The Truth Behind Why I Put 'Mother' on My Resume

I used to worry about explaining my resume gap, until I realized it was actually an advantage.

It’s time to end the stigma surrounding resume gaps once and for all.

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There’s no question that the workforce hasn’t always been super working mom-friendly. We face a very real cultural bias in the workplace that’s pretty much impossible to ignore.

But seriously, I don’t get it.

Being a mom is a professional asset. Truly. Motherhood trains a woman, in an almost unforgiving, bootcamp-ish way, how to be a leader.

Yet if we’re being honest with ourselves, we sometimes shy away from embracing that notion. Isn’t your knee-jerk reaction to apologize when one of your kiddos busts in on a Zoom meeting? Haven’t you ever worried colleagues will view you as inflexible if you need to schedule calls around feedings or naptime, or felt guilty for logging off early to take kids to their after-school activities?

Trust me, I know the desire to be the consummate professional at all times is real. Before I became a mom, I was a lawyer practicing commercial litigation for a prestigious, international law firm. (Translation: I got paid to go to court on behalf of big companies and fight about money all day long). I fully understand what it’s like to shoulder the pressure to constantly be “on.”

And then I had kids. After a two-year stint as a stay-at-home mom that ended when I finally admitted to myself that I would never be the wife or mother I wanted to be if I didn’t have something that was just mine, I decided to go back to work. But this time, I had an entirely different perspective. Don’t get me wrong—I definitely worried at first about having to explain to employers the gap on my resume.

I’m not marketable anymore. My skills aren’t sharp. I’ve been out of the game for too long.

And then I remembered my training. I’m the CEO of my entire household, ensuring that all humans within it remain healthy, fed, bathed, clothed, loved, educated, entertained and active each day. I’m responsible for managing schedules, deadlines and attitudes. There have been times I’ve had to do all that on less than three hours of sleep, with dirty hair and teeth and spit-up on my shirt. And I do it all for a whopping annual salary of zero dollars.

That truth bomb helped me realize I am extremely valuable in the workplace—not despite being a mother, but because I am.

So I’m owning it. Here’s why I’m putting “Mother” on my resume (and why you should too):

1. Being a mom means we know how to juggle important tasks.

Motherhood is a constant act of juggling (not to be confused with “multitasking,” which is the false premise that we can do two things at once). As moms, we’re required to alternate giving our full attention to different balls representing the most important areas of our lives daily, like nurturing our marriages, taking care of our minds and bodies, keeping our houses (somewhat) clean and our laundry (sort of) done—not to mention keeping our kids alive.

This innate ability translates easily to the professional world, where, as a bonus, the environment is relatively quiet and presumably no one ever threatens to pee on the floor. Yes, I can prepare that motion to dismiss, and take on research about The Consumer Protection Act and find time for document review, and no, I’m not gonna freak out about it.

In other words, when it comes to managing more than one project at work, we can say with absolute certainty: “That won’t be a problem. Bring it.”

2. No one diffuses conflict like a mama.

Keeping our kids from killing each other and deciding what’s “fair” is a routine part of being a mother. Have you ever encountered humans who argue more heatedly than siblings over an iPad or what to watch on PBS Kids? I don’t know about you, but I’ve been refereeing fights since the moment my oldest could say, “Mine!”

At work, we naturally act as the voice of reason when stress levels are running high. We can settle disputes between co-workers, we know how to calm irate clients. Being the arbiter of squabbles between our kids has given us a highly valuable skill set—and we sharpen it. Every. Single. Day.

Nikki Oden is the founder of Your Ideal Mom Life and host of the Love Your Mom Life podcast.

Courtesy Nikki Oden

3. We think on our feet.

I’ve never met a boss who doesn’t love an employee who can quickly devise Plan B when Plan A goes sideways. Being able to think quickly on your feet is vital during client proposals, courtroom presentations and product launches alike, and it’s a prowess all moms employ regularly.

Having kids means dealing with unpredictability. We know better than anyone that things will not always go according to plan. (Seriously, you only have to lose electricity or the internet once to become pro at selling “what we’re gonna do instead.”) Whipping a contingency plan out of our back pockets when things go awry comes naturally to most moms.

4. Moms are super prepared.

Perhaps because we often suspect our well-laid plans will be foiled, us mothers automatically prepare for any and all “just in case” scenarios. (After the first time your kid puked in the backseat, you now remember ginger ale and barf bags on every trip, am I right?) That’s why our purses are so heavy and our cars are stocked for an apocalypse.

It’s also why we’re the women you want on your team. We think of things like loading a back-up copy of the PowerPoint presentation to Google Drive in the event something goes wrong with the laptop at the client meeting. We bring extra case law to our hearings just in case the judge goes down a rabbit hole and asks a random question. And, of course, we always have a snack handy.

Clearly, “Mother” has earned a spot on all of our resumes. We should be highlighting the fact that we’re moms, not glossing over it. It’s time to be unapologetic about the unique skills motherhood has given us. Let’s celebrate that bringing life into this world enhances our ability to go after our professional goals and dreams, and gives us the most beautiful, messy, exhausting, revered position we’ll ever have the glory of holding.

Nikki Oden is the founder of Your Ideal Mom Life and host of the Love Your Mom Life podcast. She teaches working moms how to own their day and crush their goals—without the mom guilt. She is also a lawyer, a happy wife, mom of two, and creator of the Super Mom Starter Guide. Download it for free to learn the three things all moms who are rocking it know!