Finally Feeling Some Tangible (EMPLOYABLE) Results

When I started The Employable Mom, I wanted a space to organize my experiences of staying employable while on my "extended maternity leave": and so I began doing some talking (actually a lot of talking), plus some research and more research, and self-exploration and now I'm doing a lot of "doing!" To be honest it's keeping me really busy but a lot of where I am now is due to the things I was doing back then, like: goal setting, finding ways to get out of the house and be social, getting CPR and First Aid certified (which has surprisingly come in very handy,) and a ton of other things. I've loved all the self discovery but I'm even more excited to be doing something that makes me feel productive because I've finally found the mommy project I've been so desperately looking for!

Let me give you some context: a few posts back, I shared some potential BIG NEWS and now I can almost certify that it's official BIG NEWS because next week I'm going to finalize the paperwork for my purchase of a pre/post-postnatal fitness franchise! I'm really excited, I think that this will enable me to gain a lot of marketable skills in addition to trying a whole realm of new things!

Now buying a franchise isn't for everyone, and I still plan on peeking into other employable opportunities for SAHMs, because one of my goals for EM is to really flush out all of the options out there. However, EM will see a few changes, mostly in posting regularity, but possibly in content. And once I get over the newness hump of running my own business, I'll most certainly re-evaluate my plans for EM.

I guess what I'm trying to do here is give a little update on my project's progress and renew my commitment to my Employable Mom community. I don't want you to think I've forgotten about you as my posts move to being more far and few between. I'm anticipating that I will maintain this speed, but don't anticipate that I stop all-together. I've still got a journey to document; plus I've got big things planned and I'm excited to share them with you!

Sincerely,

Keep Your Head Up

I cannot get this song out of my head! So darn catchy!

So I've been kind of bumming all week. I don't know why but some days/weeks hit me really hard with urges to be working. I've been keeping really busy with other things too. Unfortunately, when I'm so busy, it takes time away from getting posts out, and then it starts to get to me. Ah, the double edged sword. (Also, my son isn't sleeping again...so that never helps.)

Just to catch you up on what I have been so busy with...

A few weeks ago I cleaned out my closet of all my old work related clothes (and other junk) and this week I finally took them to our local branch of Dress for Success. It was bittersweet. Obviously, I'm super happy to be helping other women look great at work; I donated some suits and I'm really glad that they will match them up with an owner who will love them as much as I did. But it's just kind of a reminder that I am not working, (albeit, for good reason.)

I've been working on some home projects: rearranging furniture, making a big chalk board, general organizing, and trying to find myself a little workspace in our little home. I'm also planning on staining some furniture, making some art for our super bare walls, doing some furniture repair, and picking fabrics for some reupholstering. I like doing home-y things but I'm so afraid of picking something that will turn out to be not how I pictured and becomes an expensive mistake. So, decorating the house ends up being a ridiculously long and time consuming process. I tell my husband, "I'm afraid of commitment."

We're also planning for another marathon 2 week trip to DC and having a little first birthday celebration for the baby (omg...I'm not going to be able to call him that anymore.) Of course I'm so excited, but there are lots of things to do.

I don't think I've mentioned this here before, but I volunteer as an adviser for the local chapter of my college sorority. A lot of the officers have had major questions and so I've been meeting with all 18 girls one-on-one to help sort things out before the year comes to an end. It's been interesting to learn all the intricacies of the organization, which is somewhat akin to a company. I've been giving advice on finance, marketing, HR, etc. It's been good but it's really really time consuming.

And the last thing is my BIGGEST NEWS: I've been exploring the possibility of starting a mommy business. This blog has been a great mommy project, but sometimes I feel like it's not enough. I like writing and sharing information but I don't like sitting behind a computer all day. I need to be around people. And actually, an opportunity has kind of presented itself. I'm still trying to figure out the details of everything. Sometimes, it sounds like a really great idea, and then other times I feel like I'm in over my head and that it wont work out. I'm not ready to share everything quite yet, but as I learn more about it I will def pass along the messy details.

It's funny because these things that have been keeping my busy are great things, but somehow I'm still bogged down. I'm sure his sleep issues have A LOT to do with it, combined with still working on a routine for organizing my time. Hopefully, this Andy Grammer song that I've got perpetually playing in my head for like the past three days will give me a boost.

