For stay-at-home parents looking to reenter the workforce, the journey can seem both exciting and daunting. After devoting precious time to raising children, the prospect of facing job interviews can be nerve-wracking. However, this period of being at home with kids has endowed you with a unique set of skills and qualities that can be powerfully showcased during interviews. Let’s explore how stay-at-home parents can answer interview questions in a way that not only highlights their capabilities but also makes a lasting impression on HR, proving that the time spent at home with kids is an asset rather than a liability to their career.
We’ve shared strategies from our own HR director, Siyu He, who became a stay-at-home mom to twins and then returned to being our HR director after two years at home. This time, we’re asking her to answer some questions that HR frequently asks during job interviews and tell how a stay-at-home parent who’s returning to work can consider answering them.
We’re sharing these tips in the hope that they’ll shed some light on how an HR professional/parent views your time at home and help you craft your own authentic answers for your next big gig.
Let’s start with the questions that they always ask – for you to introduce yourself.
Can you briefly introduce what you’ve been doing in the past few years?
It is advisable to engage in activities beyond the daily care of children, such as utilizing free time after their school/sleep to learn new skills, manage your own social media account, or organize/participate in community/ PTA events.
HR wants to hear from this question that during your time as a stay-at-home parent, you have maintained continuous self-improvement and active social engagement.
What are your greatest strengths?
Emphasis can be placed on: time management, multitasking, communication & coordination, information retrieval, organization & planning, and emergency management skills. These capabilities are essential for addressing the various challenges that a full-time parent faces in managing household affairs, demonstrating adaptability and efficiency in their responsibilities.
What are your weaknesses?
It is imperative to approach this question with great caution, as directly stating your true weaknesses is not a wise approach. Instead, this is an opportunity to present some of your strengths in a “weakness” format. For example: saying you’re a perfectionist – striving to excel in tasks; attention to detail – meticulous and thorough; process- (or results-) oriented – adaptable to various job requirements; action-oriented – high work efficiency, and so on.
Why do you want to return to work?
“I’m bored at home,” “I can’t stand just being with my kids anymore,” or “I just need the money” may all be real and true, but it’s not what they want to hear. In line with the specific role you aspire to pursue, you may start by expressing your passionate devotion to this type of work and the endeavors you have undertaken in this regard. Furthermore, show your eagerness for self-enhancement and the realization of your intrinsic value in the professional realm.
How do you plan on balancing family life and work?
You can allay HR’s concerns about your stability by drawing on the specifics of your family situation. For example, hiring an ayi to assist, having grandparents help with childcare, or your children have grown and no longer require extensive daily care, etc.
Now let’s move on to talking about your work experiences:
Why did you leave your last job?
In responding to this question, it is advisable to be as truthful as possible about the real factors at play, such as career advancement stagnation, industry fluctuations, the impact of Covid, family issues, health considerations, etc.
Have you ever faced a difficult work situation? How did you handle it?
To address this question, it is effective to select a specific example from previous work experiences or, for full-time parents, a scenario from daily life. For instance, handling a last-minute family travel plan, coordinating a parent-involved school activity, or navigating through complex issues while obtaining official documents. The key here is to illustrate how you efficiently found and implemented solutions through your capabilities and available resources.
During your interview, you’ll most likely be asked about what skills you can bring to the job you’re hoping to land.
What skills do you possess that are relevant to this position?
It is essential to carefully review the job description of the position you are applying for to understand the ideal candidate criteria set by the company. Based on this understanding, it is crucial to analyze and summarize your own strengths that make you a suitable candidate for the position. For example, if you are applying for a role in the finance department, even if you excel in video editing, it would not contribute to your success in obtaining this job offer.
Can you give an example of a project where you demonstrated leadership skills?
It is imperative to recount a real-life incident systematically, detailing your role in the project from the preparation to the execution phase. Emphasize how you effectively leveraged the skills of team members to efficiently complete tasks, how you assisted them in overcoming challenges they encountered, and how you communicated with other departments to ensure cooperation with your team’s objectives.
Not always, but you’ll most likely be met with questions about your problem-solving abilities during the interview so that HR can get a better idea of how you think and react under pressure.
Describe a problem you solved. What was your approach?
HR expects to hear about a highly specific incident where you encountered a particular difficulty, and how you addressed it through methods such as self-learning new skills, networking, or conducting research and organizing information through the internet. But if you haven’t worked in a while, use a specific example from your personal life. Remember, they know you’ve been a stay-at-home mom for a while and there’s no point tip-toeing around that.
How do you handle unexpected challenges at work?
In this query, you must illustrate your abilities through a specific example that showcases your skills in facing challenges, responding swiftly, identifying multiple feasible solutions based on existing resources, and collaborating effectively with team members.
If you faced a conflict with a colleague, how would you resolve it?
This is particularly suited for showcasing the strengths of full-time parents, as conflicts within the household are constantly simmering, and addressing such situations is an inevitable part of being a full-time parent. You simply need to demonstrate a series of actions you take when conflicts arise to easily respond to this question. For instance, swiftly regaining composure, refraining from escalating conflicts, engaging in a rational conversation with others, identifying the root cause of the conflict, and proposing solutions to resolve the conflict satisfactorily for both.
Got more questions about returning to work for stay-at-home parents? Let us know in the comment section.
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