This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Natalie Strawn, a 52-year-old stay-at-home mom of two in Colorado who is going back to the workforce 17 years after quitting her job at Adobe. She’s been finding the job market challenging and is leaning toward self-employment. Business Insider previously profiled her husband, who took a job as a school bus driver after being laid off from Adobe after 25 years. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
After 16 years as a stay-at-home mom, I’m getting back into the workforce to help my husband supplement our family income, after he was laid off.
I started job searching around mid-2026, and haven’t gotten an interview.
Trying to start a new career in your 50s is hard. I have a lot to offer in terms of experience and skills, but I feel like employers are maybe looking for someone who’s younger or a bit more spry.
Searching the internet for a job feels like a bunch of dead ends.
I’ve been a stay-at-home mom since 2010
After graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in illustration, I worked a fun job for a fine artist. I then moved into graphic design and worked for a small startup for a few years.
I was unemployed for a period of time in the early 2000s, so I started doing my own fine art work, picking up jobs here and there, and selling my paintings and artwork at art festivals.
In the mid-2000s, an opportunity came up at Adobe, where my husband, James, was already working. I got my portfolio together. I ended up not getting the job I interviewed for, but a few months later, I landed a contract graphic designer role at the company. Eventually, I became a permanent employee.
James and I were living in California and really wanted to get a home, but the area was crazy expensive. We decided to move to Colorado, where we had family. It took about a year for us to get all the plans in place for us to move and work remotely.
I enjoyed the creativity of my job, working with other people, and being on a project. However, my job had morphed into more of an art director management position, less of actual physical creative work. I didn’t like that so much.
It was also starting to become a little too stressful and affecting my mental and physical health. We realized my income was starting to become extra, especially with the lower cost of living in Colorado back then, and we could probably go down to one income.
I quit my job in 2009. Shortly after, I got pregnant and had my first child in 2010, which began our family and my 16 years as a stay-at-home mom.
Our savings are getting depleted, and I have a January deadline
Last year, after 25 years of working at Adobe, my husband was laid off. The plan was to work there and then retire — and he was very close — but that’s changed.
He searched really hard to find another job to replace the type of job and salary he had, but it got to the point where we needed him to just find something else. Now, with his new job as a school bus driver, his income is a very small portion of what he was making previously.
Our little nest egg of savings will continue to get more and more depleted if I don’t get a job by January. I need to supplement the income for our family of four. The kids are still teenagers, and they’re expensive. Meanwhile, the cost of everything is rising.
The other thing is that I’m on Medicaid, which will have new work requirements starting in 2027. You have to be working a certain number of hours or making a certain amount of money to qualify and continue your coverage. If I don’t have that by January, I’ll lose my health coverage.
The fallback is getting on James’s health coverage through his job, but that would take a huge chunk out of his paycheck.
Job searching is very different than when I last looked for work
I remember just opening up the newspaper and looking in the want ads. You’d call them up and make an appointment for an interview. There was a lot more person-to-person contact, like asking friends and coworkers, “Do you know anyone who’s hiring?” It felt more personal. I know there are online communities now, but it doesn’t feel as connected.
I’ve felt like I really have to reinvent myself and to tailor each résumé. Utilizing AI for that is helpful, which is different from my past job search.
I’m feeling very rusty. I’m not looking at getting into graphic design again. It’s changed so much, and AI has made a big impact on those types of jobs. Because of the way the job market is, the competition is fierce. Walking in with a portfolio from almost 20 years ago, it’d be really hard to get my foot in the door.
Instead, I’m looking at administrative assistant-type and customer service work, which I had experience in prior to Adobe. I’ve sent my résumé out, but it feels completely lost. It goes into a black hole; you don’t hear anything.
I saw everything that James went through with job searching. He sent out so many résumés for jobs that he was highly qualified for.
I’m trying to do more face-to-face searching than internet searching. When I’m going about my day and doing errands, I’ll sometimes ask if businesses are hiring.
I’m leaning toward self-employment
The other piece to this puzzle is our two kids, who’ve been doing online school for the past five years. I’ve been their learning coach for several years, and I have to balance finding something where I can work part-time, be flexible, and continue to help them with their online schooling.
They’re older now, so I don’t have to be as involved as I was when they were younger, but I still need to help them for a certain amount of time each day.
Weekends and evenings are for quality family time, and I’m trying to avoid putting that out of balance, because that’s the glue that keeps our family together. That’s another factor when I’m thinking about jobs.
Self-employment or starting my own business would let me be in control, instead of pounding the pavement of, “Please hire me.” I was looking at becoming a notary. The state gives you free training, which was a bonus. You can be more of a freelancer and create your own schedule.
I feel like I’m adventuring into uncharted waters, unsure where my efforts will lead, but I know I’ll hit land eventually.
What has your job search been like? Reach out to this reporter to share what it’s been like at [email protected].
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