Should I say when I submit CV or wait until I get an interview?

Fingers crossed for you, hope interview goes well!

Years ago in a previous role I was involved in recruitment, if we advertised a job people would ring up and say I don't have such and such requirement is it still worth me applying? And we'd answer depending on the role, when did this become not the obvious thing to do?

Absolutely do NOT leave it until offer stage. If it isn't going to work for them, you've wasted your time and, more importantly, theirs. They may well have turned down candidates that could do their hours and then they've lost them and end up with nobody when you get rejected for not being honest with them.

Even leaving it until interview stage is wasting everyone's time. Be the responsible adult and contact them now. I would recommend emailing your CV and asking the question at the same time. If they look at your CV and think you are brilliant, they may be more open to being flexible.

I would mention it when you apply - seems the honest thing to do. The later start might be do-able depending on ratios at the creche.

When I was last nursing in a hospital a nurse started then declared that she couldn't get there until 08.30 and was allowed to continue doing this. It was a real pain for the rest of us; handover from the night staff was at 08.00 so her patients had to be shared between other staff then individually handed over to her when she arrived.

Call them first. If there is no possibility of flexibility, then it would be outrageous to waste their time in processing an application and possibly interviewing you.

I think it entirely depends on the job and what the company requires though. I work in recruitment and a lot of the roles that I manage have set hours which can't be changed. Not every company can offer such flexibility unfortunately and it really is a waste of everyone's time going through the recruitment process to offer someone a job and be told they can't work the hours, salary isn't enough etc etc

Depends if you can face them withdrawing any offer if you get through...that would do my head in, so I'd probably say before the interview.

I work in recruitment and I would suggest speaking to the hiring manager before you apply and ask if they can accommodate the start time or at least mention it on the application.

There's nothing more frustrating than going through the whole process (screening, interview) and offering someone the job for them to say they can't work the hours, the salary isn't enough etc etc. It's a waste of everyone's time and unfortunately does happen a lot!

They may need staffing at 9am to stick to the staffing to children ratio. In which case it will be a non-negotiable as they’ll be legally required to have someone there at 9 to take in the children.

Presumably a crèche has to keep to ratio so if you can't start at the desired time it won't work. My core hours are 830-5, didn't even realise until the contract came through, and asked to clear to 9-530 which was no issue as zero impact on anyone else.

Please mention it at pre interview stage otherwise everyone’s time is being wasted
this sort of role offers less flex than others so would be up front from the start

If it says start time is 9am and you def can't get there until 9.15am, why are you applying?

I'd have asked about working hours before I applied to be clear. You don't need to tell them who you are, or you could give a false name, to check this out. Anything else feels underhand esp for a role at a creche.

I think you should call them up and check before wasting everybody’s time. I’m sure they would appreciate it rather than bringing it up at interview or afterwards and they realise they could have offered the interview slot elsewhere.

depends entirely on the job

Wait till you're offered the job. It will just put them off you if you mention it before.

This is an excellent reply!

Just had this exact scenario with an interviewee. They didn't mention it until I was offering the role, and tbh that's probably the best way to go, as by the time it was being offered we were already invested in the person and knew they were better than the alternatives.

If the person had mentioned it sooner I doubt we would have interviewed them, plus the way the interview process works makes it hard for people to get in touch in advance.

If it's a creche I wouldn't bother. Legally they have to have a certain amount of staff per child at 9.00. They can't have parents waiting outside until you arrive a 9.15, to up the ratio.

Yes I would. Otherwise you're having a dishonest interview knowing you can't take the job.

If it's a crèche, contact them to ask before applying. It may be the case that they have to have someone there for 9 otherwise they don't meet ratios, and if that's not something that they can flex on it'd be a waste of time. Some jobs are more flexible than others

Does the company have a flexible working policy, or is flexible working mentioned on the job spec or advert?

It would really depend on the job, if its a customer facing role, on the phones etc I wouldn't expect them to accommodate that and I would check first.

My current role was advertised as full time but I negotiated 4 days a week and they accepted so its possible.

Write a cover letter outlining why you think you'd be a great for for the job and state that you are seeking the post with hours of 9.15-5.15 (for example). Then you have been clear upfront and they can either then interview you, call to discuss if you could possibly doe eg 9am 2 days a week or whatever, or reject you without wasting everyone's time if 9am starts are an absolute.