Mentioning family at interview

[Mouseybrown]

Advice please ladies!

I have an interview next week for my dream job.

For the last nine months I have been working as a freelance after my company went bust when I was seven months pregnant. I am quite successful as a freelance and at present my dh is the main wage earner so the responsibility isn't on me.

My husbands contract finishes in September and there's a lot of competition in his field so me getting a job, although six months too soon, would be a good thing. We'd have to get a nanny for the time whilst we're both working.

Now. When they ask me at interview 'What have you been doing recently?' Do I mention setting up the business and miss out the part about being pregnant and thus having a small baby, or do I tell them everything? Its a very male dominated industry, and I don't want to ruin my chances, but equally I don't want to fold my freelance business and then have them say 'You didn't tell us everything' and get off on a bad foot.

Reading this back I think the fact that we'll have a nanny means that ds won't effect my ability to work so I don't need to mention.

Please let me know what you think...thanks!

IMO you should be clear about the period that you were on materity leave. Unexplained gaps on CVs are never a good idea.

I assume that your CV stated when you were on maternity leave?

No need to explicitly mention the details of children, nannies etc. There is (IMO) a subtle but important distinction between saying "I was on materinty leave from x to Y" and saying "I had a baby".

Definitely don't steer the conversation in this direction. A man wouldn't feel the need to do this :)

Sounds to me as though you didn't have a gap as I am reading this as you working freelance since you were 7 monthsa pregnant till now which makes your baby 7 months?

If thats the case don't mention it as you have no gap in your CV.

If there is a gap just out a one liner
Date X to date Y - Short career break due to maternity leave.

Then keep quiet. Its only relevant in terms of how it affects gaps on your CV. As muddleduck says a man woudlnt need to mention it. Good luck.

Thanks Muddle,

CV stated that I was employed by company until it went bust and then that I set up my own consultancy, I didn't mention maternity leave at all.

No gap on CV, no gap in work (yes I am a loony) ds is 7months and I'm working as he naps :-)

If there's no gap in CV and no gap in work, I woudldn't mention it. It shouldn't work against you in the interview but the sad truth is that it often does.

Thanks all,

wish me luck!

I wouldn't mention it, personally - I don't think there's any need. You have (or will have) childcare arrangements in place to allow you to carry out your job effectively and being able to carry out your job effectively is all a potential employer needs to know.

Hi there, I think in your position I definitely wouldn't mention it - although the fact that you have continued to work while having a small baby demonstrates an amazing amount of dedication and should go in your favour, the reality in the workplace is that they still might assume your family and not the job would be your priority - best not to draw their attention to the fact.

I am in a similar situation to you, however I am thinking I may have to mention my small baby at the interview for my dream job - I also didn't put maternity leave on my application as I've been freelance for 10 years and just listed all my clients and said there was no end date as they often come back to me when work comes up. I am only worrying about mentioning it now because unlike you it will effect my work as I would like to request to work 3-4 days a week. Do I need to mention at interview in this instance? The application pack sagas a whole section on how family friendly they are!

Sorry, should read the application pack had a whole section!

Surely when they ask that question they want to hear about your work, rather than your personal life, so your baby (congratulations, btw) isn't relevant? You wouldn't say 'well, I've just been redoing my kitchen', you'd talk about your work projects.

Hi Goldy,

I reckon you don't mention it and the working hours negotiation only happens after you say 'yes' to the job. At that point you're not commited and neither are they so if it doesn't suit nobody's lost out, but it will mean you get judged on a level playing field with the other candidates.

My situation is slightly complicated by the fact that the job is with the regulator of the industry I work in, so they'd probably take a dim view of my continuing to practice as a fall back and I would therefore have to close down my business, leaving me with nothing if it did fall through.

Good luck (hope we're not going for the same job!)