To consider FT job at lower salary with an 18 month old DS?

[curiousuze]

A job has come up in a school very local to me which sounds brilliant.

Problem is I have an 18 month old DS, and would like one more baby. At the moment I work a 3 day week but this new job is advertised as full time. In my current job the pay and benefits are excellent. If I took this job (or something similar if this doesn't work out) we would have less money (they havent said what the salary is, but it will be less than what Im on) and DS would be in nursery at least one extra day a week, if not two.

But in the long run, in the new job I would have almost all the school holidays off. My commute would be tiny about 10 minutes on the bus. The hours are 8am 4pm which is brilliant.

My current job is in a very large company. The work is incredibly, incredibly boring. I loathe all the endless, corporate-speak meetings, the pointless projects people make up so they can tick boxes on their appraisals. There is so so much admin and data entry work, even though its a graduate position. I never get to do the actual work that my job title relates to! There is no progression (other than regular payrises) so no opportunity to move on to other areas, really. And going up the ladder means more terrible, life sapping meetings where nothing is achieved. There is basically nothing I enjoy about the job, although I do it to the best of my ability and look for ways of making it more satisfying. But I was in a meeting the other day where we were told how to 'live the Company's values' and 'do you have capacity?' {translation - do you have time} and 'let's think how this benefits our stakeholders' {stakeholders = other people who work at the company}. Gives me the

On the plus side, the maternity leave package is really great, the pay is very good for my job type, there are benefits like child care vouchers, free gym, private health care etc etc etc.

Should I just shelve this idea for the moment and revisit it when DS (and any other DCs who may come along) are older? That is probably the most unselfish thing to do. But I also feel as if I don't want this opportunity to pass me by. Would be interested in how other mumsnetters have dealt with a dilemma like this. Obviously I may not even get an interview, I imagine theyll get lots of applicants!

Sorry about the formatting, very strange!

What would the drop in salary mean to you? If you can afford it, I think it's worth going for. You can always turn it down if you change your mind, but the application, possible interview and feedback will help if you decide to then go for it at a later date. But it won't be long before your DS is entitled to free hours at nursery, so at that point you might even want to look for part time positions in a school (since childcare will be much lower, offsetting drop in wages).

PS if it's in a state school you should be able to work out what the wages will be by looking up the council's pay scales.

Things are tight atm but not squeaky. I don't know what the salary is yet for this job, but I can make a bit of a guess and things would be a fair amount tighter, especially with having to pay for more childcare. It was the working full time but which was worrying me most!

If the drop in salary is affordable for your family and the school holidays more meaningful in the long run than the days off during the week with your dc now, then go for it - as you say, you might not even be successful so a decision can be made once it's offered rather than now. I was in a similar position recently, I currently have over an hour commute to and from work and work 4 days, had the option to drop to 3 and keep the benefits etc. including guaranteed holidays over Christmas, but instead I've gone for another 4 day per week job which is much closer to home - I reckon the time I'll get to spend with dd every morning and night will make up for the extra day off per week I would have had as I can be more involved in her routine, and it sounds like you might be in a similar position.

oh, also it's worth asking are they set on the f/t part - the job I just got was advertised at f/t and I said at interview that I'd be keen to keep my current situation of 4 days, and they were fine with that. Depends on the job of course, but a lot of places won't mind negotiation around that (in my case I explained I'd be happy to do work in evenings/occasional weekends if it was required)

That's a good point - 4 days would be my ideal situation, with occasional weekends etc when necessary!

I feel as if putting DS into nursery for more of the week might upset him, and I would miss our time together, but can't help thinking of the benefits of a term-time only job in such a convenient location, argh! Also the job sounds so interesting...

Personally I think that there is a real luxury in convenience of being closer to home meaning that you have more time during the week, especially as your DS gets older and is up later and you can do more things in early evening. This is what I'm telling myself anyway!! It's worth asking about the 4 days, or even 4.5 half days, or a job share if that's what you'd prefer and if it would balance out the childcare costs with earning less.

Bear in mind that the salary quoted may be pro rata with school hols being unpaid.

That's a good point, thanks iggymama. I guess I really can't think about this seriously until I know what the salary is going to be. DH and I need both our salaries to be reasonable to get the bills paid, we definitely can't just live off his!

I considered a similar move recently but it was those hours which really put me off. I'm a bit further down the line than you with my DC1 due to start school in September and DC2 is 2. I realised 8-4 will still involve some form of childcare once your DC is at school and the local cm and after school clubs here charge one fee for the post pick-up session, whether you use it until 4.30 or until 6.00; would mean I'd never be able to drop off or pick up DC1 up from school whereas I could do it twice a week at the moment & would mean I'd never have any 1:1 time with DC2 when I'm looking forward to having some time with just him when DC1 is at school on my days off. Also, factor in that, as you work three days, your DS is at nursery for 6 sessions and so you can use the full allowance of childcare vouchers over those three days so will save more on a pro rata basis than if they were there full time. On the flip side, our nursery does a term time only contract for teachers so you may only have to pay for childcare for 40 odd weeks of the year if your nursery offered something similar.

Life is too short doing a job that you don't enjoy. Apply for the job, find out the salary and if it is affordable - go for it! As other pp have said - they may well offer p/t hours if it is a school.

I was also very glad that I was still in my dull corporate job when DP completely unexpectedly lost his job which made us realise that things like that can happen to us as well as to anyone else. Things were tight until he found a new one but would have been a whole lot tighter had he not. And if he hadn't, then, if I'd managed to increase to full time hours and we'd taken the DC out of nursery, then we could have scraped by. The dull, corporate job also gives me the security of knowing I could probably manage if DP got run over by a bus or ran off with an 18yo.

Wow, OP i could have nearly written your post for you. I too work for a massive corporate company,

I have the same dilema, good perks and can work from home but the role is sooo boring, i honestly think it is starting to depress me as i hate it so much.

but applying external means full time and DD being in nursery 5 days a week as apposed to the 3 she is in now. I feel so guilty but torn about what to do.

Badly it's so daft isn't it? I get so angry at work - all the TIME WASTING on complete and utter bloody nonsense. I could genuinely do my week in 15 hours, just like John Maynard Keynes said, if I was left alone to get on with it!

But I am in such a privileged position to even have a job like this, and I wish I could just buckle down and get the fuck on with it. People have been here, doing this job for decades, it can't be that bad. I am lucky to have the security, like weetabix points out. But I can't help dreaming of something else...

all the school holidays off long term is a big bonus.

your ds will be fine going to nursery.

go for the interviews and if they offer it to you make a list of pros and cons then

I work in a school, my dd is 2 and at nursery 5 days a week, she is happy there, happier than she was when she went part time. I think only working 178 days a year, being home by 4pm and getting paid full-time makes up for it.