10 Steps to Writing a Perfect Stay-At-Home Mom Resume

stay-at-home mom resume sample
Created by CakeResume

A stay at home parent sacrifices their career to ensure that the children are well taken care of and the house is running efficiently. After spending some time as a stay-at-home parent, it will be tricky to jump back into the workforce as you might lack the recent experience to compete with others for a job position. 

As a stay at home parent, your chief responsibilities include:

  • preparing meals and snacks throughout the day 
  • sanitizing and cleaning cabinets, tables, chairs, or other furniture
  • loading laundry, vacuuming, and performing other various home-related errands and chores

While these duties might not be relevant to the job you're applying for, they do demonstrate skills and abilities that are much sought after by employers.

You can definitely still create a top-notch resume for a stay at home mom/dad returning to work if you know how to showcase your skills on the resume. 

This article teaches you how to create the best stay-at-home mom/dad resume.

Step 1: Pick the best layout for your stay-at-home mom resume.

  • How long should a stay-at-home mom resume be?
    
    Remember, the quality of your overall resume will matter more than the length. Ideally, you will want to keep your stay-at-home mom resume less than one page. 
  • What is the best font to use for a stay-at-home mom resume?
    A bad font is like a stain on the carpet. Make sure that your stay at home parent resume is spotless with a legible and easy-to-read front.
    
    Some of the most preferred fonts include Lato, Calibri, and Gill Sans. Additionally, ensure that the text is in the right size (10 to 12 pt). 
  • What is the standard margin for a stay-at-home mom resume?
    
    The recommended margin is 1 inch for all four sides. 
  • What should the spacing be for a stay-at-home mom resume?
    • The recommended spacing between lines: 1.15 
    • The recommended spacing under the heading: 2.0
  • What format should a resume for a stay-at-home parent be in?
    A PDF format file can help ease the worries you might have regarding the layout of your stay-at-home mom/dad resume when it finally reaches the hiring manager.

Step 2: Choose the right format for your stay-at-home mom resume.

  • The chronological resume format:
    • lists your work experience from the latest to the earliest
    • not suitable for entry-level job seekers or those with career gaps
  • The functional resume format:
    • highlights skills instead of work experience
    • not expected by the recruiter
  • The combinational resume format:
    • emphasizes both experience and skills. 
    • might contain repetitive contents

While there are three resume formats to select, a functional or combinational format will be the most effective for a stay-at-home mom resume. 

Step 3: Start with contact information and basic personal details.

Start your stay-at-home mom resume by including all the essential personal information.  

  • Essential:
    • Your Full Name
    • Professional Title
    • Email Address
    • Mobile Number 
  • Optional:
    • Address
    • LinkedIn URL 
    • Personal Website
  • Avoid:
    • Date of Birth
    • Sexual Orientation 
    • Race
    • Religion
    • Marital Status
    • Salary 

Step 4: Create an intriguing stay-at-home mom resume headline.

Think of the title (or resume headline) of your stay-at-home mom resume as a brief introduction of you and your strengths.

✅ Focus on what you can offer in your resume for a mom returning to work.
The hiring manager will be searching for a strong headline that includes skills or traits that benefit the position and company.  

Try and keep the title of your stay-at-home mom resume within 10 words.

Keep it concise so the hiring manager can learn your most impressive achievements or traits instantly.

Capitalization matters for your stay-at-home mom resume title.
Confirm that the first letters of each word are capitalized so that the hiring manager can easily spot your headline.  

Stay-at-Home Mom Resume Headline Examples: 

  • Results-Oriented Stay-at-Home Mom Proficient in QuickBooks and Accounting 
  • Enthusiastic Stay-at-Home Parent with 6+ Years of IT Experience
  • Career-Driven Professional with 5+ Years of Freelancing Experience 

Step 5: Craft a stay-at-home mom resume summary.

Capture the hiring manager’s attention with a creative summary statement for your stay-at-home mom resume. 

 Open your stay-at-home mom resume summary with an attention-grabbing adjective or your professional title. 

✅ Add skills, experience, and achievements that relate to the job in your stay-at-home mom resume summary. 

