3 Reasons You Should Hire an At-home Parent

This TikTok video by @bougie_goddess gave me feelings. In her video, she talks about how she is well educated but lacks the professional experience employers want to see on a resume that would allow her to land her dream job. Instead of spending the last 15 years in the workplace, she invested in her family by being an at-home parent, and now she's facing obstacles. The disadvantages she's running up against have prompted her to apply for jobs by listing the soft skills she has picked up over the years in her role as a mom.

@bougie_goddess's post resonated with me because I, too, was an at-home parent for 15 years, and like her, I found it challenging breaking back into the workforce after all that time.

I loved every minute of being a full-time caregiver. I want to acknowledge that it was a privilege for me to choose to stay home with my children. I was lucky to have a choice — too many don't. For me, it was a lifelong dream come true, exactly where I wanted to be. I don't regret it one bit, but focusing solely on my family for a decade-and-a-half did cost me, both in terms of reaching my full career potential and my lifetime earnings. 

Reentering the workplace after a 15-year hiatus was demoralizing because, once I decided to go back to work, I had to start over. And when I say "start over," I mean it. I must have been the world's oldest intern at the age of 44, but what choice did I have? I needed to polish my resume and prove myself all over again. What I didn't count on was how well the skills I learned while parenting would prepare me for my return to work. Those skills helped me regain my footing quickly, allowing me to meet and exceed expectations to the point of having a paid position created for me after my internship was over. 

When I think back on my time as an at-home parent, I realize I was learning and honing every day. Being a caregiver requires mastering a whole host of valuable skills. That's why I think these types of experiences should not be discounted in the job market. Just because you're getting paid in hugs and kisses doesn't mean your skill set is lacking. On the contrary, the skills you build as a caregiver and home manager translate seamlessly to the workplace.

1. Project Management. Caregivers make amazing project managers because they have to learn how to juggle. Some are born-organizers, but even those who aren't have to pick it up quickly or face the consequences. Check with any at-home parent you know, and you're sure to find that they carry a list — on their phone, on a crumpled receipt in their purse, or maybe just in their head — of school projects, birthday gifts to be bought and wrapped, and upcoming playdates that they're in charge of coordinating and overseeing. That list changes every day, but it never goes away, which makes caregivers masters of organization and time management.

2. People Skills. If you think of children as coworkers, you can start to see the parallels to a work environment. They thrive on a mix of support, recognition, and constructive feedback. They require a personalized approach (because each is unique) and lots of professional development (i.e., school and enrichment opportunities). The only difference is you can't fire these coworkers, so you have to become excellent at team building, de-escalation and problem solving.

3. Leadership. When you're Caregiver in Chief, servant leadership is a model that works well because you're focused on the growth and well-being of both your people and the household as a whole. Running a household means constantly thinking about meeting deadlines, creating cadences, and how best to approach the various personalities in your space. You're identifying goals and adopting an overall vision of what you want your family's experience to be. Most caregivers might not think about what they're doing in this formalized way, but they are leading, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

At-home Parents Make Great Additions to the Workplace

The typical reaction to an at-home parent's resume is to focus on the gap in work experience. If you're hiring, I would challenge you to flip that script. There really isn't a gap at all, and it's time we start recognizing that fundamental truth.

Caregivers know project management, people skills, and leadership, and so much more. Ingenuity, resourcefulness, role modeling, and creativity are also tools of the trade. The point is, don't discount at-home parents. They make a determined group that has a lot to offer your organization.

This article was originally published on LinkedIn.