Great news! If you’re a stay-at-home mom, LinkedIn just made it easier for you with a new update. Now, you can list your stay-at-home mom status as your job title. How is this update beneficial or important in any way? Let’s dive into it.
Parents’ Struggles to Balance Work and Childcare
When nurseries were shut down and schools shifted to remote learning at the beginning of the pandemic, many thought the situation was only going to be temporary. However, schools have only been slowly reopening now in the UK after more than a year has passed.
As a result, parents took on a greater share of household responsibilities, which led many to struggle between juggling the demands of working and caring for their kids.
It’s not uncommon, in this situation, to see a person making a conscious decision to cut back working hours. The burden especially fell on working moms.
According to McKinsey’s research in 2020, moms are 10% more likely than dads to consider leaving the workforce, and nearly a quarter of moms have used annual leave to care for their child. Even so, this isn’t a feasible long-term solution as the pandemic drags on. Many have quit their jobs altogether, resulting in a gap in their resume.
The Stigma of Employment Gaps
The stereotype of unemployment is not something new, and oftentimes, questions like “What did you do during this gap?” can leave parents feeling judged and overwhelmed in a job interview.
However, caretakers are not without any skills. As a stay-at-home mom, you will often be required to possess great attention to detail and hone your time management, planning, and prioritization abilities. These skills are no doubt transferrable and equally important in the workplace. In order to tackle this stigma, LinkedIn launched this update to help parents explain that blank space on their resume to employers with ease.
Aside from this update, LinkedIn also announced plans to add a new field to its platform. The new section will allow people to address and explain any career gaps they may have, including parental leave and sabbatical leave.
LinkedIn is the biggest job-hunting platform across the globe. A change like this can alter the public’s attitude towards career gaps in the long run. Perhaps the bias towards return-to-work caretakers can be removed with more efforts following LinkedIn to make parenting a normal part of professional identity.
Building Your Online Presence As A Working Mom
Are you a stay-at-home mom aiming to return to the workforce soon?
Around 1/5 of recruiters eliminate potential candidates because of their poor LinkedIn profile. A strong LinkedIn presence creates a killer first impression on the hiring managers.
Here are several ways you can build your authority on LinkedIn today:
- Post regularly on LinkedIn and amplify your content reach.
- Attend women in business networking events.
- Build rapport by joining LinkedIn groups formed by women in business and working moms.
AUTHOR: Shannon Ho
