The Parental Skills You Learn That Makes You an Ideal Candidate in Any Job!
As parents, we help our children overcome so much in their daily lives, but it would appear that for all the skills we accrue as a parent, being a parent doesn’t actually lend itself well to a successful career! But this is absolute nonsense! Being a parent means you hold a variety of skills that translate into solid careers. If you’re looking to get back into work, you shouldn’t devalue the skills you receive as a parent. There are many transferable skills.
Communication
When we have a child who refuses to do anything and refuses to eat, or we have to get them to do their homework, we accumulate a variety of skills with regards to persuasion, mediation, and facilitation. These are all communication skills that are integral in any industry, but the closest industry it lends itself to is teaching. If you are looking to become a teacher, there are a number of Teach for America jobs to get you started. Being a teacher is not the same as being a parent, but the great thing about being a teacher is that you have all the skills you’ve learned through managing your child, and when it’s someone else’s children, the lack of emotional involvement makes it easier to enforce effective communication.
Time Management
The task of getting your children to school on time is broken down into dozens of little ones. There are so many skills you learn as a parent, but time management is one of those in-demand skills, especially in freelance circles. If you can organize your child’s morning, and get them to school on time, and you overcome many obstacles, you can apply this to numerous careers, not least in any financial organization. Time management is pivotal to project managers and line managers, and let’s face it, if you can herd your children together, you should be able to herd a bunch of adults!
Problem Solving
Every working industry requires problem solvers. Being a parent means that you’ve got to develop your problem-solving skills because something you hadn’t accounted for always arises. For example, you could be ready to go somewhere, such as a dentist’s appointment, and your child hurts themselves, or you have to help your children solve problems that are new to them but you’ve forgotten about, such as if your children are getting bullied. It is important that, as parents, we try not to be overly emotional about problems and realize our children need to solve these issues themselves. This means that we’ve got to learn how to give them the tools to problem-solve. This becomes an invaluable skill in any industry. You come across problems that you didn’t know existed as a parent. In industry, problems will come up all the time but it’s about understanding what you have in your toolbox.
Being a parent means having to develop a variety of key skills or find yourself overwhelmed. It’s so important to recognize that, as a parent, you have many skills to offer. You’ve got to learn how to harness the skills, but also remember that you shouldn’t be afraid of putting them on your resume!
