Finding a job and writing a resume?

I fell into writing/editing/translating through my first "real" job after grad school. I researched, edited, and translated information about international trade. Later I went on into other areas like consumer goods market research, writing/managing content for an industry-specific website, researching and writing about infrastructure projects, and now writing business plans. It's been a mix of freelance and permanent work. A lot of people think freelance writing is just writing articles for websites, but a lot of businesses hire people to create other business writing content.


Unfortunately, it's a tough time to try to break into the field. There seems to be a lot of people thinking it's an easy money-maker and sort of saturating the market. My main client these days pays me an hourly rate, which is good, but I've heard places that pay per word are reducing their rates. This is especially true for conent mills that hire people to churn out things like those clickbaity articles that are everywhere these days. AI is also invading the space. The Upwork platform seems to favor people that got in early in and were able to develop a work history before others. Don't even touch Freelancer.com, it's full of scammers.

Last week, I signed up for Ticket-to-Work through the Social Security Administration. My youngest son turns 18 this month, and my income will change. I need to at least work part-time. I am happy to report that my new HAE injection treatments seem to be working. My HAE attacks have slowed down a lot. I received hospital bills from my last few HAE attacks. Working will help me get them paid off.

I have an assigned vocational case manager. We had a phone conversation this week and discussed resumes. I have been dealing with a lot of anxiety over how to explain the gap in my employment history. My case manager explained that I should list volunteer work and explain during interviews that I took time off to raise a family. My kids are all grown, and I am returning to work. Being disabled is very hard, and I understand that it varies greatly from person to person, depending on the type of disability (disabilities) in addition to the severity.

I have a very close relationship with my youngest son, and that’s mainly because I started receiving SSDI when he was in fourth grade. He’s a senior in high school, and I still take him to school and pick him up. I have been able to attend all his school events, band concerts, band competitions, open house events, and parent-teacher conferences. I participated in school carnivals, bake sales, and helped chaperone events. I dropped him off and picked up him and his classmates.

I found a few articles that discuss returning to the workforce. I hope others find the articles helpful too.

•Stay-at-home-mom valuable transferable skills.

Just a moment...

•Finding a job/reentering the workforce after being a stay-at-home-mom.

Just a moment...

•Finding a job/reentering the workforce after a long absence.

Just a moment...

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Yes, it is very possible especially if it is a trade and highly specialized work. It takes persistence, patience, passion and meeting the right person at the right place and at the right time.

People will notice if you are good at something and passionate about it.

And if I’m not good at anything and not passionate about anything?

Then your a dilettante like Jake in The Sun Also Rises. Thats my favorite word. But only because i dont like commitment.

Everyone is good or at least decent at something. As about not being passionate, it’s not required. It helps to have passion for things, but everyone needs to pay bills, passionate or not.