Parents: How to Add a COVID Career Gap on Your Resume.
Put the shit-show of pandemic parenting to good use.
I really don’t like to discern between parents and non-parents for two reasons.
- All it does it devolve into a shouting match.
- It alienates practically everyone.
The COVID pandemic has put everyone into a personal hellhole, so I’m not going to say which was worse.
Single or married.
Parent or childless.
Young or old.
What I am going to say is that parents had a unique set of problems to deal with, regardless of their child(ren)’s age(s), which required a particular set of skills.
Those skills shouldn’t be sidelined just because you “weren’t working.”
You were working. You just weren’t being paid for it.
Let me repeat that.
Staying home and taking care of your kids was work.
It was super frustrating, endlessly agonizing, eternally exhausting hard goddamned work.
Don’t let all that effort go to waste (aside from, you know, protecting your kids in a pandemic). Squeeze that experience for its lessons and make some lemonade.
Put That Shit On Your Resume
The first thing you need to do is put a line item on your resume for your stay-at-home time during the pandemic.
Don’t worry about filling in the details yet. Just get over the mental hump that you can’t count unpaid work as “experience”.
You definitely experienced…something.
Be it good, bad, or indifferent, you were not just sitting on the couch eating BonBons, waiting for the kiddies to come home.
Are your scared that employers might see this as padding your resume when you “weren’t working?”
Fuck them.
That wasn’t the right job for you anyways. Do you really want to work for someone who thought that sweating blood over the safety of your children was equivalent to a vacation at the beach?
Probably not.
So put the line in there.
- Still unemployed? Put 2020-Present.
- Have a job after a COVID layoff? Put down the dates you were off.
Remember, pandemic parenting was an experience.
What Else to Write
Okay, you’ve got the line in your resume. Congratulations!
What do you put next?
Let’s work backwards and put down the line items first, then go for the position title.
COVID Resume Line Items
First, there is a 100% chance that you taught your kids from home while they were virtual, especially during spring 2020 and the initial lockdowns.
Write that down. “Educated X kids, ages Y-Z (or grades Y-Z), for AA months”
Think that’s nothing, then think again. On the scale of learning, teaching is the final step.
You don’t really know something until you’ve taught it, and teaching your 5th grader about how to multiply proper fractions means you know more than most American adults.
Next, think about what else you did those many months?
- Entertainment — beyond the TV (
- Safety — instituting procedures to keep your family safe (relates to Environmental Health and Safety)
- Transportation and Logistics — who is going where and what are the safety protocols (relates to decision making)
- Communication — consuming information and disseminating the purest form (good communication is key in any profession)
- Emotional, physical, and mental health — ensuring your children don’t fall victim to being thrown off their routine
Get creative and don’t sell yourself short.
- Have a lot of kids? Logistics are a nightmare.
- Have one kid? It’s tough keeping up with peers.
Lastly, put down anything professional you were able to get accomplished. Certificates, online classes, research performed, books read.
It all counts, so don’t discount any of it.
COVID Position Title
You might be tempted to put something pithy, like “Fired by the ‘Rona” or “COVID Casualty”, but don’t.
You’re taking your responsibilities seriously, so add a serious title.
The best one I have found is The Coronavirus Job Gap.
It’s short.
It’s self-explanatory.
Best of all, it’s on LinkedIn.
This is an actual LinkedIn “company” that you can join to establish your resume timeline.
It doesn’t matter if you were laid off or you quit to watch your kids; this title doesn’t discriminate.
The Takeaway
With the economy still millions of jobs down from pre-pandemic levels, too many of you parents are still out of work.
It might take until after summer to get back into the workforce, especially with exorbitant childcare costs, but it’s never too early to get yourself prepared.
You did a fantastic job keeping your family safe during COVID, so don’t pretend you didn’t work hard. Broadcast your experience as a pandemic parent.
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This article is for informational purposes only, it should not be considered Financial or Legal Advice. Not all information will be accurate. Consult a financial professional before making any major financial decisions.