What do you think is the best career for working moms?

jf198400

What do you think is the best career for working moms (or the worst)?

I'm curious how perception compares to reality. Many people think teachers are home at 3:30 everyday when in reality many teachers work very long hours in and out of the classroom. So what career do you think is best in terms of flexibility, work-life balance, and also availability of jobs?

I'll start- I am a software engineer, and overall I think it's a pretty good field to be in. There are a lot of jobs, most companies offer flex hours and occasional work from home, I've never had to work much overtime, and salaries are high.

My DH on the other hand, works in finance and is stuck commuting to NYC. He works long hours. He sometimes wishes he had gone into accounting instead b/c it would be easier to find a job closer to home.

So tell me why you would or would not recommend your career to future moms.

jd614

If i could do it all over again I would go to school and become a nurse practitioner. It has the option for flexibility if you want it (you can usually find something 3 days a week or per diem or something like that). You can specialize in a field that you find most interesting.  The money is good (i think better than RN but i am not positive on that) and most importantly I think it would be nice to have job that was rewarding.  I am like your hubby and work in finance in NYC..0 flexibility to my job.

 

I actually think teaching is very hard unless you are fortunate enough to be able to keep your summers off (i know alot of teachers that coach/tutor/are camp counselors in the summer for extra money). Depending on what level teaching there is almost always work that needs to be done at night at home, including on the weekends. And who wants to deal with crazy parents like us! hahaha. But again, very rewarding I would think.

NicoleWI

Hi! You posted on my "How do you do it?" the other day. I've been following your posts as well and I hope you can find better balance and/or stay home after a future baby! 

I've thought about this topic a lot since I would consider a "second career" later and possibly go back to school. I would want something that offered part time hours but decent pay, which is super hard to find. I think occupational or speech therapy could be a good fit. Seems like there are a range of job environments and different hours available, pay is good, lots of opportunities, and you don't have to take work home (much? I don't think?). I think anything in healthcare can be great for moms. There are LOTS of nursing jobs with flexible hours and good pay in my area, so I think that is a good field also, but I am not at all interested in nursing. 

My field is major gift fundraising. It's a GREAT field, working for a good cause with lots of perks and you get to associate with high-level leaders, but if you really want to do it well you should be willing to attend all kinds of evening events and really be out networking. I'm just not there right now. If you LIKE grant writing there are part-time/freelance opportunities for that, but even though I'm a "good" writer (don't just from my posts!) I don't enjoy grant writing.

I'll have to check back and see if other people had good ideas for things I could consider.

jf198400

I totally agree with you about teaching. My mil has been teaching for 20+ years. She says it used to be much different. When her kids were in school, she was home with them everyday at 3:30, now she isn't home til 5 and does a lot of work after hours. It's also impossible to find a teaching job in PA, I have so many friends who are subbing and still living at home. Most of the teachers at daycare are certified teachers who can't find jobs in schools. I wouldn't advise anyone to go into teaching today.

jlaOK

I would think being a nurse.  There is such a wide range of hours you can work and make a lot of money.  I have friends who work 2-12 hour shifts on the weekends and make equivalent to a full-time salary.  You can also sometimes go with little to no child care if you work night shift.

I am a civil engineer and think it's a great career for working moms.  I work PT, from home, and have a lot of flexibility.  I'm not sure how it is in other parts of the country, but where I live a lot of women in my field have the same flexibility.

financialdiva

I agree with PP and vote nurse practitioners or physician assistants. That's not to say there aren't cons that come with the positions but in terms of being family friendly and flexible, I would think this would be a great field.

I always find it funny when people think accounting is well paying AND flexible. It is either well paying (with long hours) OR flexible (making $10 an hour).

