Be ready to deal with questions as to how you will handle childcare issues when you get to interview. Know what you will do when your child needs to stay home because they are sick, have a doctor’s appointment and so forth. You may not be asked about this during an interview, but it is simply practical to be prepared for situations that always come up.

For writing your resume, remember to use active words, such as managed, scheduled, designed and so forth. These sound far more interesting on your resume than more passive words.

If this is your first job, do not be afraid to list your education, emphasizing those skills which are relevant to jobs you are applying for. If your GPA was high, it is good to list it; otherwise do not bother. You do not need to include your date of graduation, especially from high school.

It is a big decision to transition from a stay at home parent to a working parent, but there are many good reasons to do so. Be honest, relate your at home skills to job you want and emphasize your skills.

If you have a relevant hobby, you can list it, but not otherwise.

For work at home positions, it is a very good idea to include your references. Three to six are sufficient. No family members or roommates, please. Former co-workers or people who work in management are good choices.

Keep your resume clean and straightforward. Do not change fonts all over place.

If you are emailing your resume, put it in plain text at end of your email. Do not send as an attachment unless requested. Many people will not read attachments for fear of viruses. Email your resume to yourself before sending it to an employer to ensure that text version comes through cleanly. You may want to consider formatting it to a 65 character line to ensure that lines wrap correctly. It’s pretty much only formatting you can do with plain text. Most people can receive HTML email now, so if you want to format, it is most likely okay, but there is always chance that they will not be able to read it correctly, so decide if you want to format your resume that way.

Consider having a webpage with your resume on it. A free hosting service works well enough for this if you are looking for a job, but not if you are freelancing. Do not get fancy with this page. You want your online resume and portfolio if relevant to be as clean as it would be on paper.

You will want to consider having more than one version of your resume. Tailor to each job title you are considering, so that you can emphasize skills most relevant to that job. It’s not much extra work, but might just get you that job.

Finally, write a good cover letter. It should give more detail to your most important points on your resume. Do your best to give impression of a hard worker who can work independently.