Job searching is hard. Job searching while pregnant is even harder.
I've found it super interesting that there is very little out there on how to best handle a job search while expecting. It's like we don't even want to share advice about the elephant in the room! Technically, being pregnant is legally protected so a pregnant woman has no legal obligation to disclose, however, it is not that simple and perhaps being required to disclose with very strict guidelines to the employer would help. The challenge with all of this is that the employer can choose to or not to hire someone over something as vague is fit, which legally puts the pregnant woman (or person of color, person with a visible disability, etc) in a very precarious position. Am I looking to fight situations where I am not offered the position b/c I'm pregnant, certainly not, but I don't want this to be the reason why I'm not getting hired, either. I'm starting to fear that this IS the reason, but other "reasons" that I can't prove to be or not be true are being cited.
I found this LinkedIn article this morning and thought that the advice given was helpful and the comments were fascinating. You're Interviewing, and Pregnant
It blows my mind how many women commented to the effect that pregnancy and having a family is an issue. WTF. This is 2014, not 1950. There are some comments that were supportive and helpful so not all of my faith in humanity was lost!
I once again got disappointing news about a job this morning. The placement firm who sourced me said that they cited having a candidate who had previously done the exact same job. I'm hoping that was the case, however, I definitely am wondering if that really was the situation! The interviewer disclosed to me that I was overqualified, which I addressed, but I guess employers aren't excited to bring on a highly skilled person, either. The fallout this morning was two fold- I have one other opportunity currently in play (an opportunity that I am super interested and excited about). I had not disclosed to them that I'm pregnant, however, I'm sure it was very obvious to them when I went on site to interview. I debated at several points in their process about disclosing- especially considering that the hiring manager felt that I was over qualified after the phone interview and I literally had to beg to be brought onsite. I thought that my face-to-face interviews went well and I was sure to do every possible type of follow up after to make sure they knew that I was very interested. I didn't address the elephant in the room during my interview because frankly, the interview needed to be about my skills and what I would bring, not the fact that I'm pregnant or any other aspect of my personal life. I sucked it up this morning and let the HR person know that I was expecting. I started with my interest in the position and plan to return to work. I then said that I was not expecting to take much time off and was not expecting any of it to be paid time. We'll see if it makes a difference!