*sparky*

My next door neighbors are a nurse (wife) and a pharmacist (husband).  From the outside looking in, it seems they both have had the flexibilty to change their work hours as their family needs have changed over the years.  So those seem like pretty good gigs for working parents to me.

jf198400

I go back and forth on whether I think nursing is a good field for moms. My mom was a nurse and worked PT nights/ weekends. It was nice having her around during the day but it really sucked when she had to work Christmas. My best friend is also a nurse and it seems very tough on her. She works nights to minimize childcare costs but is exhausted all the time. I think it could be great if you found the right job with the perfect schedule but I also think it could be hard to find a good childcare arrangement with the hours they work.

jf198400

LibraryChica said:

As I think about it, I feel like it depends on your goals/perspective. I mean, is your goal to be there when your child gets home from elementary school every day or are you content with flex time or enough PTO to attend most events and a decent paycheck? Do you want to telecommute or do you want to be able to afford a house cleaner? Do you want a career that is easy to enter/exit so you can stay home a few years? Its hard to say what's the best because all moms/women aren't the same any more than all dads/men are the same.

This is so true. I guess for me, I'm trying to imagine the ideal job, where you could work PT but still make a decent salary, have the flexibility to choose your hours, and be able to stay home for a few years and renter the workforce. I'd love to take a few years
off then work PT when all my kids are in school. In my technology field if I leave, it would be very hard to come back.

skyejo

I'm a financial assitant at a large brokerage firm and it really allows me to have a great home/work balance. My hours are 830am to 5pm though if need be I can change those to something like 730am to 4pm (which might happen during the school years). I get a four month, 100% paid mat leave, lots of vacation time, great pay. It's not frowned upon when my girls are sick and I have to stay home or if I'm in an hour late due to a doctor appointment for the girls.

I'm a law school drop out and am so thankful that I didn't go that route. I'm sure it varies but I bet I'd be working a lot more hours for probably not a lot more take home pay until my loans were paid off. If I stuck with a law degree I'd have six figures worth of loans to pay down.

financialdiva

LibraryChica said:

As I think about it, I feel like it depends on your goals/perspective. I mean, is your goal to be there when your child gets home from elementary school every day or are you content with flex time or enough PTO to attend most events and a decent paycheck? Do you want to telecommute or do you want to be able to afford a house cleaner? Do you want a career that is easy to enter/exit so you can stay home a few years? Its hard to say what's the best because all moms/women aren't the same any more than all dads/men are the same.

This is a good point. Which is probably why all our perspectives are different.

I would like a career that meets all the above criterea actually! Anyone know of one??

married2matt

I'm a Case Manager for an insurance investigation firm. It's a computer job that can be done anywhere you have internet access and telephone reception. Something along these lines would be great because there is an amount of reward in what I do, there is some growth opportunity, you're constantly learning, the pay isn't too bad and there is a fair amount of flexibility.

mae0111

I'll jump on the nursing bandwagon.  My sister is a nurse.  When we was working a more regular schedule, she was in a job at a hospital that did not require nights, weekends, or holidays, and she made the same as a nurse on any other floor.  She gets a pension.  She also has the option to contribute to a 403B.  She carried the insurance because BIL ran his own business.  Her hospital is consistently ranked as one of the top in the country.

Now, she works once a month.  It's enough for a little spending money for her, and to keep her foot in the door.  She's preparing to up her hours, and because she's really good at what she does, they're making room for her.  Even then, she'll still have the benefit of avoiding nights and weekends if she wants, while still earning a really good salary. 

traveltheworld

I work as a corporate attorney in private practice and I think it’s great.  My job is interesting, everyone is professional and my hours are super flexible as long as there is not a transaction that needs to be completed imminently.  The good salary also plays a large role in my job satisfaction.  It affords all those little luxuries in life that makes me happy and I can look forward to retiring early.  DH works for a large financial institution in a compliance role - it is very little stress, stable hours, almost absolutely job security and has phenomenal benefits.  But on the other hand, it wouldn’t afford us the lifestyle we have now and wouldn’t let us retire early, so those are the trade-offs.  The first 5 - 7 years of my career were gruelling though, most of my law school friends left private practice within 5 years because the hours were so brutal and you couldn’t have a personal life.  But I think once you get over the “hump” it gets better.  You are still busy, but you have more control over your time and more junior associates to delegate to.  It’s definitely a career I wouldn’t start in my 30s and want a family right away.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

cecilyandgautam

I work for the government and I think that's pretty good work/life balance wise. I get 4-5 waking hours with my kid on work days and don't do much overtime - most of which I can do after bedtime. 

