Notes

Demographic information

• Live in Richmond before, moved to Alabama, and just moved back recently
• Age: 32
• Family: Mother of 2, 8-year-old and 6-year-old
• Stay-at-home parent journey: Stop working when her 8-year-old was born. 2 years in between (2018&2019) has her own business in consulting. (Start around 2018, doing workshop and client work, 2019 focused apps and providing consulting (lost childcare and pivot working style), end of 2019 the balance of childcare and work). During covid lost childcare and faced a lot of pressure due to this change.
• Education: bachelor in sociology.
• Previous work experience in HR, and business consulting. Currently going to look for HR director roles.
• Job search status: haven’t been actively looking, just started.

Interviewer Observations

Overall Cole is very friendly and open when talking about her stay-at-home parent experience. Her frustration is mostly observed when talking about the lack of support as a stay-at-home parent, especially when she lost childcare during covid. Most of her concern is related to how companies perceive her gap in experience, and how to keep up with latest terminologies used in the workplace. And her current approach is to build network and find advocates for her.

Job search journey

• Why decide to return: Enjoy work, parenthood was not using skills she used in the workplace. This fall will be the first time to have the bigger one in school for 2nd grade. Another reason is her husband recently got laid off.
• Status:
  • Let people know she will be looking for a job shortly
  • Husband in severance (recently laid off)
• Expectations: Care more about the team and teammates; Looking for teams that can understand stay-at-home parents' needs and are willing to support

Challenges

• Challenges with childcare: moms/working parents not being supported, financial pressure. Cole lost her childcare during covid, which brings her a lot of pressure.
• Challenges at work (she is just about to look for jobs, and these are what she think will be potential challenges): keep up-to-date with terminologies and methods used in the workplace. Her current approach is to ask people to recommend books about the latest trends in the industry, which can be a good starting point for referencing other tools, videos, people, etc.
• Lack of confidence: Impostor syndrome. How to count the home-based experience, therefore looking for teams that can understand the difficulty of motherhood.