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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Well, that's just weird.  I've heard interesting things from people in interviews about their kids, or really, about how parenting has taught them things etc.  I wouldn't say the subject should be taboo, but it needs to be relevant.  Then again, if the interviewer doesn't have kids they're not going to understand what you're saying or they might find you annoying.  Do you have kids?[/quote]

There's a time and a place for everything.  A resume is a tool to get you an interview.  An interview is a tool to get you a job.  Your first focus in that interview is to get the job.  That means be as professional as possible.  Look to your interviewer to give you clues whether you to change tacks.  In most of the interviews that I've conducted over the years (I've been out of management for a few years now, but was there for many years), I sometimes only had a small amount of time for an interview (like if a candidate was interviewing several managers in the building for several positions, or if I had several people coming in in 10 minutes to do a joint technical review portion, or if she needed to get back to HR by some specific time, etc) and I want to focus on the things I need to know if I am going to hire you.  And your childcare skills are usually not in that.  Would you like to lose a position even though you were the best qualified because I never found out you were the best qualified because we spent time chatting about raising children or your kids or making you more comfortable with your first interview in 10 years?  My usual program is to start with basic introductions and short getting to know you chat.  Then to a description of the job that you are applying for and then have you describe to me your skills and knowledge and how they pertain to the job I'm trying to fill.  After the technical/skill portion, then we can talk about flexibility, what type of time commitment, customer demands, time off, benefits, etc (only the ones I'm familiar with, others will be deferred for you to talk with HR).  And finally, if all of that is done and we have time to continue chatting, we can socialize and learn those interesting things about kids, parenting, avocations, interests.  I think that of several dozen interviews, I had the time for that in maybe half or slightly less than half of the interviews.[/quote]

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