Maternity Leave off my CV (!!!how rude!!!)

[piccolamamma]

there always has to be one who spoils it for everyone else.. in this case a recruiter who told me to take Maternity Leave off my CV all together. (And everyone else had been so modern and normal). I was v.polite but will not take ML off my CV as that would be SOO ridiculous. Anyone else had similar experiences with future bosses or recruiters after becoming mothers? (Are these people completely mad?) Or are things slowly improving - is this really a one off?
lol

If you took maternity leave and then went back to work after 6 months/a year/whatever, for the same employer, without a break in your contract, then why would you put it on your CV? If you took a career break of a few years to look after your children, then put that on. I'm sorry but to a potential employer, putting maternity leave on would look odd and as if you were just making a point, which to be honest doesn't make you look particularly employable! (I know, I know, but life isn't always fair.)

If you have children, put that in the bit of your CV about personal circumstances, ie "Married, 2 children born 2000 and 2004." and leave it at that. That way employers know you have children and how old they were, and can presumably work out what you will need from that.

I would also expect MEN to put something like this on their CV.

(BTW I am married to a recruitment consultant so I do know a bit about CVs).

I did say in my first post that a career break is different. Obviously you'd put that down (I'd imagine).

I don't not put down maternity leave in my employment history because have an assumption that it "will impede changes of employment", but because I don't think (when we're talking a few months of ML rather than a career break) that it's relevant and because I was, at that time, employed (and paid) by the employer I'm listing as being employed by at that time in the role I'm listing as being employed in at that time. I don't see the need to faff around overcomplicating matters.

And yes, I was being facetious about the stomach 'flu. But more seriously, if I'd had six months off on paid sick leave laid up with a bad back or a serious operation I wouldn't put that down in "employment history" either even though I might have learned valuable skills (patience, learning a new language while cooped up in bed, something like that).

There's nothing wrong or inappropriate with mentioning your status as a mother somewhere on your CV if you feel it gives you additional skills that are relevant to your job. But I don't think maternity leave (as opposed to a career break) is normally relevant in the "employment history" section. You're the best judge of your own CV, skills and career and what is and isn't relevant in your case, though, obviously.

agree with everyone who has been asking why you would include it - if it's leave then you were employed throughout, just put starting date and leaving dates from that employer.

Plus, Piccolomama, I can't understand if you just want to include a statutory period of maternity leave on your CV or a longer break where you were effectively unemployed and looking after your kids. The two things are different and yes, the latter should be included but not the former.

IME employers don't run to the hills if they see a woman has children, but what they're looking for in a CV is a demonstration that you can do the job in a professional way, and the fact that you took maternity leave is neither here nor there. By making a point of including it you are inviting comment when none is necessary!

At the end of the day, your CV will get glanced over and it will depend on the interviewer. When most people leave it off, why highlight it by putting it on there. Some employers are more enlightened, but in the real world some of them are very put off by women of childbearing age, especially who already have one or two children.

Currently it is actually becoming unacceptable to even ask if a woman is married or has children, and the reason for this is that they know employers will discriminate if given the chance.