Reply to LinkedIn: "Voluntary departure due to motherhood"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
I'm in a similar situation.  Also, I don't understand something a PP said - that saying you left to care for an ill/elderly family member is somehow more acceptable than saying you left to care for your children.  That makes no sense to me.[/quote]

This may seem harsh, but here's the truth - when you tell an employer you were taking care of a sick or elderly family member, they may very well assume that the person either died or their health issues have resolved. It seems like a more finite period of need. When you tell them you took a break to raise children (and assuming it's obvious the kids are still young), the employer hears "Great, she's going to need a lot of flexibility for 10+ years because she's the main caregiver in her family."

Whatever you tell them, you just have to put their mind at ease that you aren't going to need a lot of special treatment, unexpected time off, etc. If you tell them, "I took a couple years off to care for my elderly mother, but now she has moved in with us so it is a lot easier. [3 minutes later] Yeah, I'm really interested to know about telecommuting," - that is going to reflect poorly on you. If you tell them "I took a few years off to be with my kids, but they're now all in school and we have a great backup babysitter, so I'm ready to get back into my career full-time," then they are going to see that you aren't planning to take lots of random time off.

It isn't necessarily about kids vs sick/elderly care, but it is about if the employer has to read into things, they might think that a sick/elderly commitment has ended where they generally won't assume a child responsibility has ended. [/quote]

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