If around 50% of the workforce are women..

[HaveYourselfAKnottyLittleXmas]

And 56% of them work part time, why is it so difficult for certain people to understand that I just want a PART TIME job doing what I used to do before I had DS?

If I have to explain this one more time to some dumbwitted employment agency person, I shall slap them!

Oh ok then, die thread, die!

Knotty, I share your frustration. Before dd, I had recruitment agencies calling regularly. Now that I work part time, they are v. polite but never get back to me. I only managed to wrangle pt employment with my existing employer - by changing roles. I would struggle to find the same terms through an agency.

I wrote a long business case for doing my same job with my employer but on a pt basis. But it was not worth the paper it was written on as far as they were concerned. Some types of work are more amenable to pt/flexi working than others.The work that is inherently flexible unfortunately has a (often deep) discount built in, which I always felt is v. unfair. Employers know they have us part timers over a barrel because the good pt jobs are so few and far between.

didn't realise it was such a jungle out there. Just started a thread cos I want out of speech and language therapy, but I work part-time without any problem. I genuinely didn't realise I was so fortunate

Blueshoes, I'm glad I'm not alone in banging my head against a brick wall! But not glad that this situation seems to exist. My old employer would have been fine with me returning part time, but unfortunately have had to relocate with dh's job.

It does feel like a kind of discrimination, really.

These are the comments I have had from agency staff over the last few days:

"Oh, yes, well, Marketing, well, that's kind of like a career, isn;t it?" , whilst staring pointedly at 21 month old ds in buggy.

and

"the part time jobs we get are mostly for secretarial and basic admin work, and most people in your situation seem to quite like them as maybe their career isn;t that important to them anymore"

or else feigning interest but not sounding that they think they could really give a toss.

Hi

I went for job interview recently where I had made clear in application form that I wanted a p/t job only. They asked me if I would consider working f/t, I said no, they all exchanged pointed glances, I didn't get the job.

I'm fortunate that I'm in work already. But I know that if I'd taken the job on f/t they would have let me go p/t on request. FGS.

That's why I work freelance (and am lucky to be able to do so).

The clear impression I get is that to get pt employment in a career-type job (like marketing (?) etc), you have to start ft and then ask for pt - with risk that your application could be rejected and then you would be out on a limb when trying to come back from maternity. pt is given out by employers as sop to existing ft employees because employers don't want to risk breaking the law on flexible working or sex discrimination. But their preference is always for ft and unless you are already on their payroll, why should they consider a pt candidate if they can find a ft one.

The types of jobs that advertise for pt are those where they are trying to find a job share for an existing pt employee - perhaps that could be an option. However, I find that in those cases, the salary on offer builds in a discount to the pay that can be out of proportion to the prorated reduced hours.

Or pt jobs tend to be jobs that ft employees would not prefer to do and the only people with skills that employers can tempt to take them up are people like us who need the carrot of flexible working.

Have you considered contract working - it is the closest to freelance I can think of in marketing? When I explored that for my field, I found that it was more suitable to people who could do short intense bursts eg single people who wanted time to travel in between jobs. Not so much for me who wanted regular reduced hours.

Sorry that this has turned out to be a long rant. Knotty, can your existing employer do you a glowing reference? Apply directly, if you can. Leverage existing contacts?

it's crap isn't it? I have a p-t job - applied for a f-t job, got it, asked if they would consider p-t, they said, well we're offering you a f-t post (ie do you want to gamble on declining the offer and see if we make a p-t offer). I didn't take the risk (though know now I could have), worked f-t for a year, maternity leave - came back p-t. Was meant to be a temporary arrangement, reverting back to f-t, but has never been discussed. Every 3 months I get a letter from HR asking me to sign something called "temporary change to p-t working" I just ignore it.

I do know people (well, ok, one) who went for interview for f-t job, not said anything about p-t or flexible working, was offered the job and at that stage asked them to consider offering it on a p-t basis. And got a positive response. It was an NGO - so a bit more flexible (it was also a bloke - who's dp worked f-t....there is hope!)

and at my apostrophe abuse.

Well after my winge yesterday I have at least got an interview!!!

It is for a FT position. It is public sector and I have already asked about PT, and they did say they would consider if they had suitable job share candidates, and I did also put my preferred hours on my application, so who knows!

It isn;t til 16th jan so watch this space!

great news, Knotty. Wish you all the best and hope it goes well

i know what is wrong with them??? i was told they didn't even ever have part time roles on their books!

oh just read latest posts well done!