The girls are getting older. To be honest, I’m getting a little stir crazy staying home. They just don’t need me like they used to. Once all the children are driving, have jobs and cars, the mom taxi retires and you find yourself at home alone. A lot. I have a “gotta stay busy” personality and have tried to fill the time with volunteering, fitness and clubs, but it’s just cutting it. Like every homeschool mom whose nest is getting emptier, I wondered what the next chapter of my life was going to look like. If you are a mom with high schoolers, you probably know how I feel. Your life has revolved around your children for years. When they leave, it’s sure going to be quiet around the house. If you are a mom with young kids, you can’t even begin to imagine what it might be like to have 2 minutes to yourself. It happens. In a blink.
A few months months ago, I decided to get my real estate license. Long story on why, but I’m really excited that I’ve finally found something that I love that I can start to focus on as my kids start building their own adult lives. Last week, I started interviewing different firms looking for just the right “fit”. It’s a little nerve wracking starting a career after so much time away from working outside the home, and even more so being the career is completely new to me.
Most prospective firms I have talked to are actually impressed that I homeschooled my children and especially stuck with it through high school. It implies you are patient, organized, and can see a project to completion without having to even say very much. If the interviewer is a parent with school age children, the next comment or question will probably be along the lines of “I don’t know how/How do you…do that?” That opens the door for a great conversation.
Last week I was given a preliminary interview with a local company. At the end, the broker asked if I would come back and talk to another person involved in the hiring process. He gave me an application to fill out. Hmmm….”How have you improved things at your current place of employment?” “Attach a copy of your current resume.” O.K. I was feeling a little intimidated by those requests. I haven’t been in the “workplace” for 17 years! I figured answering “I’m not currently employed” wouldn’t be the best option. I decided to draw on my decision to stay at home with my children and my experiences teaching them. For a few of the questions, I was able to draw on experiences from my “former life” as a public school teacher, but for the most part, I drew on experiences from the last few years which included homeschooling and other experiences working within the local community as a volunteer.
At the second interview, I surprised myself at how much I drew on my experiences as a homeschool parent to paint a picture of how I could fit into their company’s dynamics – probably equal with my other volunteer experiences. Learning to listen, involving others in decision making, flexibility, patience, teamwork…and we all know that’s sometimes even harder to do with our own family than with friends or co-workers. The interviewer (a mom with grown children) continued to nod her head in agreement. It’s all in how you can translate your skills into workplace language. You may have experience with this translating your relaxed homeschool methods into transcript language when your children apply for college.
If your children are older, and you are considering re-entering the workforce, don’t shy away from using your experiences as a homeschool parent to showcase your skills and abilities! If you homeschooled your children through high school, you can do anything you really want to do!