✅ Be concise by limiting your stay-at-home mom resume summary to two lines.

For a stay-at-home mom resume, you might find a career objective statement more valuable in showing your traits to the hiring manager. With a career objective statement, you will have the ability and your career goals instead of work achievements, which makes the objective a suitable alternative for entry-level job seekers and those with career gaps. 

Stay-at-Home Mom Resume Summary Examples: 

  • Focused professional with 6+ years of experience providing bookkeeping and accounting services for small companies and large firms. QuickBooks Certified ProAdvisor skilled in providing accurate transaction records.  
  • Determined stay-at-home parent proficient in Java, Python, and SQL. Seeking a role as a freelance programmer at PySparks to assist a wider range of clients with computer software applications.   
  • Flexible stay-at-home mom with 5+ years of recruiting experience for large firms and small local companies. Skilled in ADP Workforce, candidate screening, and high volume staffing. 

Step 6: Include skills and abilities relevant to the job.

Start by deciding how you will format your skills, and then think about the skills you will want to include in your resume for a stay-at-home mom returning to work.  

  • Bullet lists: 
    • eye-friendly
    • lacks details in how you utilized the skills
  • Expanded bullet lists:
    • also eye-friendly
    • shows credibility with details on how you utilized the skills
    • takes up room which limits the number of skills mentioned in your stay-at-home parent resume
  • Integrating skills with work experience:
    • providing details on how the skills were applied
    • shows how the skills related to the job
    • only suitable for those with extensive work experience
  • A categorized skill section:
    • reader-friendly
    • groups together similar skills
    • only suitable for those with a wide range of skills

Example Skills for a Stay-at-Home Mom Resume: 

Hard Skills:

  • Project Management 
  • Event Management 
  • People Management 
  • Mentoring
  • Conflict Resolution 
  • Multitasking 
  • Crisis Management
  • Typing 
  • Relationship Building 
  • Online Research 
  • Financial Analysis 
  • Accounting 
  • Bookkeeping 
  • Payroll
  • Word Processing Software

Soft Skills:

  • Time Management 
  • Persuasive 
  • Communication 
  • Responsible 
  • Leadership 
  • Self Motivation 
  • Organization 
  • Adaptable 
  • Caring 
  • Calm
  • Prioritization 

CakeResume provides the best stay-at-home mom/dad resume templates & examples for talents to demonstrate your qualifications. Let us help you land the dream now (free download)!

Step 7: Highlight your best experience and accomplishments.

As a stay-at-home parent, you might be worried about the gaps in your work history.

Depending on the field you plan to work in, you might want to include the most recent tasks that are related to the new role you are eyeing. If you happen to have limited experience or have long gaps, you can include your stay-at-home parent experience in the work experience section.  

  1. Name of the firm/company
  2. Location of the firm/company 
  3. Professional title
  4. Employment dates (MM/YYYY)  
  5. 3 or more short descriptions of the impact you made throughout the role 

Here are 3 tips to help you write examples of job duties and work achievements for your stay-at-home mom resume.

Tip 1: Focus on the job description of the role you’re applying for and list only the most relevant achievements in your stay-at-home mom resume.   

Tip 2: Quantify the details and examples to add to your resume for a stay at home mom returning to work to clearly show your accomplishments. 

Tip 3: Sprinkle action verbs on your stay at home mom resume to paint a plain picture of you for the hiring manager. 

Stay at Home Mom Resume Work Experience Examples: 

Writer
News Co., North Carolina
Jan 2014 - Dec 2016

  • Wrote 20+ articles monthly for various topics, such as cooking recipes, lifestyle advice, and home improvement. 
  • Performed 25+ hours of research weekly to study current trends and interests weekly. 

Proofreader
Adecco, South Carolina
Aug 2012 - Dec 2013

  • Proofread 5+ novels by popular authors to ensure clarity and correct grammar for publishing.

Step 8: List educational qualifications and background.

If you have an extensive work history, you will want to position your education after your work experience on your stay-at-home mom resume. Otherwise, you will want to place your education information right after your objective/summary statement at the top of your stay-at-home resume. 

