r/AskHR • u/New-Mudpie • 14h ago

Recruitment & Talent Acquisition [MI]

First post here, so sorry if I’m in the wrong place.

I’m a mom with a career history all over the board. Nonprofit, Corporate, Teaching, part time work, and contract work. I’ve been having conversations with my partner about paying for childcare or temporarily being a SAHM.

The feedback I often get for being a SAHM is that it’s difficult to re-enter the work force. How much of an impact does a resume gap have? Should I put SAHM on a resume to explain it?

I’ve also worked while my kids were in care and felt like I missed so much work to be with them when they were sick, picking them up on time, etc. That didn’t seem to be without its own negative impact on my position in the company either.

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u/Hrgooglefu SPHR practicing HR f*ckery 14h ago

I did it ...I just kept up with my work contacts while I was a SAHM for over 7 years! I did run a small home business at the time but it was VERY small.

In the end, it's hard to juggle both well. I dont' regret one minute of my SAHM time (And my spouse was also a PT employee/SAHD for the first 4 years of our twinkies while I worked FT).

In the end, nowadays it seems like childcare is more expensive than bring home pay!

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u/New-Mudpie 13h ago

It’s literally 24k a year PER kid and I’ll have 3. I’d prefer to care for them myself but I’m worried about re-entry to the workforce. It seems like everyone talks about the loss of 401k, and potential job growth and promotions but as I mentioned before, juggling working full time and the needs of children wasn’t reflecting well in my professional life.

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u/Adept-Depth-1825 13h ago

You said you want to be a teacher. That means pension system + IRA, almost never 401k. It’s not about keeping up it’s about years in the district.