Other fields that seem appealing - working in a hospital. It seems hospitals offer schedules that would more easily accommodate a couple off-setting their schedule to be home with their kids more and by working 12 hour shifts, which I realize is exhausting, you're only working 3 shifts a week. I don't think I could manage to get by with absolutely no childcare after coming home from an overnight shift, but I could pick up after the afternoon nap and spend the rest of the day and evening together and then have more days home to just together. 

ccam

I'm an accountant and used to work in a CPA firm - that would be a pretty difficult job to be in with children.  Working during tax season involved a ton of overtime.  There were nights I wasn't home until after 10.  I now work in government accounting and it is a huge improvement.  I get a good amount of paid time off, every holiday you can think of and was able to switch my hours and go in/leave earlier. 

I was originally going to school to be a teacher, but switched my major to accounting my junior year.  I regret it every summer.  I realize that a lot of teachers work longer hours than most think and also bring work home, but I feel like the vacations and summer break are definitely worth it!

SoMoNY

The best career is the one you love.  The rest works itself out.

I know plenty of WMs that are in legal and medical professions.  They make it work for them.

As for teachers, I have a crazy number of teacher plans and I see them home making dinner at 4:30 thanks to FB.

KL777

I think any job that one enjoys and has a lot of leave time available to them.  Some people need to make the higher salaries, so they may want to look into working reduced hours as a physician, like my friend does.

Some people may really want work in a front line type of service, so they may want to go into mid-level academic administration or nursing.

My career is a decent family/work fit.  The salary is decent, we close down for Christmas break, it's slow during the summer so one can take a lot more leave time during that period.  I work as an academic support administrator at a university.

MamaAllison

jf198400 said:

I totally agree with you about teaching. My mil has been teaching for 20+ years. She says it used to be much different. When her kids were in school, she was home with them everyday at 3:30, now she isn't home til 5 and does a lot of work after hours. It's also impossible to find a teaching job in PA, I have so many friends who are subbing and still living at home. Most of the teachers at daycare are certified teachers who can't find jobs in schools. I wouldn't advise anyone to go into teaching today.

I agree with you that it is probably very different today than it was 10 or 20 years ago - my workday doesn't even officially end until 4. I'm sorry to hear that your PA friends are unable to find jobs! I'm in PA and I guess I have been lucky. What are their fields? I know that elementary, social studies, and PE are a lot harder to find jobs in than Special Ed or math. Tell them to check out independent schools to - they pay a little less but with all the spending freezes in public I'm actually making more at my private school than my friend who is in public - and I deal with less than half the students.

blushingbride_08

I think IT is the best field for flexibility. You can literally work on a beach sipping a nice drink. Oh but with kids maybe not ! Just having the opt for working at home will do.

jf198400

SoMoNY said:

The best career is the one you love.  The rest works itself out.

I know plenty of WMs that are in legal and medical professions.  They make it work for them.

As for teachers, I have a crazy number of teacher plans and I see them home making dinner at 4:30 thanks to FB.

I guess I asked the question b/c I am not in a career that I love. I appreciate the benefits my job offers, but I don't want to do this for the next 40 years. So I am curious what else is out there and what might be the "best job" for moms.

Mustardseed2007

I work as an inhouse attorney and I think it's a very sweet gig. It's pretty flexible, pay is good, the company I work for is employee friendly when they can be, I get to do a LOT of different things, and I'm usually out the door at or before 5. If I was the general counsel my schedule would involve more travel but even more flexibility on a day to day.

The trade offs are actually more professional trade offs and concerns that exist for my family b/c I'm the main breadwinner (DH works but I make a lot more).

