Seek your job around the back
➔ You knew it would be a sacrifice, but leaving the job market to become a stay-at-home mom or to take care of an aging parent made perfect sense at the time.
Now, you’re free from your obligations (or at least sufficiently independent) that you feel comfortable returning to the workforce. But there’s one glaring problem. You’ve been away from the work-a-day world for so long, it’s a challenge to get an employer to take you seriously.
What to do?
First, make certain that basic job skills are up to date. In most cases, this involves some sort of technology or software. Word and Excel are sufficiently different today from what they were 15-20 years ago. Then there’s gmail, the phones and AI. Oy! The phones. Double “Oy” for AI.
Fortunately, your community college or maybe even your local library can be a huge help in bringing you up to speed. While most library programs are free, it’s relatively easy to obtain an up-to-date certification from your community college, something which can be presented as official, third-party-sanctioned documentation.
From there, an excellent strategy is to put your skills to actual work volunteering with a local non-profit organization. Better yet, sign on with a temporary help agency. The key word is “temporary.” It’s a viable foot in the door. It will give you recent, real-world experience which can be leveraged into what you want… and it will give you a paycheck.
What’s more, many temp agencies offer varying levels of benefits such as sick and vacation leave. Some even offer healthcare benefits.
Above all, when the situation arises, many of those employers will turn around and offer full-time positions to their temps. And, congratulations, you’ve gotten your job.