Latest / The Comeback Career Podcast with Fexingo: Returning After a Gap, Stay-at-Home Re-Entry / How to Use a Stay-at-Home Gap to Land a Remote Job
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot on this show about how to frame a career gap, how to explain it, how to rebuild confidence. But one thing we haven't tackled is a very specific re-entry strategy: using that gap to pivot into remote work. Luna: That's interesting because remote jobs are still growing — even after the initial pandemic surge, a lot of companies have settled into hybrid or fully remote models. So if you've been out of the workforce, you might actually have an advantage there. Lucas: Exactly. I want to talk about one case that really crystallized this for me. A woman named Sarah Chen — she was a marketing manager at a mid-size retail company, then she left to raise two kids. Six-year gap. When she started looking to return, she targeted remote-first roles specifically. Luna: Why remote? Was it just flexibility, or did she see a strategic angle? Lucas: Both. She told me she realized that in a remote setting, the things employers look for — self-direction, async communication, the ability to manage your own time without someone looking over your shoulder — those are exactly the muscles you build as a stay-at-home parent or caregiver. You're running a household, juggling schedules, coordinating with schools and doctors. That's project management. Luna: Right, but does that actually land on a resume? I mean, you can say 'coordinated family schedules' but a hiring manager might roll their eyes. Lucas: That's the key — you don't say that. The way Sarah did it was she created what I'll call a 'Remote Readiness Statement.' A short narrative that reframes her gap as direct training for remote work. She didn't list 'homemaker' as a job. Instead, she looked at her volunteer work — she was the lead for a local food drive, managed a team of twelve volunteers, coordinated logistics across multiple sites, all via email and Slack. That became her proof point. Luna: So the volunteer role was the bridge. That's something we covered in episode eight, but the twist here is she specifically targeted remote jobs and used that volunteer experience to demonstrate remote competencies. Lucas: Exactly. She applied for a marketing operations role at a tech company that's fully distributed — about 200 employees, no central office. In her cover letter, she wrote: 'I've spent the last six years managing complex logistics in a distributed environment — school pickups, medical appointments, volunteer teams. I've learned to communicate asynchronously, manage my own deadlines, and adapt when plans change. That's exactly what I'd bring to your team.' Luna: That's bold. Did it work? Lucas: She got the job. She's been there eighteen months now, and she told me her manager actually said her self-management skills were stronger than most of the other hires. Because she'd had to structure her own days for years. Luna: I love that. But I think a lot of people listening might feel like their gap doesn't have that kind of clear volunteer project. What if you were just... at home, caring for a relative, with no big external thing to point to? Lucas: That's a fair pushback. And the answer is: you don't need a formal volunteer role. You need to audit your last six months for any activity that required independent deadlines, virtual coordination, or tool-based problem-solving. Did you plan a family reunion with a shared spreadsheet? Did you help your kid with a virtual school project using Google Classroom? Did you manage household finances with a budgeting app? Those are remote-work skills. Luna: It's about framing. You're not exaggerating — you're translating. Because the core competencies of remote work — written communication, proactive check-ins, the ability to self-correct — those are real skills, and they may be underdeveloped in people who've been in-office their whole careers. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the argument you can make in an interview. You can say: 'I know I've been away from the corporate environment, but I've actually been building exactly the skills that make remote work successful. I'm used to working without supervision. I'm comfortable over-communicating. I manage my own time well.' Luna: Let's get practical. How do you actually find those remote-first roles? Because a lot of job boards mix hybrid and remote, and some companies say remote but really want you in a time zone or require occasional travel. Lucas: Good question. Sarah told me she used two filters: first, she looked for companies that were 'remote-first' not 'remote-friendly' — there's a difference. Remote-first means all communication, culture, and processes are designed for distributed teams. Remote-friendly often means a company was forced into it and still has an in-office bias. She used sites like FlexJobs and Remotive, but also searched LinkedIn with the hashtag '#remote-first' in job descriptions. Luna: And she only applied to roles that listed 'asynchronous communication' or 'self-starter' in the requirements? Lucas: Yes. She specifically targeted roles that said 'ability to work independently' and 'comfortable with written communication.' Those are signals that the company actually values remote skills. She avoided roles that said things like 'must be able to collaborate in person' or 'occasional team meetings in office.' Luna: That's smart. But let's talk about the elephant in the room: age bias. Some listeners might be older, with a longer gap, and worry that remote companies are full of twenty-somethings who won't take them seriously. Lucas: That's a real concern. But I'd argue remote-first companies are actually more open to nontraditional backgrounds. Because they're used to evaluating people based on output, not face time. And many of them are founded by people who value diversity of experience. Sarah was forty-five when she re-entered. She said her age was never mentioned. What mattered was her ability to produce results. Luna: That's encouraging. So what's the one concrete step someone could take today if they want to pursue this angle? Lucas: I'd say: write your own Remote Readiness Statement. Take a sheet of paper — or a doc — and list three activities from your gap that demonstrate: self-direction, async communication, and adaptability. It doesn't have to be a job. It could be a volunteer role, a side project, even managing a household move. Then write a single paragraph that connects those dots. Practice saying it out loud. That's your opener for interviews and cover letters. Luna: I like that. It's a small exercise but it forces you to stop feeling defensive about the gap and start owning the narrative. Lucas: Exactly. And if today's episode gave you a useful frame for thinking about your own gap, I want to mention something. The reason we can keep this show ad-free — no sponsor breaks, no mid-roll commercials — is listener support. It's a simple model: if you got value from this, you can buy us a coffee at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: Yeah, that really does make a difference. Even a small contribution helps us keep producing episodes that focus on practical strategies like this, without having to chase advertisers. So if you're able and willing, that link is there. Lucas: Alright, back to the strategy. One more thing I want to add: once you have that Remote Readiness Statement, don't just use it in interviews. Put it in your LinkedIn summary. That's often the first thing a recruiter sees. Sarah changed her LinkedIn headline to 'Marketing Operations Professional | Remote-First Experience | Returner after a Career Break' — and she started getting messages from recruiters specifically looking for people with her profile. Luna: That's a great tip. And for anyone listening who feels like their gap is too long or too 'just parenting' — I want to push back on that. The skills you built are real. The key is translating them into the language of the workplace. Lucas: Right. One final number: according to a FlexJobs survey from earlier this year, 64 percent of hiring managers said they would consider a candidate with a career gap for a remote role — compared to 48 percent for on-site roles. The gap is actually less of a barrier in distributed teams. So if you're thinking about re-entry, remote-first might be your best bet. Luna: That's a compelling stat. I think it's because remote hiring is more skills-based. They don't care as much about the timeline — they care about whether you can do the work. Lucas: Exactly. So if you've been out of the workforce, don't see it as a disadvantage. See it as a different kind of training. And then use that to go after roles where that training is actually an asset. Luna: I think that's a great note to end on. Next episode, we're going to talk about how to negotiate flexible hours during re-entry — something a lot of listeners have been asking about. Lucas: Looking forward to that. Until next time.