Basically I don't get to be an expert in any particular legal field with maybe the exception of real estate. That's something I don't like professionally. A related concern is that if I ever lost this job or had to move on for any reason I fear it would be difficult to find something similar b/c even though I'm a lawyer, which is a general field, the company I work for is niche. There are maybe 2 other companies in this city that do what my company does, and I can't work for 1 of them for sure. So I would either have to change industries or move.

Just things that keep me up at night, but by and large this is a great job for any woman/mom who wants to be able to be a lawyer but still be able to cook dinner at night.

jnealet

I have a job in healthcare IT but the business side of it all.  I have a good work/life balance and make a salary that makes me happy. 

Personally, I wouldn't want to be a nurse.  We have NPs here and they work long hours, and we have a lower patient load than a regular center because we have high needs patients.  We have nurses too, which work nights and weekends.

My mom is a hospice nurse and she has long hours too. 

sweetsunnyc

I work as an academic advisor for a university and it's a pretty good family fit. I think that it also has to do a lot with the company that you work for rather than the position itself. For example, the school that I work for is super family friendly, so they have accommodated my schedule numerous times so I can be available for the kids. Twice a week I only work until 3 and my morning hours are flexible so I can get the kids dropped off at school/daycare. And my boss is super supportive of taking days off just to be with the girls. Plus, we have the benefit of getting all of the free education that we want so I could make a career move. I have thought about getting my license to teach elementary so I could have the summers free, but it's a hard time for teachers right now. Plus- I live in CO and the pay is really low for new teachers.

ebp913

My sister is an occupational therapist and I think I would have done something like PT or OT or ST if I could go back and do it all over again.  She makes great money and her schedule is up to her to make so she can work less in the summer or really whatever she wants.  She works at a school right now and is a full time employee but she gets all her hours into Monday through Thursday so she has basically every Friday off plus Christmas and Spring break.  Not to mention she is off over summer too.  She can either take that time off or she could pick up extra work with private tutoring, working at a hospital or whatever to make even more money.  I know a few speech therapists who work a really nice part time schedule with kids and I think it's one of the few careers where you can take time off or go part time with relatively little issue.  

alli2672

I always thought that dentistry would be a pretty good job. 
Dental school doesn't seem any harder than medical school, and there is no residency unless you want to do something super-special.  They all work normal business hours and seem to take at least one 1/2 day every week.  It's certainly paid well, and it seems kind of interesting.  If you joined a practice with someone else, you could probably work part-time. 
I don't know any mom's in the field though.  Maybe there is some horribly brutal side to it that I'm not aware of. 

traveltheworld

ebp913 said:

My sister is an occupational therapist and I think I would have done something like PT or OT or ST if I could go back and do it all over again.  She makes great money and her schedule is up to her to make so she can work less in the summer or really whatever she wants.  She works at a school right now and is a full time employee but she gets all her hours into Monday through Thursday so she has basically every Friday off plus Christmas and Spring break.  Not to mention she is off over summer too.  She can either take that time off or she could pick up extra work with private tutoring, working at a hospital or whatever to make even more money.  I know a few speech therapists who work a really nice part time schedule with kids and I think it's one of the few careers where you can take time off or go part time with relatively little issue.  

Oh yeah, OT/PT would be what I want to do too if I had to do it all over again.  We have a number of friends who work in that field and it seems to be fairly flexible, good pay and good benefits; and you are actually helping people without having to shoulder the responsibility of having someone's life/death (like you would if you were a doctor). 

ebp913

I am a financial analyst for a hospital and while my job is somewhat flexible with my kids, I am still here 8 to 5 Monday to Friday.  It works for us for now but we have already discussed that I am going to have to make changes when the kids go to school as we want to drop off and pick up our kids from school and be there for their after school activities.  I am one of those who likes but doesn't love my job and truthfully, I work for the paycheck until my husband takes over his company and starts making considerably more money.  My husband's career is what will financially provide for us long term but for now, I make more money than he does so it works since our kids are young.  

