“When women participate in the economy, everyone benefits.” – Hilary Clinton
The involvement of women in the workforce has made a constructive impact on the economy. For a significant amount of time in the U.S., women have been earning more bachelor’s degrees than men, as quoted by Catalyst.
After writing & reviewing numerous resumes, we have been able to come up with a guide that is immensely helping professionals land their dream job.
Women have been working constructively & efficiently in the workplace for a long time now. However, we need to talk about the work homemakers/stay-at-home moms do. Their incredible ability to handle different tasks at hand and work on professional projects is applaudable. Hence, it’s about time you showcase your expertise in a resume.
Without further ado, let’s start!
Professional Experience
The essence of a resume for an experienced individual lies in the professional experience section. This section is a crisp compilation of your professional journey. Based on the professional experience, a recruiter makes decisions.
There are 3 steps involved in writing the professional experience section.
Step 1: This step requires you to dump all the relevant and not-so-relevant information in one place.
Step 2: This step involves formation of crisp one-liner points. The ideal format to construct these points is the STAR Format. STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Result.
You should just mention what you did by writing a complete one-liner point showcasing your contribution. Let’s take a look at the example below:
Sample Professional Experience section of a freelancer homemaker
Objective/Professional Summary
If you are looking to kickstart your career, I suggest you write an Objective. However, if you have been working on professional projects, then write a Summary.
An Objective & Professional Summary are possibly the first thing that is noticed by a recruiter. That is why it is ideal to include this in the header. After taking care of the format, a question arises – what to write in it?
Let’s start with a few examples.
Objective: Enterprising Editor looking for content editing & writing projects. Result-oriented professional adept at copy editing, editing & proofreading. Proficient in handling social media channels and liaising with influencers for brand visibility. Deployed expertise to write SEO-driven content to generate traffic.
Summary: 5+ years experienced Social Media Manager with specialization in managing the online presence of companies. Proficient in creating content and leading teams of freelancers to deliver value. Adept at engaging with users & influencers and building social media campaigns.
Education/Certification
The education section is of paramount importance if you have nil experience. Additionally, newly gained expertise through a certification plays a major role in influencing the recruiter – even for experienced professionals. You can also mention key modules covered in the certification to showcase your newly-acquired skills.
Let’s take a look at the example below to get a concrete idea of how to write the Certification section.
- Certification in Marketing & Communication | PlayMark | Aug ’18 – Jun ‘19
- Fundamentals of Marketing | Digital Marketing Channels | Designing & Building a Web Presence
- Social Media Marketing | Search Optimization | Display Marketing | Digital Marketing Strategy
Skills
Look, everyone has heard of the dreaded phrase “a recruiter only spends a few seconds in reviewing a resume”. You only have a few seconds to get noticed in the eyes of a recruiter. This is where the “Key Skills” section comes into the picture.
This is the place to showcase your expertise in key areas and let the recruiter know that you are worth it.
Take a look at the snippet below:
The idea is to illustrate your skills broadly and this format does that pretty well.
Key Takeaways
- Do not directly mention homemaker/stay-at-home mom in your resume
- Make a cover letter to explain the gaps in your career
- Write crisp one-liner points throughout the resume reaching the end of the margin
- Bold important keywords and figures to ensure that your resume is ATS-friendly
- Follow a standardized format for time & location in your resume
For more help, take a look at the resume sample below:
In case there are additional concerns, drop in a line in the comments below and we’ll get back to you!
Guest article written by: On a quest to help professionals across the world land their dream jobs, Aditya lives and breathes Hiration — a platform to help job-seekers find their way in the treacherous job market — where he’s a Co-Founder and the unofficial CPO (Chief Problem-solving Officer). He likes to code away his days and nights when he’s not busy disrupting the career space.