How I Returned to Work in Less Than Two Weeks After Being a Stay-at-Home Mom

Before I started Great Resumes Fast my career history was in Human Resources Management and recruiting. I worked for two international Fortune 500 companies in the Medical Device and Manufacturing industries. Prior to those two companies I was a recruiter, and I decided to stay home for more than a year after giving birth to my first child. When I was finally ready to go back to work I was able to secure an offer (from a global medical device organization) in less than two weeks. I’m going to share exactly how I did it so that if you’re a stay-at-home mom thinking about returning to the workforce—or perhaps you’ve taken time off to care for a sick relative—you can use this same strategy to open doors for you too.

It really doesn’t matter the reason why you’ve been out of work for an extended period of time; the job search method I’m going to describe below can work for anyone aspiring to return to work OR hoping to diversify their job search methods.

Know What You Want to Do

The importance of having a clear direction cannot be understated. Before you make an effort to return to work you need to know what you want to do. If you don’t have an answer to that question it’s time to do some soul searching. Think about tasks that you enjoyed prior to staying home and those you’ve enjoyed while being home. Choose a position that reflects those interests.

The first thing I knew was that I wanted to go back into recruiting, so I started researching recruiting firms in my area. I was very specific and knew that I only wanted to commute within 30 miles of my home, so I started researching every staffing firm and recruiting office within a 30-mile radius. I used the phone book, Google, yellowpages.com (or YP.com), and any other source I could, to find every organization within my parameters.

Do Your Research

After you’ve made your target list of companies that are a good fit, start gathering contact information. I highly recommend getting the name of a decision maker in the department, a manager, owner, or head HR representative. You can find this information by digging around on LinkedIn, Google, the company’s website or by simply picking up the phone and calling the company to ask. It’s always better to have a person’s name. If you absolutely cannot find a name anywhere then you’ll have to use “hiring manager” or the name of the department.

Get Your Resume Ready

I made sure that my resume and cover letter were up to date and targeted specifically toward a position as a recruiter and HR manager. Every single position I listed within my resume shared about experience, accomplishments, and successes I’d had in the areas of recruiting and human resources management. I even used the position title at the top of my resume. In my cover letter, I addressed specifically why I was a great fit for a recruiter role and how my past experience supported my candidacy. For more information on resume writing and samples check out this website.

Go the Old-Fashioned Route

After I made my list of companies with contact names I made sure my resume and cover letter were ready; and I hand addressed envelopes for each and every company. In my case, there were only 30 organizations within a 30-mile radius that were a fit for me. So, I hand addressed 30 envelopes and put my resume and cover letter in each envelope and sent them off in the mail. Yep, that’s it. That was all I did. It took longer to obtain the names of the companies in my area than it took to mail the resumes out.

The Results Are In

You may think that sending resumes out via snail mail wouldn’t produce any results. You’d be wrong. Let me ask you something … how many e-mails do you receive a day? I don’t know about you, but I receive about 500+ work emails on any given day. Now, how many handwritten letters do you receive in the mail every day? I might get one a week. Maybe. I can guarantee you that the hiring manager—or department manager—is not getting 500 handwritten letters in the mail every single day. And that one they receive from you is going to pique their curiosity—and they’re going to open it. Then … when they do, they’re going to have your information in their hand to review and you’re going to get more than just a couple of second scans—and they’re going to know you took the time to find them, address them by name, and handwrite a letter to them.

When I sent out my 30 letters I received five callbacks for interviews within a week. That response rate blows ANYTHING you’ll get from a job board out of the water. Of the five interviews I received two offers and accepted and started my new position within two weeks of mailing out 30 letters. It took me only a couple of hours to do it, but it made all the difference in my job search. After being out of the workforce for more than a year I was employed within two weeks of initiating my search.

Even if you’re not a stay-at-home mom returning to work—maybe you’re mid-job search and currently employed—you can still use the same strategy to start getting responses now.

If you’re not confident in your current resume, struggling and need a resume writer’s help, or are in a time crunch you can get more help here.

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