Worth job hunting while trying to conceive?

[fisil]

One reason for wanting to have number 2 quite quickly after number 1 was so that I could go after the promotion I really want.

Now that it seems like it might be going to take some time to conceive no.2, I'm getting more and more aware of my itchy feet.

Would you start looking now? I found going back to work after ds to be a wonderful release and very easy, but will it be very different with two? Should I stay in my comfort (ie boring) zone til then?

Also, does anyone know the answer to this question: I am currently at a foundation school. If I moved to a different school in the same borough, would that count as unbroken service? Obviously I can't ask anyone without revealing the facts that I am both job hunting and ttc!

Oh go on. Anyone?

Fisil I have this prob too.

Thought I would be PG straight away but 3 months on am still awiting . .so I did apply for a new job just before Xmas. Didn't get it. But employers have told me there will be a new position opening soon and as I have expressed interest in it they think I should go for it, and some of them know I am ttc.

I think you should start looking now. If you got pregnant soon, you would still have at least 8 months there. But, unfortunately, there are no guarantees with conception and so it may take a lot longer (hope it doesn't for you, but I have found this way of looking at the situation quite useful).

HTH

Thanks. That does help.

I hadn't thought of the possiblility that my current employers would react so positively. I suppose that is because I am less confident than I was before I gave birth (no idea why, well, maybe some ideas, but certainly not something I'd predicted!)

Fisil. I went back to work when ds1 was 9 months old as I thought I would get pregnant fairly quickly and be able to go on maternity leave again. Unfortunately we didn't get pregnant until 4 months later due to the fact I wasn't ovulating, and then when we did I miscarried. We got pregnant 3 months later but all in all I ended up in a job I disliked (I was promoted while on materity leave and had to take a new job) for a 20 month period - absolutely awful.

Sorry to be so negative but if I was back again, I would still have gone back to work but I would have held out for a more interesting job and not have tried to look too far ahead - counting chickens and all that.

In your situation, even assuming you get pregnant straight away (and I hope you do) as Mum2ela said you would still have 8 months. You don't (and in my opinion shouldn't) tell them you are ttc. Apply for the job you really want and then see what happens. Maternity law is so good now and more and more people are willing to not write off those pregnant and/or with young children that it is worth a try. Like I said I got my promotion while on maternity leave and my department couldn't have been more helpful.

I don't know about the unbroken service though. Can your school answer that?

As for working with 2. I must say I love my current job and find work a lovely distraction, but I work a 50% week so relatively easy as I feel our work/home time is very well balanced.

best of luck with whatever you decide.

Thanks again for your advise.

You say I don't need to tell them that I'm ttc, and I agree. But I wouldn't be able to ask them about the unbroken service without making it fairly obvious. So I'm not sure how to find that one out!

Hello Fisil

I was in your shoes a few months ago, when I was offered two new jobs (same company) when just about to start TTC. Although they were both promotions, there was an easier one with less travel (which I thought I would take if I knew I was pregnant) and a much tougher, challenging one with lots of travel. I figured I didn't know what would happen with TTC, so took the tougher job. Got pg six weeks after taking new job, but had an m/c and I am now 12 wks with 3rd pg. Anyway, the point is, I'm so glad I took the more challenging one. I can still cope with it now that I'm pg, and it also means I'll get a better job when I return from maternity leave.

BUT, that was in the same company, I'm not sure I would have gone looking for more of a challenge outside... sad as it is, even Mumsnetters have on occasion taken a dim view of taking a new job and then promptly going on maternity leave. Also, if you get pg quickly and are tired and not feeling your best, would you really want the additional stress of having to be on tippety top form in a new job?

On balance, I would say go for it if you think you can cope with (1) any hostility from colleagues (unjustified of course, but people can be cr*p) if you go on mat leave soon after arriving and (2) think the adjustment process will be an easy one - I'm not in your line of work so don't have a feel for this one.

Good luck

BTW - are there written policies re what constitutes unbroken service you can consult without having to ask anyone?

good thought about written policies.

I suppose it comes down to what the new environment would be like - snd whether I could predict that.

Thanks again. MN is great.

Can I revive this thread with a similar problem to fisil's?

Am currently working p/t at a 2ndary school and it's worked out really well as far as home/school balance goes, plus I love the kids and most of my colleagues. I've worked there for nearly 7 years. Trouble is I have to travel in - 40 mins car journey on the motorway and it's getting me down a bit, esp since I had dd and I have to rush back and forth for childcare. Further to this we had a new Head of Dept a year ago and he's a nightmare. Quite a few people in the dept want to leave now and have started looking for new jobs. I should also say that the Head (of the whole school) has been really good to me and has kept me on a good wage even though I'm p/t, so financially we're doing ok. An old colleague and good friend has now got the headship at a school on my doorstep. He's asked me to work for him and I know that ideally he'd like me to apply for full time work, poss as HoD. I've told him I want to have another baby first and wouldn't be interested in f/t until the 2nd baby was old enough. He's still said I could have a p/t post, filling in until I felt ready for f/t work again.

Have now been ttc for 13 months and it's now being investigated through initial tests. In a perfect world I'd get pg now (or yesterday!) have all my maternity benefits on the wages I've got now; go back to my old job for as long as decency will allow, then leave and work for my friend, or even at another school nearer home. But it's NOT perfect, and I can't seem to get pg and I'm sure this has had an effect on my feeling stressed about it.
I also need to say that my present school is very well funded and the job is very stable. My mate's school is under-funded and there would be no guarantee the job would be permanent (altho I could do some dreaded supply teaching!)

I feel like I'm in limbo. I don't want to go for a new job and then get pg and feel like I'm letting my new school down but there again, I don't want to sit here just waiting for something that might take a good while longer.

Sorry for rambling. Any words of wisdom?

a tough one. You don't sound happy where you are now but it's 'easy' in terms of how long you've been there, you know how things work etc etc. I'm ttc now too, and you just don't know how long it will take. I would put that to one side and base your decision on the other factors. Maybe a change and a challenge is what you need right now? It might take your mind off ttc and wanting that right NOW (not that you ever really forget about it, I know.....) but it would certainly give you something to focus on that was completely different. I am a teacher too, and work p/t as well - I've been considering changing too, to a closer school (45 min on a bad day, 25 min on a good one) and also for a new challenge, I've been there for 6 years.
It is a difficult decision and the worst part is thinking of all the 'what ifs' .........I think I would take the new job.
Good luck!