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

Red_Dahlia

I'm an HR Manager and think its a great option for working parents. Challenging, yet rewarding work, good salaries, flexibility when needed (I work M-F in the office, and work from home some evenings when things are busy, but nothing crazy and my boss is super flexible if I need to work from home occasionally during the day, etc.) There's also a lot of variety - you can work in HR an pretty much any industry - for huge companies, or small mom and pop shops. I really enjoy it.

Teaching sounds great - but the pay sucks. If I'm going to be away from my DD all day every day, I'm going to make good money doing it. FWIW, DH is a teacher and love, love, loves what he does. I've considered it (how awesome would it be to have summer's off together!), but it would be a drastic pay cut for me, and just not worth it in the long run. 

dizzycooks

Red_Dahlia said:

I'm an HR Manager and think its a great option for working parents. Challenging, yet rewarding work, good salaries, flexibility when needed (I work M-F in the office, and work from home some evenings when things are busy, but nothing crazy and my boss is super flexible if I need to work from home occasionally during the day, etc.) There's also a lot of variety - you can work in HR an pretty much any industry - for huge companies, or small mom and pop shops. I really enjoy it.

Teaching sounds great - but the pay sucks. If I'm going to be away from my DD all day every day, I'm going to make good money doing it. FWIW, DH is a teacher and love, love, loves what he does. I've considered it (how awesome would it be to have summer's off together!), but it would be a drastic pay cut for me, and just not worth it in the long run. 

Teaching is great in that I get summers off and I do get home to make dinner most nights before 5.  The late nights are rare, but they do happen as they tend to anywhere.  I knew about the pay going into it, but it is something that makes my husband and I pause every now and then and reevaluate how we are doing things.  With #2 on the way, it is very possible I'll be seeking other endeavors sooner than later as my entire paycheck will be going to daycare costs and I don't carry any of our benefits.

sucredee

I'm a PA as well and until recently it worked out well. I was working FT until I had DD and then I took 6 months off and went back to work 3 mornings a week. Unfortunately management started changing the year after I had DD and I'm starting to really dislike it. I've worked there for 10 years but I'm starting to think about looking for something else. I've had it really good though because in addition to working only very part time I also get to take about 7-8 weeks of vacation a year (unpaid). When I was hired I basically told them I needed that much vacation because DH's kids lived out of state and my family is abroad so we needed a lot of time to visit family. Finding something else like that will not be easy and I realize that. So basically my job was awesome until management changed and number and dollars are more important than actually taking good care of your patients. So I definitely agree it has a lot to do with the company you work for as well as the type of job. Being a PA gives you a lot of possibilities and you can switch specialties as long as someone is willing to train you.

groovygrl

Teaching in higher ed is very flexible...many variables of course depending on what track you're on and whatnot, but there are generally a lot of opportunities for working from home & doing things around your class/meeting schedules.  I did it for the first 3 yrs of my kids' life and it was great...I decided to move into an administrative position in the last year and while I think I'm really building a new skill set and it will likely be a good move in the long run, I seriously miss the schedule/flexibility of the faculty role.

TCMom78

I am a lawyer in a big law firm. I work an 80 percent schedule, which means 40-50/week, but maybe sometimes 30, sometimes 80-- depends on what's going on. I can think of a million reasons it sucks, and a million reasons it's great. In the end, I make great money, so it's hard to complain. I could certainly go "in house" if I wanted to work less... Then I'd make less... So any "suckyness" is really my choice, I suppose.

daisy662

Teaching for sure if pay wasnt an issue. Only reason I didn't get into that was the pay. I didn't want to limit myself to maxing out my salary at only 70k which is about what 30 year teachers make around here.

ksonne

Wow, I can't believe there are so many PAs here! I'm a PA and work FT in surgery. I work a rotating schedule of 10 hour days, 16 hour days, and 16 hour overnights. At my job, we provide in hospital PA coverage 24/7. With that said, I LOVE my job, I love the variety, I never know what the day will bring. Seeing patients on the floor, discharging patients, first assisting in the operating room, and evaluating potential surgical patients in the ED. I also love interacting with so many different people, surgeons, PAs, NPs, nurses, OT, PT, case managers, CNAs, etc. Big downside is that I never know when I will leave. I might get two ED consults or still be in the operating room when it's time to go home. When DH finishes his PharmD, I will start looking for a new, 8-5, office job. I worry I will be bored, but I would like more stability, and weekends off, with 2 LOs. With an 8-5 job, I will likely be seeing patients 8-5 with some charting done afterwards, but at least it would be a regular schedule.

jgoetz1

I am a teacher and think it's the best job a mom can have.  I leave at 3:30 every day (teach 5th grade at a great school) and just get caught up with work on the weekends when the kids are asleep.  I don't think anything can beat having summers off and so many holidays, snow days home with the kids.  I do love my job too though.  You have to be happy at your job since so much time is spent there.  It would be nice to earn more money, but time is more important to me.

YellowTulips521

I work at a community bank, and my bosses are very flexible. When I go back next week after maternity leave, I will have PT hours. When I was FT, it was an 8-5 M-F job, plus 1 Saturday morning a month. The downside is that my pay is not very high (but standard for my area in this industry), but I'm hoping that will change in the next few years as my responsibilities increase. At this point, I stay because of the flexibility and the fact that if I left, I would have a hard time getting back in without being "demoted". 

PunkyBooster

I'm currently in HR. I have been for 5 years and find it very flexible.
Unfortunately since we moved it has proven to not be a lucrative field and I am trying to break out of it.

Dh works in IT. He has it made flex schedule/WFH wise but he travels a lot.

Ridgebackmom

I work in non profit/Development and pay for non-profits (non manager) is crap. However, it is very flexible and I can WFH any day I would like and I have a great supervisor who also has 2 young kids. He gets it! I would love to make more and I do work very hard but to leave cushy seat to go get micro managed somewhere else would NOT work for me. Are their NPs out there that pay well???