Watching my sister make the same salary I do right out of college (I am 30) and have a WAY more awesome schedule than I do makes me realize that I wish I had considered all these things back in college when I chose my major.  Hindsight is 20/20 I guess!  

rubber_chicken

My SIL and her husband have fantastic schedules.  She's a teacher and always home by 4 (and she teaches at a charter school with longer hours).  He's a writer/reporter and works from home.  He also teaches some internet classes to make extra money.

My husband and I have terrible schedules. We both work 8-5, but end up signing on most nights and weekends.  It doesn't matter how early my day starts - if a request comes in at 5:30 I need to attend to it.  That's the problem with working for an internet company - you are ALWAYS ON.  To the point where we now only book vacations where there's no internet or cell reception. 

mexicolombiana

PrivacyWanted said:

I am an attorney but wish I'd followed my desire to teach instead (mom was a teacher and pushed me to have a career with more "prestige" ) Schedule wise I think a job at a school with school hours/schedule would be amazing. I'm going for a position like this at a law school, I'd work 8-5 but would have summers and winter break off

YEP.  My mom was a teacher and wanted me to go to law school.  STUPID MOVE.  My mom moved up the ranks in administration and is now an assistant principal at a HS in Chicago.  She makes BANK.  I'm talking 6 figures.  YES. she works hard. blah blah blah.  But dammit I work hard too, and I don't make near that.  I'm very happy for my mom but her advice failed me! I would be much better off having summers off and working until 3:00 p.m. Anyway I'm just a bitter poor lawyer.  I would be a teacher in a heartbeat and would move up in the ranks into administration.  

Also I look at people's paychecks for a living and EVERY single teacher I have filed bankruptcy for makes over $60k.  So teachers in Chicago actually make decent money.  Not all, I know.  But the ones I personally know make very good money actually.  My mom was making over $80 when she moved to administration.  It all depends on where you live and where you work. And teaching isn't for everyone I would have done it but being in a class room full of children or teens really doesn't sound like a cup of tea.  Ha, but neither does meeting with people who are on the verge of losing their homes.  I would trade a room full of screaming children to one pissy bankruptcy client, any day!  It's all about perspective I suppose.

I would have entertained being a police officer or paramedic too. 

All that said, I have very good hours as a bankruptcy attorney, 9-5.  Wouldn't recommend law school to ANYONE though. 

ebp913

traveltheworld said:

ebp913 said:

My sister is an occupational therapist and I think I would have done something like PT or OT or ST if I could go back and do it all over again.  She makes great money and her schedule is up to her to make so she can work less in the summer or really whatever she wants.  She works at a school right now and is a full time employee but she gets all her hours into Monday through Thursday so she has basically every Friday off plus Christmas and Spring break.  Not to mention she is off over summer too.  She can either take that time off or she could pick up extra work with private tutoring, working at a hospital or whatever to make even more money.  I know a few speech therapists who work a really nice part time schedule with kids and I think it's one of the few careers where you can take time off or go part time with relatively little issue.  

Oh yeah, OT/PT would be what I want to do too if I had to do it all over again.  We have a number of friends who work in that field and it seems to be fairly flexible, good pay and good benefits; and you are actually helping people without having to shoulder the responsibility of having someone's life/death (like you would if you were a doctor). 

Totally.  I think I would enjoy anything that didn't involve me sitting at a computer for 8 hours a day which is what I do now.  

aschultz9

I am a nurse. I've missed a lot of family functions on weekends, missed a lot of holidays with my kids, spent weekends and nights sitting home "on call", spent a lot of time begging co workers to trade shifts so I could go on field trips and see school concerts, spent days being crabby with my kids after mandated 12 and 16 hour shifts and 2 hours of sleep. . I'm certainly not "rich".

iverske9

I am in technical sales and love it. I have great hours, work from home but make really good money. I love the challenge but with any sales job if numbers are down you get a earful, if they are up life is smooth sailing. Since I am in sales that require degrees I have great base salaries, awesome bonuses, and great benefits including company car and gas card, etc.

