Resumé’s are scary things. I can probably count on one hand how many I’ve filled out and sent in to a company.  I’ve never lied on one like I’ve seen people do on tv. Sometimes, it feels like trying to follow an accountability diet plan, the one where the person records what he/she ate all day. (if ya lie on those things you have bigger problems than lying on a resumé.  lol.) Anyway, as a mostly stay-at-home mom, my resumé would resemble Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree. Scrawny, slim, with one shiny ball dragging the whole thing lopsided. (I imagine the ball is that I am overall, I believe, a smart person.)

Back to the stay-at-home mom bit. I have not had a whole lot of trackable jobs in the last 10 years. (Most business applications require 10 years of employment history.  One application I filled out wanted all jobs and every single month between jobs accounted for. Ugh.) However, not running out of toilet paper, toothpaste, laundry soap, and bread should give me an advantage over a college graduate. What can they do? Watch a zoom class meeting while scrolling through Facebook? (yes, I have seen this with my own eyes.) That is nothing. Most mom’s (stay-at-home, and those working outside the home) have a minimum of five things going on at any given time. Mental and physical.

Back to my resumé, how do I list people that I am not related to but yet know my work history? Removing relatives takes out about 95% of the people I know. I don’t have a lot of non-related friends that have worked with me. Therefore, who am I supposed to list??

Looking back 10 years I had one job to list, maybe 1 job work reference, and then volunteer work. Wait, what? Volunteer is what I do every day! No pay for stay-at-home moms. No pay for opening gates, hauling bulls, working cows, shopping, cooking, cleaning, chauffeuring, and accounting. Ugh. Farm accounts. They have to be the worst.  Probably because I need to look through vehicles, tractors, and piles of papers in drawers to find receipts for the year.

I doddle. Basically, I need to look good enough on paper to receive a call for an interview. Then if that happens, I have a panic attack realizing I have nothing to wear to this interview. Oh, Lord! Looking through my closet I realize I’ve developed my current sense of style from nursing babies, carrying toddlers, chasing after school kids, cows, bulls, and rodeo. Let’s not even talk about shoes!!!!!

Let’s be honest. The reason a college graduate has the advantage here is because they have spent the last few years BS-ing their way through all the papers required by the college classes they took. They can then BS their way through a job application and check the little box that says “do you have a college degree…Yes…No…”  Hold the phone! I am not knocking a degree. I have two girls with degrees, and one boy working towards one, and two that are smart enough – just not yet old enough.

Anyway, to end this- I did not even get a call to do an interview. In some ways it made me feel a little rejected and not good enough. However, in the real scheme of things. Maybe I’m not meant to take that road. Also, how the heck would I fit a 40 hour week job into my already busy life? I can barely find time to take a bubble bath!!!

11-2020