Sincerely,

P.S. - How do you work through the exhausting, busy, unorganized days? I love tips.

The Comeback: Stay at Home Moms Who Returned to Their Career

Spending the week in a hotel with a baby means a lot of very quiet, no-movement time during naps. I actually really enjoy it because if I was at home I would get distracted by things around the house but in the room I get the opportunity to not do much else but play on pinterest, read, or blog.

I'm not sure where I happened upon this book, but I recently picked up The Comeback by Emma Gilbey Keller. I've only made it through the first 11 pages of the introduction, but I already love it. This woman could be reading my mind.

"My work was my world."

Mine too! I was a self proclaimed workaholic and I lived and breathed my job, to the extreme (because of my strengths) but I LOVED work in general. Before we got married I told my husband, that no way in the world would I be a SAHM, some people can hack it - but not me.

The author has the same type of situation, essentially, her husband (by no fault of him and willingly by her) had a career that received priority and essentially caused her to become a SAHM.

"The biggest adjustment women face when they give up work - more even than loosing an income - is that their confidence starts to decline. Being in the outside world, getting paid, and communicating with adults is healthy and energizing. Giving that up is tough on the ego. Some women feel diminished and inadequate. Some get lonely and depressed. They can be very, very busy and very, very bored."

BINGO. I couldn't have said it better myself.

I think she highlights two main things about being a SAHM: that it can be mind-numbing and that it effects your self-esteem. There is a strong correlation between the two, being given only menial tasks at work feels like a demotion, and while child-rearing is a very important job, changing diapers and cleaning up puke can be demoralizing.

Eventually, the author gets to a point where her daughter said to her "I go to school. Molly goes to school. Daddy goes to work. And Mommy goes to...gym." And she realized that it was time to go back to her career; which leads to The Comeback, her search for women who "took an extended maternity leave," paused their careers, and successfully returned to them. Something that I dream of doing.

I always wonder if I'm the only woman out there that feels this way, which is why I started this blog. Just reading part of the intro to this book made me feel like there is hope for me, that this is the right decision, and that I will be able to return to an amazing job someday.

Sincerely,
Jordan

P.S. - I want to hear from you! If you are a SAHM - do you feel the same way? If your a career mom - what do you think? Or if your just a woman in general who has been there or may be here someday - thoughts? Advice? Am I all alone out there on this one?

The Three Factors That Will Keep You Employable

So one of the things I am working on is developing action items for my employability project, just some things I can do to keep the ball rolling on maintaining my resume and network.

Without using any expert opinions, I've kind of coined what I believe are the Factors of Employability, the things that effect whether you get a job or not. My Factors of Employability are networking, experience, and education. These may seem obvious and need no explanation but I feel like for the sake of experimentation I should define my "test areas."

To me, experience is probably the most obvious factor of employability. Most non-entry level jobs require you to have some level of experience working in their field before they will consider you for a position. 

Education is the next factor of employability. For some jobs, employers use education to make a correlation between job success and so it ends up as a sort of check box of qualifications that employers use to weed people out. So clearly, it's important that you have the level of education that is being required. For other positions, having current education requirements is crucial, there are tons of jobs out there that require continuing education in order to maintain a certificate. 

Networking is probably the least obvious but the most helpful. It can really come down to who you know when job searching. The majority of the jobs I have had in life have been because I happened to know someone and in speaking with friends and family going through the job search process, this seems to be a universal route to finding a job.

I'm going to use these three areas to define my employable action items, which I swear are coming soon.

Sincerely,
Jordan

P.S. - Lets make this a conversation: am I missing any factors? Tweet me some things that you think should be a Factor of Employability @employablemom #FactorsOfEmployability

What Do I Do to Be "Employable?!"

Now that I have decided that a major career break is imminent, I've been seriously thinking about what it means to be "employable" and what do I specifically need to do to stay employable?

Since, I am planning to reemerge in the job market in several years, what do I need to be doing now that will help me to be competitive with the new college grads, the seasoned vets, and the people who never left?

First there is the obvious, while I'm taking time off, all of my competition is going to be polishing their skills and getting more experience and education. By just doing what they normally do day-to-day, they will be more employable than me, and so I am going to have to do the same. In my own way I am going to have to find ways to gain resume-building experience and/or education. I think this is going to be an interesting challenge because unlike other job seekers I am going to have to coordinate this around my family's schedule.

