Want It All? Top Careers for Working Parents
http://education.yahoo.net/degrees/articles/featured_want_it_all.html
by Gabby Hyman
Juggling a family, career, and your free time is a heady challenge. Those who left the workforce to raise children face potential discrimination by recruiters who see gaps in employment as signs of instability. Many successful professionals who took off time to raise families suddenly find that technology and training requirements have swept beyond their immediate reach. Now what?
Given the high cost and limited availability of child care in the workplace, the lack of wage parity for part-time employees, and tax challenges to the self-employed, it can be tough to find rewarding career options following a parenting hiatus. Some jobs pay well, others pay less so but offer tremendous flexibility and free time. Here are eight interesting, challenging, and manageable options that can lead to a balanced life for working parents:
If you had Human Resources experience prior to your leave, or plan to take courses leading an HR or management degree, executive recruiting offers exceptional schedule flexibility, telecommuting options, and great pay that often includes performance incentives and bonuses--all free from cubicle dependence. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) predicts that human resource and labor relations specialists will enjoy job growth exceeding the national average for all other occupations through 2014.
No surprise: free-lance and on-staff accountants are in exceptional demand in virtually every sector of the American economy. Whether you're looking for seasonal work as a tax specialist, full-time employment as a corporate auditor, or flex-time consulting work from a home office, the accounting field is booming.
If you have bookkeeping experience, a bachelor's degree in accounting, or have completed training in another field, you can foreshorten the schooling necessary before re-entering the workforce. Ten percent of the 1.2 million accountants who held jobs in 2004 were self employed.
Want to join what is predicted to be the fastest-growing occupation through 2014? The BLS says that home health aides will secure the greatest number of job openings. Once you've completed basic medical assisting training, you'll set your own hours working in health-care facilities or at the homes of disabled, convalescing, or elderly people. With a flexible schedule, you can even attend nursing school without disrupting your parenting.
Put the personal and professional contacts that you garnered before your parenting hiatus to immediate advantage by working in the public relations field. PR specialist jobs will also grow faster than the national average through 2014, the BLS says, but the best opportunities will go to college graduates with PR and communications training.
Medical Records and Health Information Technicians
Everyone who visits a physician, dentist, clinic, and hospital has a computerized record to comply with insurance and legal reporting requirements. Many professionals who maintain those records earn a living without leaving home. You'll have to take medical technology courses, where you will learn medical diagnosis, procedure codes and how to use the computer software for billing and records. The BLS predicts "excellent prospects" for records technicians affiliated with healthcare serviced or temporary help agencies.
Rub someone the right way, and you'll have career freedom. Certified massage therapists enjoy exceptionally flexible work schedules, working at home, in concert with health care practitioners and spas, or through a combination of serene work environments. Following your classroom training, you may need to seek licensing--depending on your state. About two-thirds of the 97,000 massage therapists who held jobs in 2004 were self employed. Many are working parents.
If you once had marketing savvy, it stayed with you through the diaper changes. Analysts coordinate the work of marketing teams, branding experts, and product developers to create an over-arching sales strategy. Many analysts work at home as consultants; others arrange flex-time office assignments to balance career and family. If you already hold a marketing degree or are willing to take advanced training at a business school, this can be one peach of a career that matures financially.
Since you've already put your kids in school, you know how vital teacher aides are to the entire classroom experience. Almost half of all employed teacher assistants in the country work part-time schedules and have completed some formal training. Many community colleges and trade schools offer short-course teacher and teacher assisting training programs that will land you where you're really needed. Full-time assistants typically receive health care, vacation, and other benefits. Many enroll in accelerated credentialing programs that turn them into bona-fide teachers.
