Reply to Is it disingenuous to get a new job when I plan to try to get pregnant with in 1-1.5 years?

Forum Index » Jobs and Careers

Reply to "Is it disingenuous to get a new job when I plan to try to get pregnant with in 1-1.5 years?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]Collective wisdom of DC Urban Moms (and Dads)

I'm a mid-30s professional woman.  I'm a consultant now at a good firm, manager level, successful and close to a promotion point. I'm one of the most senior women on my team, but I don't feel like gender has gotten in the way of my career... yet.  However, the hours of the job are grueling (65-80 per week), and the travel can be pretty difficult as well. It is not a sustainable option should I decide to have children, unless I give up client-facing work for a while. I'm still learning a great bit, but not sure the post-promotion point role is right for me (not sure I want to sell consulting work), and I have been thinking of leaving for some time.

I'm starting to family plan and would like to start trying for a baby within the next year.  The question is: should I stay in my current role for pregnancy / maternity or start something new which may be more compatible with mom hours, only to start and have to go on maternity leave a year or less into the role?

I have an opportunity to move into a Director level position at a company -  the role is exciting and the team seems great.  I have great benefits at my current job (decent maternity, opportunity to take an extended period off with a small portion of salary after that, invitro benefits, adoption benefits, etc.)... while I think I could get through pregnancy / maternity in my current role, I think I couldn't continue on as a client-facing consulting for the first few years of child rearing.  Alternatively, the maternity / benefits at the new role are less favorable, but I think I could swing it as a mom longer term (instead of 12-16 hours per day, more of an ~8 hour schedule, albeit still trying at times) and still be in a career advancing position.  To be clear, I think I would like to be a WM not a SAHM (although I have tons of respect and admiration for the latter, it may not be the right choice for me).

So do I stick it out in the current job through pregnancy/ maternity and find something afterwards?  Or jump now to a great opportunity, but have to have the difficult conversations around maternity and parenthood?

And which is worse from an employer perspective?  Take extended maternity and then leave, or start something new and then take maternity leave?

[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics