To just just pretend I wasn’t working- as job moves are being held against me ?

26 replies

tojustpretendthen · 30/09/2025 18:36

I had two kids in 5 years and work in quite a cut throat industry, where essentially you start from scratch when you come back from maternity leave.

it’s business development with huge targets etc.

so in any case, I always thought it was important to have no breaks and stay employed. I struggled ( like everyone else ) with small babies and going back to work.

but when I came back from my first mat leave, I returned to a completely different role and territory. I tried my hardest to make it work, but around 8 months after, I got another offer and moved company.

I had been at the company I took my first mat leave for around 3 years at that point.

I went to the next company, got pregnant soon after and had another baby. When I returned, I could sense that things weren’t going well for the company at all. I got another offer and left after 2 and a half years at that company. Lo and behold, the next month, everyone was made redundant anyway.

I was then at the next company for a year on a contract role ( 1 year contract ). I thought it would be good to go back into work and being busy as soon as possible and if I liked it, we could always talk about extending. After a year, the contract ended and I wasn’t wanting to renew as they’d asked me to travel a lot more if we extended the contract and I just wasn’t able to.

then I got my next role and unfortunately was made redundant after 9 months. I really was heartbroken.

now I’m struggling and companies are giving me a hard time, even when I explain my moves. I never bring the fact that I had two kids in 5 years into the discussion, but having had a kid- was definitely the reason I left the first company, as my role was nothing like what I had left and I came back go just a bunch of rubbish.

the second company was just going down. And the third was obviously a 1 year contract. The one after that was not on my terms at all.

when I talk about the reasons, I always frame it positively etc and I have done a lot.

but I’m starting to feel like, maybe I’ll have more luck if I said I just had a one or two year break?

I feel so defeated / deflated. I’ve worked harder than ever and keep starting over and proving myself. It’s literally been hell.

any advice ? Has anyone been in a similar situation ? Thank you, please be kind.

OP posts:

CrocodileJen · 01/10/2025 09:30

SalmonOnFinnCrisp · 01/10/2025 06:56

The job market is bizarre right now.
I did one with 5 interviews and a case study where they took at least 4 candidates to final round- this is a huge well known well respected company you've heard of.
The time wasting is unparalleled.

I strongly disagree on the gaps based on my industry tech/media sectors.

Are you being explicitly asked and getting frowny faces in response?
I'd position it if asked as follows and deliver with open body language

1st mat leave - it was such a great company and I was very happy but I was head hunted by company 2 and the offer and role (which was more challenging) was just too good decline.

the 2nd mat leave company.
Really enjoyed my role and had no plans to leave however, my role was closely connected to management/ senior leadership and there clear signals from the business re direction of travel. When I was approached regarding a contracting role i felt it was strategically a good opportunity to exit. The new role gave me x experience/ y skill and i got out ahead of the layoffs which were pretty awful, poor excolleagues etc
.
I think the fixed term contract is a non event (on LinkedIn people clearly state on roles they did a fixed term contracts - there's no issue with that)

This positions you as desirable (headhunted) and someone with high EQ who has the inside track ( beat the curve on layoffs)
Vs someone who gets bored and moves often.

My plan which by sheer luck came to pass was to have all my children at one company.
I took 2 x 1 yr mat leaves through multiple lay off rounds at one company across 3 yrs.
I dodged multiple layoffs throughout this as possibly as I'm close to revenue /not too expensive/ it was out of sight out of mind for one round.
Many mums didn't make it though. Now i'm back I'm 100% on the hit list for this year's feb layoffs (estimated12-15% of workers are). I dont care too much though as I hate it there and only worked 3.5 years of 6.

Edited

Yes, this is a very good way of framing it. If you are now done having kids, you can also mention that now you are past the baby years and won’t be having more kids you want your next role to be somewhere you can grow, progress your career further blah blah as you are fully focussed on your career again, or something like that.

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