Do you mention maternity leave / career break on CV?

[Albrecht]

So if I had a 18 month contract but was on maternity leave for half of it (was ever so popular at that job...) I can't exactly include this in x number of years professional experience can I?

Do other people explain about how long they have been at home looking after children?

Only looking to get some part time volunteer work atm but just wondering how to phrase it?

bump for the evening.

Yes I would count it. Both times I went on maternity leave I came back to the same job so just put the beginning and end date for the whole position on my cv.

I put the dates that I worked. I don't say on my CV if some of it was off on maternity leave. While you are on mat leave you are still employed so no need to mention it.

If you feel uncomfortable about including it in experience, you could couch your language in a different way. So eg if it's 6 years experience you could put it as "more than 5 years experience" or something.

I don't even say anything about the gaps in my CV that are due to redundancy / having a baby etc. Unless it's asked on the application form. I have got a few small gaps and managed to swing an interview for a really good job (second interview coming up!!!) and so it doesn't seem to make any difference. They can always ask at interview if they are wondering.

Thanks for the replies, I'll just put the dates down then.

Good luck with the second interview, SardineQueen!

thanks albrecht and good luck with getting your voluntary role too!

Agree with the above posters, don't mention it just use the overall dates. My CV (which I really need to update) shows 4.5 years with my present company even though I was on maternity leave twice, 11 and 10 months, returning to the same job each time.

That said I've seen several male colleague CVs without any employment break when I know that they've had some time in between jobs. It's just one job running right through to the next.