However, if you are currently still working on your degree or have an incomplete degree, you will find these examples helpful in writing the education section of your stay-at-home mom resume. 

Below is a list of elements to be included in the education section in your stay-at-home mom/dad rsume:

  • Degree type
  • Name of major/focus of the training program
  • Year of education (YYYY)
  • School name
  • Optional elements: licenses/certificates

Examples of Education in a Stay-at-home Mom Resume:

  • High school degree:
    • Only include your high school degree if you didn’t finish college.
    • Sloan High School (NV, U.S.)
      • 2010 - 2014
      • GPA: 3.90
      • National Honors Society
  • Education in process
    • Add “in progress” or “expected to graduate in (year)”. 
    • B.S. in Education, Cal State (In Progress)
      • Expected to graduate in 2023
  • Incomplete degree
    • Add credits you have earned or experiences gained.
    • Ross Program, University of Michigan (2013 - 2014)
      • Completed 85 credits towards a B.S. in Business

Step 9: Add an extra section to highlight personal traits.

A stay-at-home mom resume can be upgraded further with these five additional features: hobbies/interests, volunteering, certifications/awards, projects, and professional references. 

  • Hobbies and interests
    • can be listed under “hobbies and interests”
    • suitable when your hobbies and interests demonstrate skills and traits that are sought after by the employer
    • Example: writing blogs and traveling 
  • Volunteer work:
    • can be listed with work experience or under “additional information”
    • Example: Volunteer Educator at Science Buddies
  • Certification and awards:
    • Example: The Science Education Certificate 
  • Projects:
    • Example: The Science Education Project 
  • References:
    • Example: Mrs. Linda Loo | Department of Science Education 

Step 10: Write a cover letter for your stay-at-home mom resume.

  • Contact details (similar to what you list in your stay-at-home mom resume) 
    • Your Full Name
    • Email Address
    • Phone Number
    • Address 
  • Introduction: Start your introduction with a fresh greeting to the hiring manager about who you are. 
  • Motivation: How you found the job position, what you know about the organization, and what about the company that attracts you. 
  • Qualification: How you fit the position at the company with a few specific examples. Additionally, you can elaborate more on the examples you have listed in your stay-at-home mom resume. 
  • Closing: Wrap up your stay-at-home mom cover letter with a thank you and include the best ways to reach you. 

Further reading:  The Cover Letter to Land Your Dream Job

Stay-at-home mom resume sample

Rose Min

Results-Oriented Stay-at-Home Mom Proficient in QuickBooks and Accounting 

Millcreek, UT 84106
(373)-463-2372
[email protected]
linkedin.com/in/rosemin

Focused professional with 6+ years of experience providing bookkeeping and accounting services for small companies and large firms. QuickBooks Certified ProAdvisor skilled in providing accurate transaction records.  

Work Experience

Freelance Accountant 
Intuit 
Jan 2018 - Mar 2021

  • Reported and modified errors in profit, loss, and tax quickly and accurately, which helped ease clients’ worries and saved the company from a loss of $2M. 
  • Organized paperwork, schedules, and financial transactions needed for auditing purposes for 1k+ clients. 
  • Monitored client accounts daily to ensure accurate cash transactions and finical statements. 

Bookkeeper
Xero 
Aug 2014 - Dec 2017

  • Arranged invoices, daily transactions, and financial statements for 35+ clients weekly. 
  • Prepared and maintained financial summaries and reports with QuickBooks and MS Excel. 
  • Processed accurate filings and fixed reoccurring filing issues, which helped save the company $40k+. 

Skills

Hard Skills:

  • Computer Skills 
  • QuickBooks
  • Accounting 
  • Payroll
  • Financial Planning
  • Financial Analysis
  • MS Office/Excel
  • Bookkeeping 

Soft Skills:

  • Time Management 
  • Communication 
  • Problem Solving  
  • Adaptable 
  • Reliable 
  • Accuracy 
  • Responsible 
  • Self Motivated 

Certifications

  • QuickBooks Certified ProAdvisor 
  • Certified Bookkeeper 

Education

B.S. in Business & Accounting
WGU Online
2010 - 2014

--- Originally written by Jessica Sun ---

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