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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Finding a job while pregnant
When do I let my future employeer know I'm pregnant. Do I wait till I get officially hired or should I share it at the time of the interview? What do you think?
Re: Finding a job while pregnant
How far along are you? Will they be able to tell?
I'd say hold out until they offer you the job because you don't want them to discrimate against you because of it, which, they probably will, unfortunately.
I'm going to play devils advocate here.
1) it is against the law to discrimate because someone is pregnant, as someone who hires employee's regularly, this is a very well known fact.
2) Okay, so I hired someone and 2 days after she starts she tells me she's 8 months pregnant (it wasn't noticed in the interview, as I interview remotely using technology). I can tell you that I lost a whole lot of trust for that employee for not telling me at least when I made her the offer.
It's a double edged sword and honestly, what you do in your first few days of employment and the hiring process set up what your employer's perception of you will be.
I can see both sides to this... like you said, it was a double edged sword but in todays world with the job market being as crappy as it is... I would probably hold off on telling a prospective employer that I was pregnant until after I had the job. Even though it is discrimination to not hire someone due to pregnancy.. 99% of the time, I would guess that they would pick person number two even if you were their number one choice..
That being said... I would never expect a position to be given to me 8 months pregnant.. but if I was only 8-12 weeks, I would most definitly keep my mouth shut..
I know that it's against the law but that's never stopped anyone from doing it before! They just won't say that's the reason they didn't hire her.
I'll agree to disagree. Companies are audited for this kind of stuff. The kind of paperwork you have to keep on file for posted positions including resumes, interview notes, and descriptions of why you hired who you did and why is insane- it's a lot harder to discriminate on those types of things then you would probably think.
I'm not saying to tell them in your interview- though I as a hiring manager would appreciate being told, however if you walk in on your first day and say, "oh by the way"' understand that it may be a bit confusing to your employer. Alot goes into hiring a new employee including training schedules, timelines of task transitions, etc.
Also, you don't qualify for FMLA until you've been with the company for 12 months, so technically your position isn't held and deemed "safe" until that is met, so if they wanted to "can you" for being pregnant, they'd still have that opportunity when you leave to have the baby- so in my opinion, it's better to be honest upfront.
Is the not having FMLA thing and not having a "safe" job an AZ thing? Because when i was pregnant in NH. I did not qualify for FMLA, but i was guarenteed to have my job if i went back at 6 weeks PP. If I wanted to be out any longer they did not have to hold my job for any period of time after 6 weeks....
I agree with Jennifer.
But I also think there is a big difference between looking for a job when you are in your first trimester and when you are very very pregnant.
If I were job searching and was less than three months, I most likely wouldn't say anything. Not because I thought it would affect my candidacy, but for personal reasons I don't think I would tell more than close family friends until after the first trim.
I think it's pseudo crazy (probably not the right word choice) to look for a job near then end of your pregnancy though. 1) you probably won't accrue very much PTO for time off and 2) FMLA wouldn't even protect you yet. To me, a company needs stability in employees, especially in the first 90 days. To cut up your training and starting work time with a birth and maternity leave would be in my eyes taking too many steps back.
So I'm for discretion during interviewing if you are keeping quiet for other reasons, (tell them when you are comfortable with the world knowing) but if you are obviously pregnant I don't think you should have anything to hide during the hiring process.
If there is one thing I learned from my business law classes it's that companies can get brought DOWN by even the tiniest discrimination disputes.
This was probably the most wishy-washy post I've ever made.
I think I read something like this on another board. The advice that I thought was the best was to address it after you receive the job offer. It could be put in with other negotiations, and not like you're asking if it's okay that you're pregnant, or that you're worried it would make them mad. Just an addressing of, "Okay, and in five months I will be needing x weeks off." As you would address other points of negotiation.
But then again, I've never been in this situation. I agree with pps that it depends on how far along you are. I would not tell them before being offered a job. And I probably wouldn't be trying to find a job if I was 8 months + along.
I agree with Ms. Julie. I could see maybe not mentioning it during the interview process (unless you are out of the first trimester, and then I think it's only fair to at least mention it to them since you will be needing time off fairly quickly). But I think it should be mentioned during the offer process. Otherwise, it does feel deceitful in a way.
However, if you like JUST found out you're pregnant, and your family doesn't even know yet, I can see the gray area on this one... I would maybe mention it to HR at least, or your boss, and make sure they know that you don't want it shared.