Lost my job / Job hunting with a newborn - Tips please!

[Roeslein]

So I made a stupid career decision just before getting pregnant and accepted a job that seemed great but came with a temporary contract. Long story short, I was sick during the pregnancy and now my contract is not being renewed so I've been asked to not bother coming back after maternity leave (this is all perfectly legal in case anyone is wondering).

Anyway, I will need to job hunt during maternity leave in order to start the new job when DC is 4-5 months old, at which point DH will take paternity leave for 3 months or so, so that I can focus on the new job, and then DC will go to daycare. (For various reasons, waiting longer is not an option.) I'm looking to get back into a very competitive field and the average interview involves a lot of fairly intense preparation/study/practice - so I'd say job hunting is fairly similar to studying for finals at uni.

I will start the job search process when I go on maternity leave at 34 weeks and I expect it to take several months. Obviously I have a very supportive DH who will look after DC when I go to interviews etc., but he does work full time in a demanding management job and I will be on my own during the day (no family in the region.) We really can't afford childcare/a nanny (daycare centres near me don't take newborns) while I don't have a job lined up. I've tried looking online for tips, but everything I've found was very depressing and assumed that you were looking for a new job out of choice and so could just delay it - not the case for me, I need employment and we can't afford being underemployed either.

Does anyone have tips on how to manage several hours of focused work per day while caring for a newborn?

If you mean job hunting/ interview prep you can do from a laptop at home - it is totally doable with a newborn. If the tasks do not have a very specific time scale you can compete them whenever baby has a nap. You will need to get used to being interrupted often, but that is true no matter what you do when you have a newborn.

I have spent far too many hours with a baby breastfeeding while I worked on laptop over their head/off to the side.

Thank you! You are the first person to say this is feasible. Yes, I mean interview prep with laptop or book + pen/paper (and occasional Skype calls with language teachers, but I'm paying them, so they shouldn't complain if baby cries.)

Oh dear, no real advice as such, but feel for you being in such a position. I think it very much depends on the baby, as some sleep/are more chilled than others. But even with the most chilled out baby you will be operating in a fog of sleep deprivation, not the best conditions for study/preparation!

Is there anyway you could apply for jobs requiring less intense preparation in the short term?

Following as am in similar position and I feel completely out of my depth and like I have no idea what I'm doing

Hi, not quite the same thing but I've been carrying out an open university degree while caring for a newborn, including writing several assignments, and preparing for and sitting an exam, so it can be done. I do as much as I can on my phone, and jump on my laptop whenever ds is asleep. My dh also was able to care for ds in the run up to the exam to allow me to go to the library to study in peace. His support definitely made it possible.

It’s doable - I studied 2 diplomas with a newborn and a 4 year old, study while the baby naps, and you become great and multitasking so feeding with one hand and using the other to work the laptop. DP did the bath and bed routine so I got another hour in there and then any free chance I had I used my phone to study. It’s hard work, but if you really want it you can do it.

If it's home prep I imagine it could be perfectly doable. I've had two newborns. The first one was hard and screamed a lot. However he would sleep on me and I had a reasonable amount of free time.