When to return to work after youngest child goes to full-time school

Spendless

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Mind you, that comment of your husbands about him being less busy in a few months ... if he's anything like mine I'd take THAT with a pinch of salt! :rotfl:

I thought of what you'd put today asthe subject of when to job-hunt has risen again but at minute dh is now bang in the middle of his project and it's a nightmare and am very glad I am not currently working!

To update- dh's project got put back from the summer. Wasn't very impressed at the time as it knew it meant many more months of disrupted home and family life, but was just as well it did cos for those that don't know hubby was diagnosed with oral cancer. Fortunately it was caught earlier, he had an op to remove it and was off work sick for a few weeks. The op was successful and he has been told it's unlikely to return but is being regularly monitored just in case.

I failed my Text processing level 3 as I had not been informed ofsomething I needed to do in a crucial part of the exam and sat a re-sit in the summer where I got a distinction and also passed level 3 word processing. My kids school ran level 2 maths which I have also now passed.

Curently I am doing clait plus diploma 1 half day a week that will finish at Easter. DH is off work next week for 3 weeks, he has taken barely any hols this year. His project runs in 'slower' phases at the beg of feb, march and april next year. April being the end part. So I am job hunting from Jan BUT if the feb phase is anyway near as bad as the current one I will be postponing the search till after Easter.

Oldernotwiser

Have you looked at doing some voluntary work to put alongside your qualifications? This will give you recent, relevant experience and an up to date reference.

Spendless

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Have you looked at doing some voluntary work to put alongside your qualifications? This will give you recent, relevant experience and an up to date reference.

Yes. That is what I will be doing if I haven't received a job offer by Easter.:)

3onitsway

SmileyHappyBeing wrote: »

Sorry, dont mean to sound stupid but how does that work?

I would have problems with childcare in school holidays and never realised about this.

Thanks..

Hiya.
I work part-time, term-time for the civil service.
We can choose to be paid for the times we work, or have it spread over the year.
I work 24 hours a week Mon-Thur 9.30-2.30 and Fri 9.30 to 1.30 - to fit in with school times - but i get paid, averaged over the year, for 17.5 hours a week (iykwim!?!).
I think term-time is offered across the civil service, but normally you have to start on/apply for a normal contract job, then swap. I did 12 months on a normal part-time contract before changing.

Spendless

actually for those working term time but not in a school, have a question for you. One of the mums from school has taken a term-time job school hours but says cos she doesn't work school hols she has no annual leave either, so when it comes to things like sports day, xmas concerts she is unable to book the time off to attend. Do they all work like this as it is something I would have to take into consideration.

Savvy_Sue

Hmm, I don't know. In theory I would say it's likely they do all work that way.

However, technically it shouldn't be the case that she has NO annual leave: even working term time only she would be accruing leave IMO. But it is probable that she is only allowed to take paid leave outside term time, and that the pay for that is added to her term-time days / hours and spread out over the year (unless she's only paid for the weeks she actually works, IYSWIM). Maybe 3onitsway could say what happens in her job, for example?

(Before anyone jumps on me and says rolled up holiday pay has been outlawed, I know that, but if you're only working 39 weeks I'd say that was different to rolling up holiday pay that you may or may not actually take.)

But what I'd suggest is asking whether it would be possible to make up the hours for anything you wanted to take off during term-time. Most of the things like concerts and Sports days are only half a day so if you don't work TOO far from school then it doesn't take a whole day. I realise making up time may be tricky, and may not be feasible, eg if you're specifically employed in a people facing role where it's business critical whether you're there or not for particular hours. But it is certainly what I would try to do.