<p>performersmom, I have a liberal arts degree and worked for about 15 years in technical writing/tech support/marketing type jobs at software companies prior to staying home for ten years.</p>
<p>My youngest started college this August, just after my husband lost his job. I had no plans to reenter the workforce, but circumstances forced my hand.</p>
<p>I looked for a part-time job, and found a temporary job at a university through CraigsList (at a very entry level rate of pay, but I figured it was at least good for a reference). While at this temporary job, I continued to browse CraigsList for part-time job postings, and sent in a resume to anything that looked like a possible fit. (Because I have been out of the workforce for so long, I looked primarily at administrative assistant type positions.)</p>
<p>Personally I believe part-time is a good place to start, because you will not be competing with people who really need to work full-time to pay their bills.</p>
<p>The job posting to which I responded and which resulted in a job specified that fluency in Spanish or German was preferred. Thus my competency in German is most likely what got me in the door, although I most likely will not actually use German in this position. They liked the fact that I was “more intelligent” than other applicants, and therefore have the potential to contribute in roles other than that of an administrative assistant. I am thus positioned to work my way into a full-time job with more responsibility.</p>
<p>I must say that, from the outset, this was my strategy (look for a part-time entry level job with potential for advancement), and it worked out quite well in my case.</p>
<p>Note also that neither job requested any references.</p>