How to get a job after 5 years of staying home?

Remember that you don’t have to say why you have been out of the workforce, no need to tell about PTSD or health or your husband’s health. Just, “I am now able to re-enter the workforce, no I wasn’t imprisoned or committed any crime.”

And you don’t say what your last job was, so perhaps an entry level job in a similar position would work well for you, and provide a means to move up quickly.

Good luck!

While you are waiting to be hired, find a volunteer job that in some way showcases your talents, even if it’s a little bit. I have gained several jobs in just that fashion.

I think part of their concern is can you go from “zero to sixty in sixty seconds” or in other words, “can you smoothly make the transition from not working at all to working this job?” With that in mind, try to find volunteer job(s) that take up a decent portion of your time.

If you have a law degree, a BA and years of office experience why aren’t you an ideal candidate for a law firm as a paralegal? Even better, with your medical office experience you’d be perfect for a firm that specializes in medical malpractice (either defense or litigation).

A quick search on State Bar of Texas brought up plenty of good potential job openings – and some of the first ones I saw were Dallas and Irving based.
Check it out for yourself here .

If you are asked directly about the time out of work mention you can always hedge and be truthful but brief and vague. I’d say something like: “I had an extended family medical leave and after remarrying, relocating and getting settled now I’m ready to restart my professional life again.”
They really only want assurance that you’re not flightly, unstable or lacking the skills and support to get the job done.

If you want a job with flexibility to work from home, consider legal transcription or insurance transcription—because you’re very qualified for that, too.
Here are a few places to start looking if that (work-from-home) is what you’re after .

Also, if you haven’t already, get your resume updated, get it out on Monster and Linked In. To get your resume past search bots that might kick it out due to the 5 yr. gap, put place holders (e.g. 2010–2012 Spouse of deployed soldier, holding down the home fort) that cover the entire time as much as possible.

Last but not least, as a (retired) military spouse there are a lot of organizations out there that can help you find work and/or craft a good resume.
One potential place to start.

Good luck!

Why not consider taking the bar exam in your state?

I don’t know that I’d try to hide that 5-year gap in employment. Without making it sappy as if you’re trying to play on the interviewer’s sympathy, you could tell them just what you told us. It certainly shows that you can take a licking and keep on ticking. Lots of employers would appreciate not only the prior experience and your educational achievements, but your guts. A series of shocks like that might well have broken a lesser person.

My best to your husband. Genetic research is now holding out promise we may find a cure or at least a way to stop the advance of MS. I send out my sincerest hopes for your husband, you, and all those who suffer from the disease or whose loved ones do. May we wipe it out and soon.

How about explaining the 5 year period of not working as time you took to raise your 3 young kids? You don’t need to mention ANY of that other personal stuff, ever. That’s none of their business.

Did you do any continuing education in either field during you 5 year break, or have you done anything recently to freshen up your knowledge? If I was interviewing someone with a 5 year gap, I’d want to know that they still kept up with changes in our field over those 5 years. If you haven’t done any yet, maybe that would be a great place to start.

As far the military spouse part, it can be hard because employers want to know that you will be around for a while. You could include in your cover letter that you are finished with moving around.

@gailcalled – I do plan on taking the Texas bar exam but that is not until next summer and the class to prepare for the bar is around $4,000 plus another $600 to the state of texas.

Thank-you for all of the helpful ideas. I have arranged to spend some time with my mom’s business in Phoenix, if needed, to learn some of the new EMR programs. I am also planning on doing volunteering at my county legal aid office.

I read through all the answers and there are some wonderful suggestions. One suggestion I did not see mentioned was applying at a temporary employment agency. I know many employers have started using temporary employment agencies to hire workers. Especially with the strict rules about what you can ask an applicant in a job interview and the difficulty in letting an employee go, if you are not pleased with their performance, a lot of companies hire workers on a temporary basis through an agency and then if they are pleased with the employee, they offer them a permanent position with their company. This might be the perfect solution for you. Temporary agencies usually do not have such strict hiring criteria, so they may not be as concerned about your 5 year gap and once you start working for a company and they see that you are a good employee, they will no longer be concerned about the 5 year gap. Good luck!