Hi Everyone

I am currently a stay at home mum of 4 young children, but with my youngest now 18 months old and my twins starting school in September i am starting to look for work after a 3 year break. To prepare myself for work, for the past 18 months, i have been studying the CIPD level 7 Diploma in HRM and due to finish in July.  I have an undergrad degree in Business Management with HR. My husband and I ran an adult education company for 12 years prior to my career break. We had 50 staff across 10 locations with a turnover of £1.2 million, so a relatively small company. We grew this company from scratch and as it grew and we took a step back from the day to day teaching I took charge of the HR side of the business. Basically a very generalist role which, i when i went on mat leave with my first child, i had a very devolved HR approach where i coached the managers through, recruitment, performance management, benefit and reward,etc, whist still having a solid grip on the business and HR strategy and policy development, etc. I had a very positive performance management system so we had little need for disciplinary and grievances, which i am perceiving now is the "bread and butter" of HR. Before setting up the company I only had admin jobs as i was only 20 years old when we set it up.

My Question is really, where do i sit in the HR market? I am passionate about SMEs and making a difference so wondered if i should go into some sort of consultancy, but i'm not sure if i have enough experience , or is this just a lack of confidence as many stay at home mums have in my situation. or should i try to get a job first, and if so what should i apply for? L&D with my company being in that sector or a HR role of some sort?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards

Lucy