Best Careers for Single Moms

Video Transcript

"Hi! I'm Deborah Linville. I'm an employer liaison for EASTBAY Works at Contra Costa County. Today, I'm going to talk about best careers for single moms. I was a single mom and I have been involved with career development for many, many years. So I am going to talk about it and hopefully you can get some tips on choosing a career that will fit your needs. There is no cookie cutter formula for finding out the best career. However, you do want to work for a company that will be flexible with your needs. Being a single mother means more responsibility. It may mean a little more time off if the children are sick, also depends upon your support system that's why there's really no formula. If you don't have a lot of back-up, if you don't have family or close friends around that you trust with your children, it can provide challenges and it would be imperative for you to find a job that is comfortable with you, maybe taking a few hours off for doctor's appointment or for soccer meaning that kind of thing. Also, you might think about non-traditional careers if you do have a good support system and blue collar or trades because you can have someone watch your children, maybe picked them up from school and you can make a higher salary and get great benefits. A thing about benefits also, I would say really go for a job that provides good benefits for you and your children, you can thousands of dollars a year by having the company pay for all or part of your medical, dental, eye care needs. Also, you might want to look into the education field. I know when I was a single mother, I work for a college, we often times had the week of Christmas off which was paid which was real nice work. You can find out a lot of the information about different careers and different job schedules by visiting websites of companies. Also, you may want to look into a field such as health. A lot of nurses, for example, work 12 hours shifts three days a week. That often times can be very advantageous for a single mother because they're able to work maybe Friday, Saturday, Sunday and or during the week, and if they have someone who can care for their children, then you're off more days than if you have a traditional Monday through Friday 8-5 job. Also, there's different shifts and there's different considerations. I would say just if you're a mother, go for your passion, go for what you love to do and what drives you in your field of study, you really want to enjoy your work and come home and be fresh and happy, and provide safe environment and a prosperous environment for your children. Okay! That's what I was going to talk about, best careers for a single mother. I hope you learned something today."