Do you have decent maternity benefits and what job do you do/industry do you work in?

[digitalgirl]

Having been unsuccessful in my first job application in the public sector I need to widen my search for a job with decent benefits. I currently work as a freelance producer for a small creative agency, am on maternity leave for DC1 and wanting to go back to work part-time. Already thinking about planning DC2, but cannot afford to save up for 6-9 months maternity leave on a part-time wage (well I could but would take a good few years, or longer if I put DS into a nursery when he hits 12mo).

Thinking about a career change. Perhaps doing some training. Something that uses my skills.

public sector mat leave is usually quite good, although the council i work hasn't extended its occupational pay at all since maternity leave was increased from 18 weeks quite a few years ago.

if you haven't been successful try giving them a call to find out why. i've always found that really useful and unlike some private companies they have been quite honest.

good luck.

Thanks Choufleur, I got the 'too many applicants to give individual feedback' tagged onto my rejection letter - although I asked anyway.

Going to keep looking, but was one of those rare public sector jobs that actually paid quite well. The rest of the part-time vacancies are all be quite low down the pay-scale.

Consulting has pretty good maternity benefits, Accenture offers the first 6mths at full pay. I work in telecoms (Product Management) and its pretty good, depends on your length of service (ok after 1 yr, best if over 2 yrs) i also got one mths bonus when i returned to work and another months bonus after 6 mths.

i know from experience recruiting within my council that the key to getting an interview is knowing how to fill the forms in, irregardless of whether you could actually do the job or not.

go through the person spec and make sure that anything that is marked as 'essential' is covered in detail. use the words that are in the person spec back in your application, preferably highlightly the eseential criteria that you are covering. if you don't meet all essentials you won't get an interview, and if there are a lot of applicants it's easier to judge if someone meets an essential if they say "i have experience/can do X because ..."

Public sector maternity pay actually varies quite a lot - some London councils are a lot better than others, eg I am on full pay for just over 6 months then SMP for 11 weeks after that - but the borough I lives in pays a lot less) and you should try to find out if you can do so without asking the interviewer (!), though you would generally need to work there for a year to qualify for the best maternity benefits.

I work for NHS. Maternity pay is good after 2 years employment.

Never thought about consulting, always thought it was for financy types that had gone to business school, but just had a quick skim on Accenture's site and they cover marketing which I can sort of do.

Think I would need a lot of re-training to get a job in the NHS.

choufleur - I did everything I could ensure I ticked all the boxes on my app (was also checked by three senior high-ranking friends), but I guess I didn't have the right skills/experience to warrant an interview. It's interesting that on their diversity form it said if I had a disability I could call up for my guaranteed interview bypassing the application stage.

public sector maternity pay does really vary. i have over 10 yeards continuous service in local government but get six weeks full pay followed by 12 weeks half then smp until 9 months. i don't think that's very good, but then i work for a county local authority which is a bit behind the times in womens issues.
it's difficult to check that kind of thing before you apply for a job though.

digitalgirl, did you cover the essential criteria listed on the person specification? I'm assuming that there was a "personal statement" element to the application form, am I right? This is where you need to prove that you have the skills, qualifications and experience required from the person specification. Leave nothing to chance! You can't assume that the shortlister will assume, say, that you have IT skills just because you've used a PC to complete the application form. You have to kind of assume stupidity on the part of the shortlister and spell it out for them.

I also work for a County Council and we have a "positive about disabled people" badge, which requires us to guarantee an interview for people with a disability so long as they meet the minimum essential criteria on the person specification. I can only conclude, based on what you've said, that you may well have had the essential skills on the person spec but perhaps not the desirable ones that are used to narrow the field if there is quite a bit of interest. But of course, I may be wrong!

Don't be put off by this experience, the public sector can be a great place to work. My maternity pay isn't marvellous, but I get 90% of a weeks pay for 6 weeks, followed by 12 weeks half pay and then the bog standard pay.

llareggub - yes it was a personal statement application, no form to fill in. I covered off the 21 points listed job profile, professional skills and leadership skills. I did this in the max 3 x A4 sides (including headings for each skill required). Thinking about it there were a further 10 skills listed under 'core skills and professional skills for govt competencies' which I didn't specifically address as there wouldn't have been any room unless I reduced the point size to miniscule or reduced my answers to the previous skills as yes or no.

Either that or my CV wasn't up to scratch.

It was a Grade 6 role, so perhaps I just didn't have enough senior experience (I definitely haven't had any experience dealing with government ministers).

Will continue to look in public sector. Just so hard to find decent paying part-time work.

As a freelancer I get Maternity Allowance the same as SMP - so anything above SMP for any amount of time would be an improvement.

Did it say you couldn't add additional pages? I've read application forms from people that are 8 pages (and more!!) long.

Good luck with your job hunt with the public sector. If you are currently freelancing it may be worth contacting people directly for freelance/consultancy work within the public sector. I understand it isn't what you are after, but it will give you an insight into the sector and give you networking possibilities.

bumping for the monday morning crowd - am still interested in what jobs you mums have with good benefits.