Hard times and shrinking paychecks are forcing some stay at home moms to return to the job market.  Meet the Economommies. They are women who chose to leave the workforce in order to focus more on child rearing but with recent market downturns, scrambling to re-enter the workforce.

Sites like MomCorps have proven invaluable to Economoms as they negotiate their skills and expertise in child rearing and home making in exchange for a white collar job:

…women are flocking to mom-centric job and career-consulting sites, where they learn how to translate their maternal skills (negotiation, time management) into corporate argot. Mom Corps, a staffing company that pairs women with white collar jobs that have flexible hours, in February surveyed its 500 most recent registrants: 63% said the economy was driving their decision to look for work. Five percent said they joined because their spouse was laid off.

At Mom Corps, businesses pay to list job openings and gain access to tens of thousands of women who have registered for free; the agency, like rival service 10 til 2, also does actual matchmaking for companies. It’s definitely a buyer’s market. In early March, Mom Corps had 34,000 job hunters and 54 jobs; 10 til 2 reported a similarly scary ratio. How quickly employees are synched with employers–Mom Corps says most of its openings are filled within two weeks–hinges on factors like location and skill set. Think Excel is just a verb? Next in line, please.

The Work out of Home vs Stay At Home mom debate has been thoroughly hashed out here so I won’t restart it.  But, I can’t help but offer the following considerations for women who opt to stay at home to spend more time with their children:

• Keep your resume fresh by maintaining a flexible or otherwise part time job in your chosen field
• Maintain current licensures and certifications
• Take ongoing education courses to stay updated on issues within your field
• Continue to network even after leaving the job force
• Have a plan:  life doesnt always work out the way we want it to thanks to divorce and death.  Have a backup plan in the event your husband or significant other loses their job or has been downsized.

Resources:

• YourOnRamp
• 2Hats Network
• MomCorps
• iRelaunch

Question:  What advice do you have for Economoms back on the market?