‘The perfect employee’: mums urged not to underestimate their employment value

Caring for children helps develop sought-after employment skills mums can use to their advantage, experts say. Find out how.

Caring for children develops a broad range of employment skills

Mums are being urged not to underestimate the value they bring to the workplace, with the skills gained through parenting keenly sought by employers.

Career expert Amanda Rose says caring for children develops a multitude of employment skills, which are in high demand for jobs ranging from entry-level all the way to the boardroom.

“Dealing with little children at home is actually just like being in a boardroom,” says Rose, founder of Mentoring Women and Small Business Women Australia.

“There are massive tantrums in boardrooms, and mums are perfect to handle that because they don’t put up with that crap.”

Rose says taking time out of the workforce to care for family should not be detrimental to a person’s career. She despairs at mums who finish their maternity leave and return to paid work believing they have “had a year off”.

“Because you haven’t had a year off, have you? You’ve had a year doing a different job where you have had to be a project manager, deal with conflict resolution, manage a very tight time schedule and often a very tight budget as well,” she says.

“Mums can resolve any issue while still delivering on deadlines – to me, that makes them the perfect employee.”

House manager

Just like house managers are employed by the rich and famous to ensure the smooth running of a busy household, mums perform the same role for their own families, Rose says.

This includes running errands, planning holidays, co-ordinating schedules, handling the household budget and managing the cleaning and grocery shopping.

Rather than leave a career gap, Rose recommends mothers list this experience on their resumes, detailing all the tasks they are required to perform.

“It’s all in how you present yourself (in a job application),” she says.

“Don’t say (you’re a) stay-at-home mum. It’s self-deprecating.

“Say you’re the business manager of the family, or the house manager and … show that you have been working another job and that job required you to be a team builder, a mentor (and) to resolve conflict.

“How is that any different to what you’re expected to do at work? It’s actually harder because, at work, you get to leave the people you have to deal with (at the end of each day) but, as mums, we don’t get that break each day – we’re still at work.”

Amanda Hargreaves developed stellar time-management skills from being a mum.

Time manager

Amanda Hargreaves has developed “exceptional” time-management skills keeping up with the schedules of her sons, aged 11 and 13, who play several different after-school sports.

It’s a skill that has also served her well in her high-pressure role as a medical (pipeline) partner with pharmaceutical company Roche.

“Even when I’m setting up meetings, I’m constantly thinking why are we meeting, who needs to be there, is it more efficient if it was just an email or a chat with just a few colleagues face-to-face?” she says.

Keen to role model the behaviour she wants her children to imitate, Hargreaves is aware she has a similar influence at work and is very conscious about not checking her phone or emails after hours in case her team feel obliged to do so too.

Katrina Barry, chief executive of food ordering and payment platform me&u.

Not there yet

Women’s leadership advocate Katrina Barry agrees parenting skills transition perfectly to the workplace.

“There’s a level of efficiency and emotional intelligence and an ability to get stuff done that, I think, is unique to mums,” says Barry, who heads an all-women leadership c-suite in her role as chief executive of food ordering and payment platform me&u.

But she warns not everyone will recognise parenting as a transferable skill and says mothers should be selective when it comes to including family responsibilities on their resume.

“I love brave and bold women so (if someone listed parenting skills in their resume) they would get a big tick from me but … I’m just not sure we have reached that moment in time where it’s universal yet,” she says.

Five in-demand work skills gained as a mother

1. Time management

2. Communication

3. People management

4. Problem solving

5. Organisational skills

Source: Seek