jobseeking whilst on maternity leave - what to tell agencies/prospective employers

an9i77

I have been on maternity leave since June, and for various reasons will not be able to return to my role. I am therefore seeking another role.

As I am still currently employed, and am showing my employment dates in my current role as 'to present', it's not apparent on my CV that I've been on maternity leave. That's how I'd like to keep it as I am worried that some (not all, but some) employers will be put off by this, I work in a professional capacity where there is intense competition for good roles and it may make my CV less attractive if they know I have been off for a good few months, getting rusty and having 'baby brain'.

also, the kind of roles I am going for require a lot of travel and flexibility whilst this is not a problem as my partner will be a stay at home dad, this may also put them off as they may assume I won't be as flexible if I've just had a baby.

so..do I need to tell anyone that I am on maternity leave at all? most of the jobs I am going for are via agency, so I need to have a consistent approach as they may put me forward for several jobs over a period of time.

I am not due back to my original job until September - I anticipate I will have found something before then. Also, I don't have to worry about maternity leave being mentioned on a reference as my employer only provide tombstone references ie dates employed from/to, job title, reason for leaving.

Takeaway_Addict

Don't tell them anything and really the only time it might crop up is if the ask

'What type of work have you been doing recently?'

an9i77

I can answer that - I can tell them what I was doing before I went on mat leave, also I am still going in for KiT days.

It's fairly easy to pretend I'm still working I feel a little duplicitous but if people reckon it's the best thing to do I can handle that.

Just don't want to give them any reason to reject my CV. My actual job has actually relocated, which is why I can't return to it after mat leave, and I could have taken redundancy but took the redeployment instead for the very reason that it would be much better for my cv to be in continuous employment / hide the mat leave so I guess if I can get away with it I should try!

so do people think that some employers will be put off by the fact that I've been on mat leave, and I'm not just being paranoid?

Takeaway_Addict

an9i77 wrote: »

I can answer that - I can tell them what I was doing before I went on mat leave, also I am still going in for KiT days.

It's fairly easy to pretend I'm still working I feel a little duplicitous but if people reckon it's the best thing to do I can handle that.

Just don't want to give them any reason to reject my CV. My actual job has actually relocated, which is why I can't return to it after mat leave, and I could have taken redundancy but took the redeployment instead for the very reason that it would be much better for my cv to be in continuous employment / hide the mat leave so I guess if I can get away with it I should try!

so do people think that some employers will be put off by the fact that I've been on mat leave, and I'm not just being paranoid?

Some will, most probably not

tomtontom

an9i77 wrote: »

I can answer that - I can tell them what I was doing before I went on mat also I am still going in for KiT days.

It's fairly easy to pretend I'm still working I feel a little duplicitous but if people reckon it's the best thing to do I can handle that.

Just don't want to give them any reason to reject my CV. My actual job has actually relocated, which is why I can't return to it after mat leave, and I could have taken redundancy but took the redeployment instead for the very reason that it would be much better for my cv to be in continuous employment / hide the mat leave so I guess if I can get away with it I should try!

so do people think that some employers will be put off by the fact that I've been on mat leave, and I'm not just being paranoid?

The way you have behaved towards your soon to be ex employer is what I would call duplicitous! I would worry more about what any prospective employer might find out about you informally. I would not employ someone so calculating and dishonest.

an9i77

Well, my soon to be ex employer tried to make me redundant when I was six months pregnant, so we're probably one all (or will be soon)
Why should I have loyalty to them when they had none to me?
This is the real world and people look after their own interests. Employers usually do whatever the hell they like with no regard for the personal impact on their staff, but you expect employees whose lives are affected by these decisions to have an altogether different moral code?

Takeaway_Addict

tomtontom wrote: »

The way you have behaved towards your soon to be ex employer is what I would call duplicitous! I would worry more about what any prospective employer might find out about you informally. I would not employ someone so calculating and dishonest.

Let's be frank, any employer or employee can play the game as long as they keep it legal, sometimes employers play employees and sometimes its the other way around.

That's life and you may not like it but remember, there are bound to be things you do towards employees that they don't like.

tomtontom

an9i77 wrote: »

Well, my soon to be ex employer tried to make me redundant when I was six months pregnant, so we're probably one all (or will be soon)
Why should I have loyalty to them when they had none to me?

They tried to make you redundant because the role was changing location. You are now resigning because of the new location! This is why pregnant women get such a hard time in the workplace, people like you taking advantage.

tomtontom

Takeaway_Addict wrote: »

Let's be frank, any employer or employee can play the game as long as they keep it legal, sometimes employers play employees and sometimes its the other way around.

That's life and you may not like it but remember, there are bound to be things you do towards employees that they don't like.

Playing the game is fine as long as it doesn't impact on others. Is the ex employer going to recruit another woman of child bearing age now? Not if they can help it.

If the OP didn't think they were doing anything wrong then they wouldn't be looking to twist the truth whilst seeking new work. And when the truth comes out, no doubt she'll threaten them with a tribunal. She sounds like a nightmare employee!

an9i77

And the alternative was to significantly devalue my CV with a big gap, plus everyone knows it is easier to get a job when you have a job. Why should I take that hit because of an employer who is quite happy to mess my life up? It's not like I've done it for no reason, I clearly stated in my opening post how difficult it is to get work in my field and any reason to put your CV on the reject pile, they will.

tomtontom

an9i77 wrote: »

And the alternative was to significantly devalue my CV with a big gap, plus everyone knows it is easier to get a job when you have a job. Why should I take that hit because of an employer who is quite happy to mess my life up? It's not like I've done it for no reason, I clearly stated in my opening post how difficult it is to get work in my field and any reason to put your CV on the reject pile, they will.

It is quite clear that you don't care about anyone but yourself. Good luck, karma will catch up with you one day.