Pregnant and Job seeking

[Chunkychips23]

Hi all,

Just after a bit of advice and guidance please.

Bit of background-

My fiancé and I had been TTC for years, with no joy. I was undergoing fertility testing this year. This is very much a planned pregnancy - BUT I was made redundant in April, a day after finding out I was pregnant. For context, I’d been with my previous employer for several years and it had always been a stable position until they lost several large accounts in a short space of time.

So now I’m unemployed and 11 weeks pregnant. We’re also still paying for our upcoming wedding and have paid for the venue, so can’t cancel. We are also due to remortgage in Jan and his salary alone isn’t enough.

My fiancé works full time but also pays for three children from a previous relationship, so his income won’t cover our mortgage and everything else (neither would I expect it to) My annual income used to easily cover half of everything and left us with extra.

I’ve been job hunting since being made redundant in April and haven’t had any luck so far. In my industry, the market has tanked, so I know it’s a strange situation where there are a lot of people with my skill set looking also.

I want to be transparent about my current situation with potential employers and I know in the UK, pregnant women are protected from discrimination. But you can’t often prove that you’ve been declined from a role because of a pregnancy. Granted an employer wouldn’t have to pay me any SMP due to length of service and I’d have to be back at work sooner than a current employee who was on Mat leave.

Would you disclose at interview the pregnancy? or at what stage would you disclose?

Is there any additional support or guidance I can seek anywhere?

Hi, Did you find the job you like? I am in a similar situation to you, the only difference is this is a surprise second pregnancy.

I didn’t find a job in the end :( I had a few offers which fell through for various reasons. One I’m quite positive was due to them finding out I was pregnant, but can’t prove it.

We’ve decided to sell our house and downsize to rented, which will massively reduce out outgoings, so we are able to live off one salary so I can have some form of maternity leave with our baby.

If you are in the early stages of your pregnancy, if you can hide it from potential employers definitely do that! It’s not illegal to not disclose, but unfortunately as I experienced, people will discriminate and it’s hard to prove. Working for the public sector like government or NHS would also be a good shout as they follow employment guidelines/laws a lot more religiously.

Thank you for the response. I am only 5 weeks pregnant so few more weeks until I show. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

You have a partner and his income and roof above your head.

If you were alone and job seeking, I would think of Cormoran Strike living in his office to comfort myself. Be careful though, I used to know someone who looks very much like CS but is not like that at all in reality.