How to Write a Resume for Stay-at-Home Moms and Dads

If you're a stay-at-home parent, you're not alone. Nearly one in five parents in the United States is a stay-at-home mom or dad, according to the Pew Research Center.

But if you decide to return to work after being out of the workforce for a while, it can be challenging to kick off a job search. Updating your resume is the first and most important step to take. With time away from a paying position and a gap since your last job title, how can you make sure hiring managers don't flip past your resume? What can you put on your resume so that you're taken seriously as a qualified candidate? 

How to Make Your Resume Current

Fortunately, there are strategies that can make your experience look current. With a little preparation and creativity, you can highlight the skills you've developed during your time away from the office, and develop an interview-winning resume—without ever once referring to yourself as the “Chief Home Officer.”

Consider Alternative Resume Formats

Ask someone to write a resume from scratch, and chances are they’ll start listing their experience in reverse chronological order, with their most recent position at the top of the page. That's advantageous on a traditional career trajectory, where each position involves more responsibility and pay, as well as a better title. But for a stay-at-home mom, a chronological resume can serve to emphasize the gap in time since her last formal position.

Fortunately, there are many ways a resume can be formatted besides chronologically. Choose, instead, to create a functional or combination format resume. That way, the emphasis is on your skills rather than on your recent work history.

As well as selecting an advantageous resume format, you can also include optional resume sections like an objective or summary statement to highlight your qualifications for the job.

Are you worried that choosing this format identifies you as a stay-at-home mom or dad rejoining the workforce? Never fear.

Sometimes it’s because they have gaps in their resume, and other times it's because they wish to highlight skills over experience for other reasons, such as making a parallel move to a slightly different job.

The fact is, hiring managers are busy. They’re likely to spend mere seconds looking at a resume, regardless of its format. Putting your abilities in the spotlight increases the chances that they’ll see what you can do and sort your resume into the “yes” pile.

Add Volunteer Roles

During your time as a stay-at-home parent, you may have devoted a lot of time to volunteer responsibilities. After all, nearly 40% of parents volunteer, according to the Corporation for National and Community Service. 

Describe any volunteer work using the same action words as you'd use for paid work. Showcase accomplishments (e.g., "Raised twice as much money in the school's silent auction as the previous year" or "Balanced the school's PTA budget, tracking thousands of dollars in expenditures and donations") with the same direct language as you use in bullets describing past positions.

Don’t pull your punches just because the work is unpaid. Look for chances to describe your work with action words that show your impact on the project and the mission.

Look at Older Jobs

Have some of your oldest positions fallen off your resume as you've updated it? Now that you're redoing it as a non-chronological version, you may find that some of that experience that felt dated can be phrased in a relevant way.

Just be careful to avoid changing job titles. During a reference check, hiring managers may ask for your exact job title at the organization. If you stretch the truth, you’ll look like you’re dishonest and remove yourself from contention. If your job title is dated (e.g., webmaster), it may be better to leave it off your resume or to include the knowledge and experience you gained under your skills section without referencing the job title.

Add Freelance Work

For some stay-at-home moms, being at home with the kids meant a break in full-time, salaried work, but did not mean a break in paid work. If you've worked on a contract, temp, or freelance basis, that's absolutely relevant information, and it should be included on your resume.

Including Your SAHM Experience?

This is a divisive question: some parents and human resources professionals argue that there is no reason not to include this experience on your resume. That being said, most hiring managers recommend against including stay-at-home parenting experience on your resume as a job title.

It's easy to be cutesy, giving yourself the title of "Chief Home Officer" and describing responsibilities in work-like terms. However, this approach likely makes the most sense if you're applying for a position where your skills are directly transferable, such as working with young children.

As with many more personal details, the cover letter is likely a more appropriate place to mention and explain your employment gap. 

Review a Resume Sample

Review an example of a sample resume for a stay-at-home parent returning to the workforce.