Tips for a stay-at-home Dad returning to work and changing careers

Dear Sam: I have primarily been a stay-at-home dad for seven years with a part time job in retail for the past six. In the fall, I will be reentering the work force full time, and am interested in and suited for a job in social services. My job history prior to raising my children was in sales and insurance. I actually have two questions: Do you have any advice for stay-at-home dads (and moms) who are reentering the work force? Secondly, do you have any advice for those who do not have direct job experience in their desired field, in marketing themselves to a new industry? - MC in Columbus

Dear MC: Being that you are returning to the workforce and embarking on a career change, I’d suggest using a combination résumé format. The combination résumé, as its name suggests, is simply a combination of the standard reverse chronological résumé and functional formats. This format (pictured below) will allow you to minimize the impact of potentially disqualifying factors such as a large gap in full-time employment and limited related experience.

To create a résumé in the combination style, begin with a qualifications summary highlighting your most notable skills that position you for an engagement in the social services arena. Here you can pull out specific experiences that you feel predict your future success. Being that you are interested in social services, you may want to highlight any community or volunteer work you have participated in since leaving the corporate workforce, professional development in the field, or even any certifications you hold that are related to your current objective. This section, typically the length of a standard paragraph, should answer the hiring manager’s question of why they should interview you. There is no need to mention anything about your time away from full-time employment, nor should it mention that you are changing careers. Doing either would highlight a disqualifying factor, which is of course something that should be avoided.

Next in a career highlights or select achievements section, present all of your most notable experiences either by employer (without dates) or by area your background lends itself to that format. By presenting an overview of all of your most impressive experiences within this section, without including the dates of employment, you are demonstrating your value to the hiring manager before presenting any potentially disqualifying factors. This section is the key to the combination format, and will play a large role in whether you get past the screening process. If you feel it is simple to demonstrate the transferability of your past experiences, then by all means present each achievement under each company name. If however you feel that you need to really guide the hiring manager in understanding how transferable your experiences are, then this section would be best organized by functional subheadings (see example).

In the professional experience section, which hopefully will fall to page two of your résumé, include your previous positions, including your time in retail, as this shows your continued involvement in a professional arena. I advise positioning this on page two of your résumé, as you will want to minimize the appearance of dates and titles on your résumé. You can also camouflage these a little through formatting. Instead of placing dates justified right (surrounded by white space and jumping off the page!), place them next to your titles, making both a slightly smaller font and possibly even italicizing them to make them blend into the page.

To ensure that the chronology of your career doesn’t appear until page two, you could include sections on page one highlighting other pertinent qualifications such as continued professional development, related education, any social service projects you have participated in, etc. You could also include quotes from previous employers or leaders within any related organizations for which you have volunteered, attesting to your competencies as a professional or social service advocate. You can often find such information on old performance evaluations, which serve as a great source to reinforce your "value" as a candidate. By strategically positioning your information in this manner, the hope is that when the hiring manager turns to page two of your résumé, they are already sold on bringing you in for an interview. All the best!