9 Management Skills You Master as a Mom and How They Can Improve Your Chances to Get a Job
“I am a mother, I have a hole in my CV, I will never get a job.” I have heard this statement so many times in my life, and honestly, I could not disagree with it more. Today, I am sharing an extraordinary story that teaches a lot on how to handle this highly common situation that even you might be facing currently.
Kristy, a mother of three beautiful children, finally found a job. When I first met her two months ago, she was distraught about not being able to find a suitable job for a whole year. She kept telling herself that it was because of the 10-year hole she had in her CV due to having three kids. I explained to her then, that nobody would ever give her a job if she kept repeating that statement. Here’s what I suggested that she do instead:
“Instead of saying that you have a hole in your CV because of your amazing kids, how about changing your strategy?”
“When you have a kid, there are a lot of new skills you have to learn in a matter of seconds. So, being a mother of 3 kids, you are now efficient in:
Budget – You learned how to manage the budget for you and your kids effectively.
Crisis Management – As a mother, you cannot predict what your kids will be up to next. Hence, you learn how to handle continual unexpected events and become an expert in crisis management.
Team Management and Negotiation – You know how to manage a team of diverse individuals with different ages, attitudes, and needs.
Event Management – You can organise multiple events simultaneously and manage different agendas (eg. Different sports activities or school activities for each kid).
Emotional Intelligence Capabilities – You develop extraordinary emotional intelligence and you only need one glance to understand people.
Smart Buyer – You know how to be an excellent buyer and choose the right products and services needed for your team and organisation.
Multitasking – You are multitasking every day, and excelling at it. As a mother, I am sure that you have a lot of fun memories to share on this topic.
Time Management – When you are managing your schedule along with that of your kids, you improve your time management skills and prioritise effectively.
Communication Skills – You understand, much better than before, how important it is to share information with your team in an effective manner.
In other words, you acquired all the skills of a ‘family manager’, and you know what? Those are the exact skills that are currently in high demand all over the world. After all, most experts agree that management skills are closely aligned with the responsibilities you master every day as a mother.
Tell the recruiter that you will be able to make the best use of all the above in your new job role.
In life, if you want something you never had, you need to do something you have never done. And if you are a mother and you want to land a great job, you might find the above suggestions useful to approach a recruiter.”
Dear moms, you have no holes in your CV. If you are a mother, it is only a plus in your CV. You do an extraordinary job, the most exclusive job in the world, that gives you and will always give you a plus as a manager and as a person.
Start showcasing this role that you’ve played in your CV and in the interviews. For all you know, like Kristy, this might be the key to landing that great job you’ve always desired.
Feel free to send me your amazing stories using this strategy at silvia.vianello@spjain.org. Wish you all the best with your job hunting!
About the Author: Dr Silvia Vianello
( Professor and Director – Innovation Center, SP Jain School of Global Management )
Listed among the Top 100 Forbes Italian Women (2018), Dr Silvia Vianello is an entrepreneur, a start-up TV host, an author, and an Instagram luxury and travel influencer. With over 1 million social media followers (@profsilviavianello), she works with leaders and organisations across diverse industries to help transform their company culture and create a better working world and has been featured in multiple publications including Sloan Management Review, Forbes, India Today, Forbes India, The Wall Street Journal, Quartz India, The National.ae, The Economist, Millionaire, VanityFair, Glamour, Elle, and more.
Before joining SP Jain, Dr Vianello was the Marketing Director of Maserati for 24 countries in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Oceania.
