Reentering the WorkforceWith Dirk Spencer

Corporate Recruiter & Author

Resume Psychology / The Candy Maker Resume

Reentering the Workforce

For people coming back to the job market.

This is the stay-at-home person

The parent who took care of kids, in-laws, grandparents, parents or maybe worked a side-business or took a sabbatical

Job Titles

Prefixes•Stay at Home

•Work at Home

•Empty-nester

•Career changer

Suffixes•Spouse

•Mom

•Dad

•Parent

Sample Combinations

• Stay at Home Spouse

• Stay at Home Mom

• Stay at Home Dad

• Stay at Home Parent

• Work at Home Spouse

• Work at Home Mom

• Work at Home Dad

• Work at Home Parent

Job Function or Transition Statement

• Re-entering workforce

• Seeking re-employment (among the adult population)

• Seeking new employment (for pay)

• Seeking employment

SAMPLE – ONE [Fill-in Job Title]

Stay-at-Home Parent

Reentering the work force

Targeting entry level [insert-job-title] positions

Debrief – Sample One

This is a little long

But – is very clear and obvious

The eye will see the Job-Title quickly

Probably my favorite option…

SAMPLE – TWO [Select: Parent, Spouse, Mom, Dad]

Reentering the work force; former stay-at-home [Fill-in-the-Blank]

Targeting entry level Analyst opening

Debrief: Sample Two

"Reentering" is the most important thing to communicate here.We place first on the line or first in the paragraph.

The word “openings" is vague on purpose; this allows the reader to fill-in the blank based on their bias, habit, needs… (for the traditional and specific job-title) all of which will be timing related.

SAMPLE – THREE [Insert: Job Title]

Reentering the work forceTargeting [Job-Title](Empty-nester seeking re-employment)

Debrief: Sample Three

Parentheses in an email signature or resume is not the best formatting.

But in this case we frame the most important things first (reentry/Job-Title) and the parenthesis allows us to explain a great deal of data without over burdening the eye or flooding the short-term memory.

The risk - they never see the empty-nester [pseudo job-title] which may or may not be a bad thing.

SAMPLE - FOUR

Former Business AnalystReentering the workforceTargeting entry-level Scrum opens

Debrief: Sample Four

This is an effort to present the previous work experience while explaining the current situation as quickly as possible by being as fact-based as possible.

By avoiding all the cutesy or euphemistic attempts at humor to soften the truth/details of your previous work-status being a time-machine trip in your career history; this shows some maturity and respect.

This example may have become my new favorite as it telegraphs the truth! You have been away from that job and you know things have changed

Your Goal

Set the narrative that is you and your situation

Do it in a fact-based manner

Leverage what you can from the past while acknowledging the change over time to the present (super-critical to your message)

Hiring managers and recruiters can respect this and will likely keep you top of mind for openings where your circumstances are more of an asset than liability

Dirk Spencer

Recruitment Adviser

Author of Resume Psychology

& The Candy Maker Resume

DirkPMP@Yahoo.Com / 214-295-8687

@DirkInDallas on www.Twitter.Com

Connect to me on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/dirkindallas