How To Explain a Parenting Employment Gap on Your Resume
Taking time away from work to be a full-time parent doesn’t have to derail your career goals. While millions of people become stay-at-home parents at some point in their careers, the COVID-19 pandemic led even more parents — mothers in particular — to leave their job to care for their children.
No matter the circumstances, when it’s time to find a job after a parental employment gap, the path is not always easy. In this article, we share resume tips for stay-at-home parents returning to the workforce, including examples of how to format your resume and explain the gap in your employment history due to your parenting responsibilities.
Employment gap resume tips for parents
If you’re refreshing your resume after an extended period as a stay-at-home parent, follow these guidelines to address the gap in your employment history:
Decide if you want to disguise it
Excluding or downplaying your parental employment gap can keep the hiring manager focused on your skills and qualifications for the job. If your employment gap is only a few months — for example, you left your job after you temporarily lost childcare — you can de-emphasize the gap by omitting the months in your work history. However, you’ll need to address a longer gap in employment more directly in your resume.
One way to do this is to include your parental employment gap in your experience section — it is a full-time job, after all. However, if it’s not relevant to the job you want, you can keep the entry brief so it doesn’t distract from your other experience. For example, if you spent four years as a stay-at-home parent until your youngest child was ready for preschool, then you can include this time in your experience section like this:
Full-time parent, Miami, FL, 2018 — present
Took time away from professional career to raise young children and manage the household
Focus on your experience and qualifications
If you can relate the experience you gained as a stay-at-home parent to the position you are applying for, then it may be beneficial to include more detailed information in your employment history. Identify transferable skills, such as time-management experience you gained from managing your household or juggling multiple schedules.
You can also include specific examples of daily activities and responsibilities you had during your employment gap that are relevant to the duties or responsibilities of the position you are applying for.
For example, if you have a multi-year employment gap because you took time off work to be a stay-at-home parent and homeschool your children, you may want to transfer your skills and apply for a position as a teacher. The entry in your experience section may look like this:
Homeschool teacher, Burlington, VT, Aug. 2018 — June 2021
- Took time away from professional career to be a full-time parent and homeschool teacher
- Primary instructor of three children for grades sixth through eighth
- Researched curriculum, organized lesson plans and planned extracurricular activities
- Evaluated student performance and provided discipline and guidance
Know when and where to share more information
There’s no reason you need to disclose that you are a stay-at-home parent on your resume. That said, if you feel comfortable, you can absolutely explain your employment gap on your resume or share how your experience as a stay-at-home parent translates to the position you are applying to. For example:
Objective
Efficient and friendly receptionist with 5 years of customer-facing experience. Re-entering the workforce after taking an extended family leave. Seeking to leverage my time management and interpersonal skills to become the new receptionist at your company.
