I'm Starting a Real Job After 13 Years as SAHM - Help!

When they ask for a picture of you in electronic form, they just mean a digital picture of you. Take a picture with your camera, phone or tablet, download it to your computer. Get a new memory stick/flash drive, and download the file onto it. Your other option is to get a new SD card, take a picture with your camera and hand them the SD card to download the pic. The main thing is that you want it to be a new memory stick or new SD card because you don't want them to have access to all of your other files or pictures. You'll get it back and can use it after that...you just don't want them looking at all of yourstuff. Or, you could ask them if they would like for you to email them the picture. You could let them take a picture there, but I've found that those aren't always the most flattering. They may use your picture for your security badge, as part of a company directory or in an organizational announcement of you being hired. So, you want the picture to be something that you don't mind people seeing.

Congratulations on your new job!

Congrats on your new job.

To make things easier for yourself, prep your home and yourself in advance of starting. Make a few bulk casseroles for the freezer, get your clothes in order including stockings/ trouser socks, scarves, blouses, whatever your job requires. Have 10 outfits washed pressed and ready. Practice getting the kids and yourself in and out of the house/ to and from before and after care daycare etc. Decide who is going to be responsible for prepping dinner, monitoring home work, doing baths/ night time routines etc.

In terms of the work force, don't worry, you aren't so dated. Be yourself, but be a bit demure for the first month or so until you get a feel for the office culture, having worked in wall street, your nose for the pecking order, prioritization, acceptable work product, churning, water cooler talk, etc. will come back to you really quickly. Its just like riding a bike.

Good luck in your new position,
F. B.

see i've been working all my life and would have had to think about that one :) there's a difference between a "job" and a corporate job lol.

i work in an office and have for 8 years and am now the manager of that office. i hire and release people and use lots of temps, many of which are former sahm's getting back into the workforce. but it is not what you're describing. i'm very blessed to work with very REAL people who speak english (unlike the department down the hall who speaks "corporate buzzword" UGH)

i would say just be yourself and be open to learning new things. as long as you don't go in there with an attitude you'll do fine :) you got this!

Hi! I just a few months ago did the same thing after almost 12 years as a SAHM! It has not been easy but I am enjoying it. 1st realize that it will change everything! AND it's OK! My youngest is just 3 years old and I have horrible guilt about not being home with her everyday like I was with her older 2 sisters. I had to realize that she was fine and I was making the money we needed to live and I was fine too. She recently was sick and it was the 1st time I didn't take her to the doctor myself. I CRIED!!! She did great and I had to hear about it and CRIED AGAIN!!! I had to get over myself. 2nd it will give you back to you! That sounds crazy but what I mean is this it will be the 1 thing that is just you. You will get to shower, dress and leave at a set time and not whenever you get to it. You will have a thing you do outside of the home and as much as you will think about your kids you don't have to take care of every minute of every day. It will be a good thing for you, It has been for me! Go buy a few new outfits that are not Mommy Wear and enjoy your 1st day!!!

Remember that they HIRED YOU because they saw someting in YOU that meshes with what they do!

Let them take a picture of you- it's for your ID badge. Don't bring your camera in- they want the picture emailed to them or brought to them on a flash drive.

Remember that everyone starting a new job feels like people are speaking a foreign language for the first couple of weeks. I've worked in many different corporate positions (since 1984) and also worked as a consultant where I had to go to a new office/company for each new project. I always gave myself two weeks during which I just assumed I would feel "dumb" but reminded myself that I wasn't, I was just new.

Here are some things that helped me: Keep a notebook and pen with you at all times. When someone says something in a meeting that you don't understand, an acronym or term or a person's name, write it down. Then you can look it up later or ask someone you trust to decode this for you.

Also, listen much more than you speak. Don't be too quick to say "I don't know" or "That isn't how we used to do it" or "I haven't done that before". Be a careful listener and again, you can ask a trusted person to help you figure out things in private.

You will catch on and pretty soon be "speaking the language" of this office just like the rest of them!

As Anita described, they are giving you a chance to bring a picture that you like of yourself, taken with a digital camera and stored on a flash drive, otherwise they'll snap one of you right there, and you take your chances if it's flattering or not.

Find an unofficial mentor at the job THAT YOU CAN TRUST to not tell the boss about your fears.