For parents looking to return to the workforce, bridging gaps in their CV can feel like a gargantuan endeavour. But the good news here is that employer sentiments surrounding return-to-work parents have actually been changing for the better. Alongside this, there are plenty of casual and part-time work opportunities expressly designed for parents with busy family schedules. Even just putting a few feelers out there can help you find the right opportunities where you can earn some extra income alongside learning new skills along the way.
But what if you aren’t ready to return to work just yet, and are more looking to prepare for future opportunities with a revamped CV? This is where self-driven upskilling can be a worthy strategy.
For parents looking to upskill while juggling family commitments, rest assured that the task may be easier than you expect with just a little strategy and planning. Here are some of our own top recommended tips for upskilling in and amongst school runs, packing lunches, and all the other daily rigmarole of parent life.
Establish your upskilling goals
Studying is both time-consuming and cost-intensive, so you never want to enrol in a short course or program without knowing what you’d ideally like to get out of it. Are you looking to invest in postgraduate qualifications to better prepare for managerial roles? Or are you looking to upskill in particular fields or niches, like tech and digital transformation?
Outlining the scope of your upskilling goals can also help you estimate how much time you’ll need to complete your learning journey. An MBA may take 2-4 years depending on your study load, but short courses like graduate certificates can be completed in a shorter timeframe, making them a good fit for working parents.
Consider too what industries you’d like to upskill for. For example, a parent looking to kickstart a new career in AI, could benefit from completing a Graduate Certificate in AI Strategy. Or if you’re more interested in data analytics roles, you could complete a Graduate Diploma in Data Science. You’d be surprised by just how specific you can make your learning pathway with goal-setting and study planning.
Find ideal courses and programs that fit your schedule
Once you know what courses and programs are going to provide you with the most value in your upskilling journey, the next step is to find the best course providers. Here, it’s well worth looking into information points like coordinators, teachers, and lecturers, as well as subjects and learning outcomes.
On top of this, there are other logistical considerations that will need to be made, like course fees, scheduling, and accommodations for virtual learning and other flexible learning models. For parents looking to study online, selecting a course provider that allows you to learn at your own pace can be a game changer, ensuring you can shift priorities according to your schedule and family commitments without having to worry about missing lectures and falling behind.
Be sure to also look at course completion timelines for each of your shortlisted courses to gauge learning pace. Whilst it may sound great on paper to do a ‘streamlined MBA’ that guarantees qualifications in a fraction of the time, the speedrun through that qualification may come at the expense of time to absorb all your new lessons.
Design a gentle study timetable
Now that you know what you’re studying and where, it’s time to figure out when you’ll be able to open all your books every week. For parents, finding consistent windows of time in the day is rare, to say the very least. But if any of your kids have finished up with high school and are preparing for university, then you’d know that study timetables don’t need to be rigid to be effective.
In fact, you can enjoy a high-performance study timetable that isn’t prescriptive or restrictive. The key is mapping out your entire week on a whiteboard and highlighting all the periods of time where you could be studying – not necessarily where you should be studying. This visual timetabling method is effective at training your brain to better recognise study opportunities whilst removing the added pressure of feeling like you absolutely have to study.
For busy parents, these gentle study windows don’t also need to be centred around a desk either. They can be while you wait in the car for ballet class to wrap up with a book propped open on your dashboard, or they can be relistening to lectures at 1pm on a Monday while you get started on some laundry and ironing. It’s all about finding what study patterns work best for your schedule.
Upskill within a community
If self-driven study doesn’t feel like a natural fit for you, then know you’re not alone. It can be tricky to maintain discipline across your study demands, especially so if there’s nobody to hold you accountable but yourself. So if you feel you may benefit from upskilling with fellow learners, then why not put your own cohort together?
Even across online courses, can find student communities dedicated to sharing their learning resources, and collaborating on revision and exam preparation. In most cases, you can find these communities directly via your course providers in the form of an online forum or group located in your student portal.
If you don’t have access to student groups via your course provider, then you can still find industry forums from all over the world where people are committing themselves to upskilling just like you are. Finding a few study buddies can help to enrich your upskilling experience, bringing your learning journey firmly into the real world.
Seek opportunities to gain hands-on experience
Finally, it’s important to keep in mind that upskilling entails more than just study. For parents looking to return to the workforce, you may also be able to build new skills by saying yes to relevant casual work placements, volunteer opportunities, or other paid or unpaid job opportunities that allow you to gain hands-on experience.
Building skills in a hands-on setting can be ideal for parents who may not have time to commit to extended study pathways. Or you may not even be in need of new qualifications at all – you just need a new position to refresh your CV. If this is the case for you, then trust yourself to know exactly what experience you’ll need to reignite your career, and back yourself in securing that experience using the strategy you’ve laid out.
Revamp your resume using these upskilling tips and tricks
Getting work ready doesn’t need to involve mapping out a 2+ year learning journey. If you’re feeling ready to return to work either in your original career or by kickstarting a new career, then following the tips we’ve outlined above can help you prepare your own unique return-to-work strategy.
No matter what your upskilling journey looks like, just remember to keep checking in with your personal and professional goals to ensure your development stays on the right track and directly helps you land the types of roles and opportunities you’re looking for.
