What’s the hardest job in the world? Rocket scientist? Brain surgeon? No. The hardest job in the world is being a mom. Nothing can prepare you for just how difficult it’s going to be raising a family. You’ll have to take on a level of responsibility and stress that no other job in the world would expect of you. Mothers do things that they never thought they were capable of while they’re trying to juggle all of their family responsibilities and they pick up some great skills along the way.
When the kids are grown up, you might think about going back to work but lots of mothers worry that they’re unqualified because they’ve been out of the workforce for so long but that’s not true at all. Mothers don’t quite realize it because they can’t write these skills on their Resume and cite job experience but they’re better qualified than anybody else in the workforce. If you’ve raised a family, these are the skills that you didn’t realize you had and the jobs that you could get with them.
Crisis Management Skills
An experienced office manager might be able to deal with a crisis like the phones or internet going down, or a lack of staff, but they don’t know what a real crisis is. Trying to get kids ready for school when the boiler breaks down is a real crisis and your kids aren’t going to be as understanding or helpful as adult office staff. Pulling everybody together to do the impossible like that is just everyday life for your average mother. Being able to deal with crisis situations like this is useful in any job but it prepares you specifically for certain jobs that a lot of people just can’t handle.
These crisis management skills are vital in any kind of medical job but in fields where you have to deal with difficult patients on a daily basis, they’re extra important. Being a social worker involves dealing with lots of difficult and often unpredictable situations on a daily basis so mothers are perfect for it. They also have the empathy that you need to succeed as a social worker. You won’t be able to get a job with your crisis management skills alone. You can easily get social worker grad degrees that will qualify you to apply for social worker positions. It’s the perfect job for somebody that wants to spend their days helping people and giving something back to society.
If you thrive in these high stress situations then you could also get a job as a dedicated crisis manager. They are the people responsible for putting plans in place to deal with natural disasters like floods, hurricanes or fires. It’s a pretty intense job but as a mom, you’re prepared for it. You’ve got a couple of routes into the field of crisis management; there are specific crisis management degrees that you can do, or you can get certification from the Institute for Crisis Management.
Creativity
Creativity is a skill that a lot of people lack. When you’re a mom and you’ve got kids sitting inside on a rainy day complaining that they’re bored, you have to get pretty creative to keep everybody entertained. Spending so much time coming up with new games and crafts for the kids to do improves your creativity no end. You’ll also have creative problem solving skills because family life throws a lot of curveballs your way and you need to be able to come up with creative solutions at a moment’s notice. Creativity is a great skill that goes alongside crisis management so it will stand you in good stead in any of those jobs. But it also helps out with so many other careers.
Marketing jobs are one of the most common careers that are desperate for creative thinkers. Coming up with great advertising campaigns that catch the eye of the customer is far more difficult than people think. Companies need the most creative thinkers out there to create marketing campaigns that stand out from the crowd and drive sales. If you want to get into marketing, you can apply for entry-level admin roles with your skills as a mom and maybe some basic office experience. After a few years, you should be able to progress to a more senior marketing position.
Communication Skills
They say the best way to explain something clearly is to imagine that you’re trying to explain it to a young child. As a mom, you did that every day for years. Any good business runs on communication so employers in almost any industry are always looking out for that as part of your skill set. Marketing features here as well because when you’ve got a vision, you need to be able to communicate it effectively to your team so that it is realized in exactly the right way and you don’t lose any of the magic of your original idea.
Teaching is another career that you can easily transfer into with your skills as a mom. A lot of your daily duties will be very similar to what they were when you were a stay at home mom, but communicating with the kids is your most important skill in the classroom.
Any kind of job in the journalism or broadcast industry is also well suited to mom’s and their great communication skills but you need to remember that you’ve got a different audience. Those transferable skills should still set you up for a job of this kind though.
Negotiating Skills
Businessmen might pride themselves on their ability to negotiate high stakes deals in the boardroom but when compared to an experienced mom, they’re just beginners. A toddler at bedtime is the harder to negotiate with than anybody you’ll encounter in the business world. These great negotiation skills will come in handy in all sorts of industries. Any salesman worth their salt relies on their excellent negotiating skills so any job that involves face to face selling to customers is perfect for you.
Real Estate is another brilliant and very lucrative job that you can thrive in using your excellent negotiating skills. You just need to get yourself a real estate license before you can legally sell properties. You can easily start out on your own by getting a small property and working your way up. It’s perfect for moms because you can choose your own hours.
As well as finding jobs in the first place, your negotiating skills can help you get more money for doing those jobs. When it comes to discussing salary, benefits, and promotion opportunities with your boss, being a good negotiator means you’ll come out on top.
Event Management Skills
Organizing and hosting a party is always hard work. Getting all of the food, drinks and entertainment sorted is one thing but keeping all of your guests happy is the most difficult thing. Now imagine all of those guests are five years old and high on sugar. If you can handle that then planning events and parties for a bunch of adults will be a piece of cake. There are all sorts of events planning jobs that you can get into. You can do parties, weddings, corporate events, and a whole lot more. You don’t need to have specific qualifications to start an event planning company as long as you’ve got a talent for it. Just advertise yourself well and see what jobs you can find.
It’s true that moms are sometimes at a disadvantage because they don’t have as much recent experience as some of the other applicants but they can more than make up for that with the skills they developed as a parent.
This is a sponsored post. The views expressed may or may not represent those of Mommy Ramblings.
