To leave a full time job of 9 years for maternity cover?

[spicytuna06]

Hi everyone! You lot always seem to give really good advice so please help!

I am currently in final stages of interviewing for my (what I’d like to think) dream job. However the downside is that the role is a 12 months maternity cover (however they said there is always the possibility of making the role full time, but it isn’t guaranteed).

I am really really keen to work there and this is the first time a role came up in that team in over 2 years so people don’t normally leave.

However, we were planning to start ttc asap and now waiting to hear if I got the offer or not. My job currently isn’t bad, but I’ve been in it nearly 9 years and I have some severe job fatigue and really not much career progression. What I do get is lots of flexibility, good team and benefits.

This will be our 2nd and my toddler is now 21 months so wouldn’t want the age gap to be too big. Money wise, the new job’s base salary would be the same, but as it is a sales role there would be a very high commission added on top, which I wouldn’t ever get in my current job.

Am I crazy to consider taking thew new job should I be offered it? I really really want it, but realistically I understand that they might not extend my contract, I’d have to push back ttc for quite a while ( not even sure how long) etc.

Please talk to me and thank you!

ETA: leaving ttc aside am I crazy to leave a job of 9 years for a mat cover?

for enhanced pay you’d poss have to be in the job for a year by 15weeks before expected week of childbirth (or similar).

bear in mind notice for mat leave contracts could only be a couple of weeks

I’m not 100% sure on contract roles but you have to been employed a certain time to get statutory maternity pay. I would stay put..if you get offered it might be worth being honest with them on why you are declining so they consider you for the future. If you REALLY want it I would consider a bigger age gap..a gap of 4/5 years isn’t really a biggie in life. But the temporary contract is going to complicate things regarding maternity allowance.

I wouldn't take it. You may not even get 12 months in the role - the employee may come back after nine or even six months. You will likely only be entitled to one week's notice - do you have funds to support yourself if you end up out of a job altogether? If you're let go, then this would delay you from TTC even longer.

The possibility of a permanent role rarely becomes a reality - in most cases it's just a carrot to persuade the employee to stick out the full term.

Dream jobs very rarely end up being dream jobs and soon become as mundane as anything else.

I have been on two sides of this.

First, I'd check what the entitlement is to enhanced maternity pay and see how that works in your plans.

I did one maternity cover where I was out immediately on the return of the post holder, so fast it made my head spin. That was in the public sector.

I did another maternity cover (private sector organisation) where the director wanted me to cover the post holders role, but also carve out a niche role for myself to develop a particular area so that he could make the business case for needing two roles in the team when the person I was covering came back. As it was the post holder didn't come back to work after taking year, I ended up being made permanent and stayed for a long time. He never did get his two roles in our team though.

When I went on maternity leave after many years in my old role I wanted to return but various factors made it very difficult to do so, including my maternity cover attempting to muscle me out of my role.

Sometimes fixed term contracts can give you exposure to an area to build your profile and then you can leverage that for something else. I'm not sure I'd given up the length of service you have in your role though, but my risk appetite has changed in recent years since I was screwed over on my return from maternity leave. I'd weigh up the benefits as if it was a permanent post and then decide perhaps.

No I wouldn't m.