Book guides mothers on re-entering work force

NEW YORK -- For some mothers who took time off after childbirth, deciding to go back to work is the easy part.

The real challenge is finding work that will be emotionally and financially rewarding, and that still allows them to do their other full-time job: raising the kids.

Many women who stay home with their children -- whether it's for a few months or several years -- do expect to go back to work sometime, says Mary W. Quigley, co-author of "Going Back to Work: A Survival Guide for Comeback Moms" (St. Martin's Griffin). It's a follow-up to the first book she wrote with Loretta Kaufman called "And What Do You Do? When Women Choose to Stay at Home."

The problem for many mothers is, according to Quigley, that they wait too long to decide how and when they'll re-enter the work force.

"You really have to start thinking about going back to work when you make the decision to stay home," she says.

And there are other decisions to be made:

Will you go back to the same career?

Even if you're not "working," are you willing to do volunteer work?

Do you want to go back to school?

Some careers -- human resources, for example -- are pretty easy to walk back into, but in others, such as information technology or scientific research, someone who has been absent for five years will be likened to a dinosaur, Quigley says.

"If you want to stay in science, you have to keep your hand in it somehow," she advises. That can be done by staying active in professional groups or by taking the occasional class; Quigley shares the story of one woman who took enough part-time classes to eventually earn a master's degree in biology.

Even one course from the current year could freshen up a resume.

Sell your skills

"You can think about jobs in your field, but not necessarily the same job," Quigley says.

Some women, though, see this as a chance to right a wrong.

"If you've decided you're not responsible for bringing in money anyway, take advantage of exploring and find something you want to do," Quigley says. "Going back to work is a golden opportunity to choose the job for the rest of your life. Take your existing skills and put them to work in another field."

Fields that are the easiest to break into as a mid-life career change are those that are having trouble refilling the ranks, including nursing and grammar-school teachers, according to Quigley, a college journalism professor at New York University and a mother of three.

Often these jobs are either physically or emotionally demanding -- or both -- but there is the possibility of a nontraditional version of these jobs, such as becoming a nurse for an insurance company. "That could be a straight 9 to 5 job," says Quigley.

She adds: "Health industries hold huge potential. There are a lot of jobs, and many have the flexible hours that working mothers need. Think of physical therapists, they set their own hours."

Parents might be surprised how they can sell the child-rearing skills they've learned to potential employers.

Parenting also helps you learn to give clear and direct instructions, to control your anger and choose words carefully -- which can be helpful when dealing with difficult colleagues or customers, she says.

"When you become a parent, you don't have unlimited free time, so your organizational skills and work ethic change for the better. If your kids are in nursery school for only two hours, you don't waste an hour futzing around, you get right to a task. That's hard to quantify on a resume but it's a really helpful skill to have."

Ambition, excitement and dedication also are difficult to define but they certainly are characteristics employers are looking for, and former stay-at-home moms usually have that fire in their bellies when they go back to work, Quigley reports.