9 Stay-at-Home Mom Skills You Definitely Want to Highlight on Your Resume
So you’re ready to swap your comfy yoga pants for business casual clothes and re-enter the professional world. But before diving right into the job search, there are a few things you’ll want to make sure you cross off your resume to-do list. One of the most important things you can do right now is to think about the various stay-at-home mom skills you’ve gained and how to showcase them on your resume to make you a winning job candidate.
And if you want to make your transition into work easier, don’t forget to grab your FREE guide on How to Plan a Stress-Free Week without Burnout, which includes my top hacks and an editable weekly planner to help busy, working moms achieve a calmer, more productive week!
Whether it’s been a short hiatus or a lengthy sabbatical, transitioning from diaper duty and playdate planning to professional pursuits can feel like stepping into an alternate dimension.
But here’s the thing: your time as a stay-at-home mom has prepared you way more than you might realize for returning to the working world.
Think about it. You’ve been managing a bustling household, solving conflicts, budgeting, handling the schedules of you and your family, and so much more.
Well, guess what? Those skills are applicable to practically any job!
I recall talking to a close friend who was transitioning back into the workforce after being a stay at home mom for many years. It was quite a mental shift for her so she sought my advice. I helped her see all the skills she had honed that she didn’t initially think would be relevant in a professional setting.
For example, she was a whiz a managing the household budget. She highlighted this on her resume to demonstrate her ability to handle financial responsibilities and make strategic decisions. In interviews, she also talked about how she balanced her family’s finances and found creative ways to save money without sacrificing quality of life. She was able to effectively showcase her financial acumen as well as her problem-solving skills- which ultimately earned her a position in a finance-related role.
The goal here in this post is to help you realize two things:
- The skills you pick up as a mother carry over to the workforce.
- There are some legitimate ways that you can sprinkle your pedigree as a stay-at-home mom (SAHM) on your resume to help you stand out as a highly desirable job candidate.
A lot of this comes down to how you structure your past job description experience (if any) and how you weave in your experience as a SAHM into the mix.
So, with that laid out, let’s jump into our first topic—the “employment gap.”
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Articulating the Stay-at-Home Mom Gap
Position Your Experience
First off, own your experience with pride, whether it consists of any professional working experience plus motherhood experience or just motherhood alone!
Your time as a stay-at-home mom definitely isn’t all for nothing. It has helped you shape valuable skills that are transferable to countless professional settings. Don’t shy away from including this point on your resume; instead, frame it as a role that has honed your abilities and prepared you for your next career move.
For instance, when listing this period on your resume, think beyond “Stay-at-Home Mom.” Get a little creative with the way you present yourself on paper with phrases like:
- “Family Manager”
- “Domestic Operations Director”
- “Household CEO”
You get the idea.
Inserting a dash of fun on your resume can catch an employer’s eye and more accurately reflect the breadth of your responsibilities as a homemaker.
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Highlight Transferable Stay-at-Home Mom Skills
While managing a household and caring for a family, stay-at-home moms may not even realize they are developing a diverse set of skills that are highly relevant to the workplace. These skills are often honed through multitasking, organization, and effective communication, and become invaluable assets that can be highlighted on a resume to showcase the unique capabilities of stay-at-home moms.
Let’s check out some key transferable skills that stay-at-home moms can leverage to re-enter the workforce confidently.
1. Organization and Time Management
As a SAHM, you’ve become a master of juggling multiple tasks and managing a tight schedule. Highlight examples of how you’ve streamlined household operations, coordinated events, or managed a family calendar. These skills are gold in any job setting.
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2. Budget Management
Chances are, you’ve had to stretch a dollar or two. Include any experience you have with budgeting, financial planning, or cost-saving strategies. These skills are especially relevant for roles in finance, administration, and project management.
3. Communication and Negotiation
If you’ve had to persuade a toddler to eat their veggies or mediate sibling squabbles, believe it or not, your communication and negotiation skills have been finely tuned. Highlight these abilities to showcase your effectiveness in team management, customer service, and vendor relations.
4. Problem-Solving
Think about all of the unexpected challenges you deal with every day at home and how quickly you have to come up with creative solutions. Those type of problem-solving skills are useful anywhere.
5. Leadership and Teamwork
Oftentimes, as a stay at home mom, you are the head honcho at home. And in order to successfully lead your household, you have to collaborate with others. Some examples include coordinating your family’s activities, assigning and delegating chores, and resolving conflicts. All of these experiences help develop leadership and teamwork skills.
6. Adaptability and Flexibility
Being a parent naturally requires you to be flexible – especially when plans or circumstances change. You might have planned a fun family beach day but if suddenly the weather turns stormy, what are you going to do? Quickly bring out every indoor board game and activity you can think of! Because that’s what moms do, we adapt, transition to plan B, and still create an enjoyable and engaging experience despite the circumstances.
7. Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence is one of the most desired skills in the workplace. And moms have plenty of it from having to anticipate meltdowns, handle conflicts, and nurture their children’s emotional growth. At work, such skills come in quite handy where you have to manage relationships effectively, empathize with colleagues and clients, and create a positive workplace atmosphere.
8. Teaching and Training
If you are home schooling your child or children, then you are actively engaged in teaching and training every day. This experience involves lesson planning, curriculum development, and adapting teaching methods to fit each child’s learning style. But even if you’re not home-schooling, chances are you’re still engaged in some form of teaching, whether it be homework help and tutoring, or teaching your children life skills such as cooking, budgeting, and time management. By highlighting these experiences, you can demonstrate your capability to train, mentor, and educate in various contexts.
9. Event Planning and Project Management
There’s a reason planning birthday parties and family vacations are stressful- because it’s hard work! No matter how small the event, it requires managing guest lists, coordinating schedules, arranging logistics, and sticking to your budget. This kind of detailed planning and execution is highly sought after in the workplace, making it a key skill to highlight on your resume.
The list doesn’t stop here. If you can think of any other unique ways to position your experience as a SAHM, throw it in. Almost anything is fair game here.
If it’s something you had to do or learn to make you more productive and contribute to the household, then it likely manifested into a skill or trait that someone else can benefit from. After all, that’s why businesses hire people—for help.
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Describe Your Role in the Household
An important tip for resume building is to describe your role during your SAHM period with action verbs and quantifiable achievements. Check out these 5 detailed examples of a stay at home mom’s achievements:
- Implemented a detailed budgeting system that tracked all income and expenses, ensuring financial stability for a family of four.
- Negotiated discounts and cost-effective deals for household supplies and services, saving approximately $200 per month.
- Designed a comprehensive homeschooling curriculum, leading to a 20% improvement in children’s standardized test scores over one academic year.
- Tutored children in math and reading, resulting in a two-grade level advancement in both subjects within six months.
- Navigated complex schedules of 4 people (320 work-hours* each week).
*Side Note: Show how you manage time by using “work-hours” to describe what you’ve done. This tells employers you know how to use time wisely and get things done efficiently. It’s a great way to show you’re good at organizing and leading, especially in jobs where managing time well is important.
All in all, articulating all of your skills in this way will highlight your organizational, financial, and multitasking capabilities as a hard worker.
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A Few Stay-at-Home Mom Job Description Examples To Get You Going
If You’re that Organizer and Planner
Employers gravitate toward people who are excellent planners and organizers. if you’re the kind of mom who needs an air-tight schedule all laid out on a mega-sized calendar that takes up a whole side of the fridge, use it to your benefit!
Here’s an idea of how you might describe yourself as an organizer on your resume:
Domestic Operations Director (201X-202X)
- Orchestrated daily operations of a busy household, ensuring smooth scheduling and execution of all family activities.
- Developed and managed a household budget, achieving a 20% reduction in unnecessary expenses through strategic planning and negotiation with vendors.
For the Educator and Mentor
If you’re an academic mother, show that off. If you’re a homeschool mom, consider sharing the report cards or letters of acknowledgment given by your school district’s superintendent that validate your ability to administer curriculum successfully.
If you have past teaching experience in a public or private setting, combine that with your teaching experience at home.
Try something like this:
Educational Program Coordinator (201X-202X)
- Designed and implemented a comprehensive home-based educational curriculum catering to the diverse learning needs and styles of children.
- Fostered a love of learning through creative teaching methods, leading to notable improvements in children’s academic performance and engagement.
For the Problem Solver
If you’re someone who likes to fix issues, then it’s worth showcasing that on your resume. Employers love people who attack problems with energy and gusto.
Try out a resume description like this:
Household CEO (201X-202X)
- Led conflict resolution initiatives within the household, promoting a positive and collaborative family environment.
- Negotiated with external vendors to secure goods and services, optimizing household efficiency and saving approximately $200 per month.
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Conclusion
If there’s anything I want you to get out of this post, it’s that your time as a stay-at-home mom has never truly been a career pause — it’s been a period of intense skill-building and management training.
When crafting your resume, remember to highlight these experiences with confidence. Don’t shy away from any of it. The skills you’ve developed while managing the chaos of family life are exactly what many employers are searching for. Tell your story with pride and step into your next career chapter with your head held high.
You’ve got this!
Hi I’m Yesenia,
a working mom of two kids. I’ve experienced all of the beautiful and crazy moments of early parenthood: breastfeeding, picky eaters, toilet training, balancing work with kids, and the list continues!
I created Hard Knock Mama to help working moms navigate through their child’s early years and find a successful balance in their home, work, and life.