The second area that I need to focus on during the next few years is networking. I feel like this is the most common piece of advice that I have seen out there when it comes to job searching. Although I am not currently searching, I think it is important that I maintain the network I have and enhance it to make for an easy transition back to the job market. Additionally, one thing I've noticed these past six months, is that hanging out with my son does not count as "social." I seriously need to spend some time talking with other adults, and not just at SAHM groups, (because while I have truly enjoyed my mom groups, the conversation can become a repeated loop of eat, sleep, poop.)

I think these two areas will be a great jumping off point to create some employable action items. But I also think what I really need to do is hit the books. In googling around about "taking a career break," I found tons of information on job searching and career advice which I think I could make applicable from a long term perspective.

In the meantime, shoot me an email - I would love some feedback from you! In the next couple of days I'm going to start coming up with some action items, things that I want to try to do to build my resume and my network - any recommendations? I'd also love to get some good career-related recommended reading.

Sincerely,
Jordan

The Employability Project

Welcome to my blog!

My name is Jordan and I am a twenty-something new mom to a wonderful 6-month old baby boy, (who is amazing!) And while I am thoroughly enjoying being a mom I am struggling with the highly controversial debate of what kind of mom to be: a stay-at-home mom or a career mom. For some this question is very cut and dry, however, I think that there are many of us out there who really struggle with this. We love our kids but we love our work.

The mantra of my childhood has always been work hard so you can get a job and so I did. I have spent over 18 years in school to get a "good job" and I have held some sort of a full/part time job or internship since I was 14. I have basically spent my entire life "career" oriented.

But something happened several years ago, I met this guy...and I liked him. When he asked me out, I told him, "I don't want to be your girlfriend because I am focusing on my career," and that worked for a while, but he wore me down, and since he was pretty amazing and I love him, we decided to get married. "First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby in a baby carriage..." And here we are.

Well and also...we moved to a new city, in the state that has the highest unemployment rate in the nation AND my current career field (education) isn't particularly looking to hire AND we will be moving back to our old city in 2.5 years AND we want to have another child before we go.

Despite all this, since we moved I have been working and I am currently working (part time) as a contracted tutor for a small local company that supports our area schools. This job has been working well for the past year for several reasons, it's got a flexible school year schedule, it's during the time my husband can be off to watch our son (so no daycare) I really like the people I work with, it's in my career field, I have really gotten to know the ins and outs of our local schools and their curriculum; the pay is an added bonus.

However, I'm bored with it, there isn't a whole lot of opportunity to move up in the company or learn any new skills, the hours are late into the evening, I feel pressured to bring work home or spend unpaid time there, and I'm not really sure I want to stay with teaching. Most importantly, I can't shake the nagging feeling that I am compromising what I want to do for this one short blurb on my resume. I feel like I have been clinging to this position because in this economy - I'd be an idiot to throw a job away! I have no new job to go to, plus, between being with my son all day and working at night (albeit only two days a week right now,) I just haven't had the time to dedicate to a proper job search.

My husband told me I should leave if I wasn't happy; (I love him.)

But - what to do!? I feel like job searching here is kind of fruitless because I don't know what I want to do career-wise. We are going to be moving so soon and we want to have a #2. I feel like this is the perfect time for me to "stay at home" but can I afford a major break in my career!?

So that brought me to the question - can I, or any mother/father/caregiver, really afford a major break in their career? So I went to the natural source of all things wise and knowing - google - and I searched for about a bazillion different things and I found lots of tips to maintain employability while on a career break but had a really hard time finding a person who had documented their experience of taking a significant number of years away from their career to spend as a caregiver and then successfully returning, (especially in this economy!) I'm not just talking about a one-person-did-this blurb because I know this exists but I want documentation, people! (And maybe it's out there...but I'm going to err on the side that google would not fail me.)

So this is me and this is my blog and for the next 2.5 years I'm going to document all of my efforts to maintain my employability while being a stay-at-home mom; in hopes that after all is said and done, I'm going to be "The Employable Mom."

Sincerely,
Jordan


P.S. - I'd really appreciate it if you would follow me and send some love because everyone needs a cheering squad to stay hopefully and motivated! Thanks! Check out my profile for contact info.