care for my Mother.
My Mother’s cancer liked to travel, and it seemed, she would fight one area, and then it would disappear only to return to a different part of her body. She fought hard, for months. HARD. I think the fact that I was pregnant with her first Grandchild, was a motivating factor for her. She wanted to see this blessed little boy. Even if she hated the name we had picked out for the wee one.
During that time, I learned the skills I needed to be able to cut corners where money is concerned. I made simple adjustments, like cutting gas costs, and running errands at one time, cutting coupons, planning meals etc ahead of time.
My Mother passed when my little man was 3 months old, and I made the decision to stay at home.
I tried working for a bit, but being a military spouse, even in the entity known as National Guard means scheduling surprises pop up. It turned out to be more trouble than it was worth.
That was almost 7 years ago…
Filling out the job applications has been wild. It looks like I literally dropped off the face of the planet. I did note my volunteer work.
But 7 years looks like a long time on a job application.
I feel as though I should attach an essay about how I have managed through 2 deployments, a family illness etc, alone. Looking back it is impressive. Hind sight is 20/20 isn’t it.
Military spouses learn how to trudge forward, even if we have our noses to the grindstone, and forget the periphery. We learn to manage to manage the minute by minute.
I am not sure how to market myself at this point.
For 7 years I have been the invisible woman.
I am sure this is a common issue, and I was wondering how some of you have dealt with it, please feel free to share any ideas or experience.
It will be appreciated.
About Rachelle
Comments
AW,
That essay that you speak of should be your cover letter and after a brief intro (as you hilight above on your 7 yrs) you should have a titled section in your cover letter, Skills Acquired, and highlight skills such as:
Indendent Learner,
Technologically savy (very important for them to know)
Medical Research
Budget management
Time management
Care Management (your mom and children's care is valuable experience)
inclusion of volunteer time and skills acquired is an excellent move (both from church – infant care- and from Spouse Buzz, etc).
You have A LOT of credentials, assets and experience that you can use and highlight. The above is just at the top of my head and without any coffee in me.
I hope you're really proud of yourself and of all you've done and accomplished in those 7 yrs. THere's a lot of people who admire and envy those 7yrs (me included). Look forward to reading how things go during interviews.
If you need interview questions let me know. I've got tons and lots of them are stumpers, that way you'll be prepared for anything!
I'm right there with you, AWTM, except for me it's been 10 years. Yes, I have a law degree but not a lot of experience to go with it. And quite frankly, I really don't think I want to take another bar exam or go back to practicing law anyway.
As for marketing ourselves… I can't wait to read what others say b/c I have no clue!
I'm looking at the same thing. I am looking to go back to work after eight years of being at home with our three children. I , like you, have a lot of volunteer hours but do employers look at that as "work". Then I figure hey, they hire teens all the time, I should be ok ;)
Ms. MO–definitely put your volunteer work on your resume & sell it as you keeping your skills sharp. Yes, you were home with the kids, but the employer will can demonstrate with that experience that 1) you were able to balance home responsibilities & outside activities and 2) you availed yourself of situations that allowed you to keep your skills up. Look at what you did as a volunteer and BE SPECIFIC. For instance, if one were looking for a job that requires handling money, it would be good to note specific volunteer experiences where you did that. Instead of "PTO Treasurer" as an 'interest', list it on the resume with specific duties underneath it to show the employer WHAT you've been doing in specific terms.
Somehow, some of my sentences were eaten! At any rate, I meant that the employer, by seeing those things on your resume will be in position to listen to your sell of yourself and your volunteer work.
Completely agree! Your experiences at home and in volunteer work is invaluable to employers! When you deal with the demands/challenges of deployments you really prove your metal!
Yep, I am there. I am thinking about going back to work and it has been 14 years. That is a long time. My daughter tells me that answering the phone is my best subject so maybe I should do something like that. LOL
I am new to this area, I am a spouse as well as an active duty member. I was looking through alot of the blogs and I realize I am definatly out of it when I tried to figure out where to post my comment. My wife and I are both active duty and we have been or stumbled across a supllimentary income. A friend introduced us to an online travel biz and we were skeptical as would anyone be. But like everyone else we needed a little extra money and had about as much time as everyone else did. In the first year we have been very productive in this and actually replaced our income a few months in a row (we are both E-7's) its nothing that will make us rich (potentially it could) but when we are short it seems to bring us great spending money that we can get ahead a little bit. I dont know if anyone would be interested in this but its a small start up fee and there is hardly any maintenance at all and the best of all it deals with Travel we all travel whether we like to or not, and the tax benefits of a home based company are almost rediculous. If you are interested in this in any way and sorry if I did not do this the right way but I know what its like to be sturggling and just wanted to help as many as I could since I have learned the ropes of this and realize that there are some things out there to help us and not scams. Please give us a call or go to http://www.travelspearsnow.paradisenetwork.com check out the presentations or you can contact me at the phone number on the site. Like I said before if this was inappropriate I am sorry just something that I thought would help out. They offer health benefits as well I k now we all have some family members that could use what we take for granted. Thank you for your time again!! And goodluck with all you do
I live in Colorado and recently attended a Career Tracks Seminar at Peterson Air Force Base. The seminar was put together by the Military Spouse Career Committee (MSCC). It was very enlightening. The women of the committee were very helpful and informative. They were helping us figure out the best way to not just find a job, but to pursue the career of our dreams, even if you've been a housewife for the past five or ten years. They helped match our skills to a fit career.
If any of you are looking for a job and live here in Colorado, you can connect to your career of choice and the MSCC can help. The Military Spouse Career Committee offers a Career Tracks seminar for military spouses four times a year. Learn how to create networking opportunities, get free access to professional career coaches, and get the scoop on scholarships and grants.
Not only does the MSCC offer the Career Tracks seminar, but also, the MSCC can promote you to the business community in our monthly newsletters.
You can also join our blog community at http://www.coloradomilitaryspousecareers.wordpress.com
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