The document provides guidance for individuals reentering the workforce after time away, emphasizing the importance of clearly communicating this transition in resumes and job applications. It offers various examples of job titles and phrasing to help candidates present their previous experience while acknowledging their current status. The author, Dirk Spencer, encourages a straightforward approach to framing one’s narrative to appeal to hiring managers and recruiters.

1. Reentering the Workforce
With Dirk Spencer
Corporate Recruiter & Author
Resume Psychology / The Candy Maker Resume

2. Reentering the Workforce
For people coming back to the job market.
This is the stay-at-home person
The parent who took care of kids, in-laws, grandparents, parents or
maybe worked a side-business or took a sabbatical

3. Job Titles
Prefixes
•Stay at Home
•Work at Home
•Empty-nester
•Career changer
Suffixes
•Spouse
•Mom
•Dad
•Parent

4. Sample Combinations
•Stay at Home Spouse
•Stay at Home Mom
•Stay at Home Dad
•Stay at Home Parent
•Work at Home Spouse
•Work at Home Mom
•Work at Home Dad
•Work at Home Parent

5. Job Function
or Transition Statement
• Re-entering workforce
• Seeking re-employment (among the adult population)
• Seeking new employment (for pay)
• Seeking employment

6. SAMPLE – ONE
[Fill-in Job Title]
Stay-at-Home Parent
Reentering the work force
Targeting entry level [insert-job-title] positions

7. Debrief – Sample One
This is a little long
But – is very clear and obvious
The eye will see the Job-Title quickly
Probably my favorite option…

8. SAMPLE – TWO
[Select: Parent, Spouse, Mom, Dad]
Reentering the work force; former stay-at-home [Fill-in-the-Blank]
Targeting entry level Analyst opening

9. Debrief: Sample Two
"Reentering" is the most important thing to communicate here.
We place first on the line or first in the paragraph.
The word “openings" is vague on purpose; this allows the reader
to fill-in the blank based on their bias, habit, needs… (for the
traditional and specific job-title) all of which will be timing related.

10. SAMPLE – THREE
[Insert: Job Title]
Reentering the work force
Targeting [Job-Title]
(Empty-nester seeking re-employment)

11. Debrief: Sample Three
Parentheses in an email signature or resume is not the best formatting.
But in this case we frame the most important things first (reentry/Job-
Title) and the parenthesis allows us to explain a great deal of data
without over burdening the eye or flooding the short-term memory.
The risk - they never see the empty-nester [pseudo job-title] which may
or may not be a bad thing.

12. SAMPLE - FOUR
Former Business Analyst
Reentering the workforce
Targeting entry-level Scrum opens

13. Debrief: Sample Four
This is an effort to present the previous work experience while
explaining the current situation as quickly as possible by being as fact-
based as possible.
By avoiding all the cutesy or euphemistic attempts at humor to soften
the truth/details of your previous work-status being a time-machine
trip in your career history; this shows some maturity and respect.
This example may have become my new favorite as it telegraphs the
truth! You have been away from that job and you know things have
changed

14. Your Goal
Set the narrative that is you and your situation
Do it in a fact-based manner
Leverage what you can from the past while acknowledging the
change over time to the present (super-critical to your message)
Hiring managers and recruiters can respect this and will likely keep
you top of mind for openings where your circumstances are more of
an asset than liability

15. Dirk Spencer
Recruitment Adviser
Author of Resume Psychology
& The Candy Maker Resume
DirkPMP@Yahoo.Com / 214-295-8687
@DirkInDallas on www.Twitter.Com
Connect to me on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/dirkindallas