What’s Qualifies as Work Experience?
Should I list caregiving for my mother over the last 8 months as work experience on my resume? Caregiving is not relative experience for any of my career interest but I think it’s better than having an 8 month employment gap on my resume. I think it’s also important mention that I wasn’t under any family agreement or received any form of payment or compensation for the time spent caring for my mother. Would this qualify as volunteer, unpaid, or another job category if choose to add it? I’m trying to update my resume now but find myself stuck on this decision.
Leave it as a gap in employment. Iy should be easy to explain it too anyone who questions you, No, that does NOT qualify as "work experience" since no one hired you to be an employee at a company or official organization. It's not really volunteer work, anymore than stay-at-home mothers - work though it may be, it is not EMPLOYMENT and that is what employers are loking for.
You can also opt to keep it off your resume and include a brief explanation on a cover letter explaining that you took time off to care for a sick family member but you’re now ready and eager to return to your career.
RJ, Hope things are well with your mom. Put it down for what it is… a sabbatical caregiver for aging family member. The description is enough to satisfy the gap for unrelated and unpaid career experience.
Hi RJ, Since it’s not a relative experience to your career goals you can list that time on your resume as a Leave of absence with dates and bullet points of regular duties or functions.
RJ
I hope all went well during your time with your Mother. I was honored to care for my Mom over 10 years ago. It takes much strength to carry out these tasks you should carry this experience with high regard.
I would list it something like this:
Primary Care Provider June 2015 - January 2016 Primary caregiver for chronically ill family member. Participated in CPR, Cardiopulmonary classes, Organ transplantation education and or Chemotherapy regimens. (or what your personal experience be)
Keep it brief but to the point unless you are in the medical field, then you can embellish a bit for a few points. Hiring managers are people also and have or will face something similar in their lifetime.
Wish you the best of luck,
Lisa Loou MyiConsultant.com http://www.myiconsultant.com/
RJ you need to spin the positives about everything you did during the day yes it was Being a caregiver but you still had to manage you time and be attentive to details. Being a caregiver shows you can be responsible because if your not someone can get hurt. I'm not sure if you would like this but most auto dealers are always looking for someone but you would need to go into them and ask sometimes they do put ads on Monster or sites like that. Good luck
Consider Switzerland as a prime example...., & I will be delicately forthright. The United States happens to be one of a few developed nations which consistently refuses to support working women at a strong wage -- whether they work at home or in any industry, & I speak a core truth as lightly as would be possible. If you consider the European Union and its working models, or ..., consider Switzerland..., or consider Norway or Sweden, these countries know that the standard of living is much, much higher for all when all earn a livable wage -- not just a wage that pays on partial needs part of the time. These citizens pay out more in taxes than most U.S. citizens do, but they have free education, medical care, dental, vision, & retirement pay in or outside of the home. Now why in the world can't the United States look clearly at a stronger economic truth by clearly supporting its citizens? YES. You should list care-giving. With 7 Billion on the planet & rising, human beings have a responsibility to assist one another but some folks miss this very fundamental fact. Even my 21-yr. old son sees that the United States needs to 'get with the program'. In some cases, we have starving middle class children, underpaid women, & under-utilized men. National reinvestment in its human resources is one of the most constructive contributions a country can possibly offer itself, & it doesn't matter what your employment gap has been. The fact is -- you're a very valuable human being who has much to offer others. If you look very closely at the activities you've been engaged in or with these past 8 months, I'm willing to bet that you've played several key roles. One or more of these roles will point to additional education &/or reveal a fully-developed career pathway if you take some time to examine your interests & passions. Respectfully stated, it's time that people looking for anything (for that matter) stopped selling themselves short of a decent mark.