The After Life (Homeschool Empty Nester)

This year has been a year of transitions. My baby went off to college, I stepped down from homeschool leadership and am trying to find that "real job".  Hundreds of resumes later and a long list of no's will do a number on your self esteem.  I have a four year degree in Marketing; so 20 years later it's outdated.  I have management experience in retail and admin experience as well, also apparently outdated. I have run a very successful non-profit for the last 20 years but the problem there is salary and raises are ZERO, thereby no substantial job history.  It's frustrating to say the least.

So what did I do the last 20 years. I raised two children, boys at that. I should have received hazard pay. I homeschooled all 13 grades of school, twice. So the homeschool mom is a professional cook, taxi driver, teacher, housecleaner, etc. The quote below is just for a stay at home mother not a homeschool mom. I can't find the article now but that figure was three times this one.

"Research conducted by Salary.com has revealed that the average stay-at-home mother contributes a total of 94.7 hours of work to her household each week, and that it would cost a total of $112,962 annually to compensate these efforts. While this vast sum is no surprise given the myriad chores that the stay-at-home parent has to undertake, it is in fact far lower than the $138,094 value applied to the work of stay-at-home moms in 2007."
Read more: The Worth Of Stay-At-Home Parents | Investopedia http://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0712/the-worth-of-stay-at-home-parents.aspx#ixzz4WbXiX5KO 

In addition, I created a homeschool group that grew from 5 families to 600 - leadership, management, marketing, accounts receivable, accounts payable, non-profit tax filing, event planning, motivational speaking, academic training, teaching/tutoring all subjects and grades, academic coaching, and probably much, much more, I also created a sports organization for homeschoolers. I assisted several other teams and organizations across the country on how to do the same and then wrote a book on how to do it. I created and coached a speech and debate team that received national level honors in several speech categories and all three types of debate. On the side to make actual money did direct sales, graded English and business communications papers for a local online high school, babysat, waited tables, homeschooled other people's children, and administered standardized testing.

But somehow I'm not actually qualified to do much of anything. New hiring practices all process through standardized on line application processes. These don't translate my skills and experiences and thereby I can't get an interview. The few interviews I do get I'm of course - OVER Qualified.

Words of warning to the mom of that last high school or homeschooled child. Start looking before they graduate. Make connections to people in small businesses that will value what experiences you bring instead of being a resume in a pile in an online recruiting site. If you need to hone up on skills with more training or education, take a refresher class or update certifications. If you're better than me about actually making money in the homeschool field (to me it's been a ministry and it's hard to charge too much) then don't leave the best job you've had. Hopefully these suggestions will improve your transition to the next stage in life.