 

 

plusoneblog

I don't think it is what you do, so much as what kind of flexibility your employer offers. I do legal admin work, but have a flexible start and end time, and days to some extent, so that is really helpful.

LoCarb

I think the best and worst careers are in the medical field.

Best - Dental Hygenist or Nurse

Worse - OB/GYN or other drs where you are on call nights/wknds/holidays

thegirljack

I am a PA. I am glad so many people think I have an ideal job....haha

Before my current job I worked at an outpatient clinic for a large medical center. I had 40 hours of patient care (i.e. appointments every 15 min) plus then had to address emails, phone calls, RX refills etc on my lunch or own time. That job sucked.


The nice thing about being a PA is the variety of settings available to work in. You have endless opportunities to find one that fits your life and interests. I highly recommend this profession.

LtlAngL

thegirljack said:

I am a PA. I am glad so many people think I have an ideal job....haha!

The nice thing about being a PA is the variety of settings available to work in. You have endless opportunities to find one that fits your life and interests. I highly recommend this profession.

Same here. As a PA, you get what you sign up for. I used to do orthopedic surgery in a major hospital, and worked 60ish hours weekly. if I would have stayed there, my schedule was unpredictable (it could be time for me to go home, and someone comes in hurt = I can't leave,) or if a surgery goes longer than planned, I can't just walk out. Now I do outpatient sports medicine and have a family-friendly, flexible schedule. I even stick my own name on my schedule when I need to pump!

skibunny59

I'm a teacher and honestly I am thankful for the fact that I get summers off with DD and I am home by 3.  I'm a music teacher so I don't have a lot of the paperwork that people talk about.  My mom was a high school math teacher and I do remember her grading papers at night but she used to do it while my brother and I were doing our homework.  It was nice having her home when we were home and I never felt like her job took away from us.

skibunny59

SandAndsSea said:

I would still say Teaching is the best- lots of time off when your kids are off (holidays, summers, after 3PM, thanksgiving, Christmas, Spring, and Ski weeks), preferential choice of school for your children (in my area anyway), fewer total hours than other professions and the ability to do the extra stuff required at 3PM or 8PM like grading papers, lesson planning, etc. However the downside is pay (and dealing with parents) and I have many teacher friends who became SAH aftter 2 kids because their paycheck wouldn't cover anything other than DC for 2 kids.

I'm a CPA in public accounting and DH is a software engineer and both have proven to require VERY long hours and are very demanding (we both average 50 hours/week).  However, we get paid well, have some flexibility now that we're a decade into our careers, and our jobs are secure.

A teacher's pay greatly depends on where you live.  I've been at my school 7 years and I make about $65 a year.  

2-Step

If you are just talking jobs based on convenience, availability and pay I would say accountant. I have a few friends that worked for the IRS for a few years and now work from home, have unbelievable benefits and tons of time off. Another friend does accounting work on the side for a number of small businesses at home. Every business needs one and a lot of businesses like the farm it out to a person outside the office who can just do it for them. It pays well and is very flexible, with the exception of tax season, but that is in the dead of winter anyway. I could never be an accountant because I suck at math and hate it, but as far as the benefits/flexibility go I think it is the best working mom job.

My job as a freelance designer/writer is awesome for flexibility/pay, however you really have to have a network set up and it's up and down as far as workload, so it's not something you can just jump into and have work, but it's pretty good for me.

I agree, teachers work HARD and they can't ever vacation except the most popular vacation times of the year because they are on the school schedule. I do envy the summers off with the kiddos though!

IBackBevo

I disagree on nursing being the most flexible. Most of the nurses I know work like dogs. And my SIL is a nurse practitioner and she works very long hours. These days more and more nurses and PAs work doctor-type hours because, well, often times they have similar responsibilities. I am sure there are some flexible jobs, but I they are the exception rather than the rule.

I would think being a college professor would be a really good job to have with a family.