By skyforbes 
Being a stay-at-home mom is a challenging job, and that’s an understatement. After all, this position requires the ability to multitask and manage a household and a family. Such a job develops many skills that can be easily applied to any other activity or career. However, some considerable challenges need to be understood—most of which revolve around the resume.
If you’re still feeling overwhelmed, don’t hesitate to seek support. There are great resources out there, including resume professional writers who specialize in helping people translate life experience into strong, career-ready resumes. They can take the pressure off and guide you toward a confident job search.
Below are some proven resume tricks that will help you out.
Say No to a Functional Resume
Avoid using a functional resume format at all costs.
The reason behind this is simple – hiding chronological information regarding previous job experience may seem like a person is trying to redirect attention from a resume gap.
Such a resume is not in favor of recruiters and HR managers – they will immediately notice this. Not to mention, a functional resume is also kind of outdated.
Understand the Applicant Tracking System
The applicant tracking system is a thing, and it’s important to optimize one’s resume for it. There are several things worth considering when making a resume ATS-friendly.
Keywords
When it comes to ATS, keywords play an important role as they put a resume higher on the lists and likely to be noticed by a recruiter.
Organization
To make a resume ATS-friendly, it is imperative not to get too creative with section titles. Likewise, goes to layouts.
Format
ATS is a program, so it is designed to track and analyze specific types of files.
That is why it is important to avoid uploading resumes using some weird formatting or ones with images that may contain crucial information.
That is to say, ATS does not scan or analyze images!
Think of Yourself as an Entry-Level Candidate
You are likely considering a job with a flexible schedule to maintain a healthy work-life balance.
This is understandable, and most positions with a flexible schedule are typically entry-level.
A resume fit for this has several specifics:
- Chronological or combination formats work best.
- A brief list of skills that you consider to be crucial for the job you’re looking for.
- A brief personal brand statement.
List Your Skills
The list of skills that is used matters.
A typical stay-at-home mom possesses a variety of soft, administrative, and management skills – it is essential to highlight these, especially if they are valued by the industries you are looking to join. So, thinking this through is quite vital, as some skills might also be keywords.
Fill in Work History Gaps on Your Resume
Mentioning any volunteer work or part-time/freelance work in your chronological career order can “fill” in any blanks in your career history.
This may also be a good sign for a recruiter that you can handle the job, as being a stay-at-home mom means you are a disciplined and highly productive person.
Don’t Forget LinkedIn
Never forget about professional networking.
Setting up a LinkedIn account might as well be mandatory in these times. Be sure to fill in the career history section, add a list of skills, connect with previous colleagues, and ask for skill endorsements.
In short, the more information you fill out on your profile, the better chance you have of employers noticing your resume.
Your CV Should Highlight the Best of You
One format for all doesn’t work. It is important to customize one’s resume to reflect the things that might interest each particular employer.
This may sound overwhelming, but it is usually about highlighting some skills over others, nothing complex at all.
All in all, stay-at-home moms who decide to return to work face one considerable difficulty: the career gap. However, the tricks listed in this article will help out with this challenge and polish your resume to perfection. Happy hunting!