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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to consider applying for a new job one week before my due date?

38 replies

lizzie1180 · 17/03/2011 14:35

I am currently on maternity leave waiting for the imminent arrival of my first baby. I was bored and checking job websites. I have discovered my 'almost' dream job and am seriously considering putting in an application.I wouldn't want to start until the baby was 6 months old as I want time to enjoy being at home with my newborn.My DH thinks I am mad for even considering it, he thinks I will totally change my mind once the baby is born.

OP posts:

FabbyChic · 17/03/2011 14:37

How can you expect an employer to keep the job open whilst waiting for you?

You can't. Apply by all means to see if you would have been called for interview but once they know your circumstances don't expect to be offered it.

MadMommaMemoo · 17/03/2011 14:48

Yanbu to apply but there is no way on Gods earth they will give you the job!

Desperateforthinnerthighs · 17/03/2011 14:54

Agree with MadMomma - by all means apply but would be amazed if it came to anything

whostolemyname · 17/03/2011 14:58

I think you should apply - it will take a a couple of weeks for closing date, a week or so to shortlist and invite to interview, time for interviews and then offer. Lots of people would have to give notice in current jobs of 1 2 or even 3 months anyway. So it could be that they would only have to wait an extra 3 months for you and if they love you they might be happy to do that!

kittybuttoon · 17/03/2011 15:00

You might change your mind, but you can always withdraw your application if you do. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Whatever you do, though, don;t accept the job and change your mind afterwards!

Also, think twice before wasting their interviewing time if you think you might not be serious about taking up the job at this time. In business, a refusal ALWAYS offends, damages your reputation for reliability and you may want to work there in future.

Original poster

lizzie1180 · 17/03/2011 15:04

I might put in a sneaky application and if I get an interview then explain my situation. 6 months seems like a long time but in the work I do it can take this long for the recruitment process.If I were not on mat leave and were offered the job it would be subject to CRB check, this can take up to 12 weeks to clear, A formal job offer would only be given with a clear CRB check, then I would have a 3 month notice period in my current job. Unless they get an application from a candidate already employed in the organisation or from someone who is not currently working it does take a long time from advert to start date.

OP posts:

VajazzHands · 17/03/2011 15:05

you'll never get it yabu

LoveBeingKnockedUp · 17/03/2011 16:12

I think you should fo it, what have you got to lose

cestlavielife · 17/03/2011 16:19

i applied for my current (professional level) job day after son was born. got it (left BF son with aunt for three hours to go to the interview - he cried, i leaked) and still here - tho it took four-five months for job to be processed. depends when they need someone to start.

cestlavielife · 17/03/2011 16:20

vajazz - why shouldnt she apply and get it?

squeakytoy · 17/03/2011 16:21

You may as well put an application in, the person who does get the job may not like it and could leave, so your application will be on file.

SnapFrakkleAndPop · 17/03/2011 16:26

Apply - you don't lose anything and they can't discriminate for you being on ML.

Would you be prepared to start when your DC is, say, 5 months old? If you had a job offer you'd have to give notice in your current role anyway so how long would that be?

stubbornhubby · 17/03/2011 16:28

don't be sneaky, be open with them

dickiedavisthunderthighs · 17/03/2011 16:38

I think you need to be really, really careful. You need to think about how you will you get the time to prepare for, posh yourself up, and go to a first and quite possibly a second interview in the first couple of months of being a new mum?
My guess is that you'll be too busy staring wide-eyed at your baby to give the vaguest hint of a bugger about a new job.
By all means apply for it but if you're anything less than 100% about wanting the job by interview stage then decline the interview - a prospective employer will smell reticence a mile off (and it's not fair to waste their time).

BettyCash · 17/03/2011 16:40

Go for it! But I disagree with stubbornhubby, keep cards close to chest.

Quenelle · 17/03/2011 16:43

It never hurts to apply.

It would be a good reason for not turning up to an interview though wouldn't it? 'Sorry I can't make the interview today, I'm in labour'

belgo · 17/03/2011 16:45

Whyever not? I know two women who have been offered full time jobs late into their pregnancies, they both started when the baby was around 3/4 months.

stubbornhubby · 17/03/2011 16:49

it's never good to be sneaky with an employer, how are they supposed to trust you subsequently?

after all: you wouldn't like it if they were sneaky with you.

don't start your whole relationship with them with a 'ha ha, gotcha' They may fall for it, but they won't like you for it.

belgo · 17/03/2011 16:54

Why is she being sneaky? She can hardly disguise the fact that she is nine months pregnant if she gets called for an interview.

Some of you have awful attitudes towards pregnant women.

Lonnie · 17/03/2011 16:58

Go for it completely and no I dont think you are being Unresonable at all liek someone said a few months of doing the nessesary interviews and then a few months of notice in old job. 6 months is utterly doable

Go for it and good luck.

(one of the mums I see regular at a kickers and crawlers group has just got a job that she cant start for 4 months the new job has agreed to this. she is getting payrise and reduction in hours with a job she would rather do and abillity to have her son near by in care.

stubbornhubby · 17/03/2011 17:01

belgo the OP said herself she was planning to be sneaky

"I might put in a sneaky application and if I get an interview then explain my situation"

I am just saying : don't.

Chaotica · 17/03/2011 17:05

Why not, stubbornhubby. I went to a job interview when my baby was 10 days old and although I came second for the job, they rang me two months later to give me a different job (no further interview required). I only told the interview committess afterwards when I was working for them.

Oddly, my own mum did the same when I was 6 weeks old.

Go for it: you have nothing to lose.

dickiedavisthunderthighs · 17/03/2011 17:06

belgo she'll be called for an interview after the baby has been born; what she's saying is that she could apply for the job but she might decide she doesn't want it after the baby's born. This is where potential problems lie.

Chaotica · 17/03/2011 17:06

Why would it be sneaky? She is presumably qualified. And she might get the job. Job done.

The fact she has a young baby is beside the point.

Chaotica · 17/03/2011 17:07

Presumably, she can withdraw from the process at any time. The closing date is unlikely to be before her due date.

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