There are lots of ways we, as new moms or even temporary stay-at-home moms, can keep up to date with our career. 

My husband and I made the decision for me not to return to work full-time after maternity. Our daughter was young and daycare costs are high - I really didn’t want to work to pay someone to look after our baby.

Postpartum was especially difficult for me. In my mind, I saw my career speeding away (sometimes I still do).

While I cherished every privileged day I had with my little one, a part of me constantly worried about my career.

Here are the 4 things I’ve done to help keep up to date with the industry and other working professionals:

Subscribe to Industry Newsletters

Receive updates of what's happening in your industry via email. Subscribing to an e-newsletter can be useful when you hand select 1-2 organizations instead of subscribing to too many. There’s nothing worse than a loaded inbox and that overwhelming feeling of having to read it all. When you select just one, you can mark those e-newsletters as important to prevent them from being filtered in your inbox.

Create/Review your LinkedIn Account 

Similar to scrolling through Instagram or even TikTok, when you scroll through your LinkedIn platform, you can see what your colleagues are up to and sometimes even see events that you can participate in. It's an easy way to keep current while you're at home with your baby.

Follow Working Moms on Social

For a period of time, I found it difficult to be on social media because I always felt like I should be enjoying my time being a full time home-maker. The reality is more moms work full-time jobs these days. And their posts are far more realistic to the lifestyle I want. Following working moms on social media eliminated my mom guilt and I was able to channel my energy towards more productive activities.

Attend Social Networking Events

Pre-pandemic, I attended various social networking events. I found them to be motivating and powerful in developing connections. These days, social networking events may not be in person but they still happen. As a mom now, the social networking events I find useful are the ones with other moms within my industry. There is nothing more motivating and life changing than meeting another mom who has been in my shoes and powered through it all to obtain the career she wants.

There are a lot of social pressures on women once they’ve stepped into the mom role. Depending on your household finances and economic status, you might have to play the stay-at-home mom role, but you shouldn’t feel like that is the end of your career. Because it doesn't have to be.

Try any or all of the four listed activities to help keep your connection to your career.

I’d love to hear if you have any other suggestions :)