Ask the Expert: No obligation to disclose pregnancy
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I have been working as a consultant advising companies on corporate finance issues, having been made redundant a year ago. I now want to go back into the City on the equities side, but I am pregnant. I would want to stress to any employer that I am not looking for any maternity benefit or more than three months leave. Will this make any difference? Do I have any real chance of getting a job while pregnant?
There is a very clear legal answer to your question. But in the real world, the law is only useful to you while your pregnancy is still invisible.
Legally speaking, you cannot be denied a job solely on the grounds of pregnancy, as that is automatic sex discrimination. The employer cannot even argue that the job won't get done in time or that a temp will shortly be needed when you go off on maternity leave. That is also sex discrimination, as maternity leave is unique to women.
In reality, once you are visibly pregnant, you might as well accept that no one will employ you in equities. There is an abundance of excellent candidates in this area and no employer will want someone who is shortly due to go on maternity leave. Interviewers can always come up with reasons for not employing someone and they will find any number of reasons that are quite unrelated to your growing bump.
It's no use promising you'll return quickly or will take unpaid leave, as maternity rights cannot be waived.
So your only realistic chance of employment is before you start to show, during which time you are under no obligation to disclose your pregnancy.
This much the panel were agreed on. Where dissent emerged, it did so on gender lines. (Is this co-incidence?) The men asked, 'Why would she want a new job anyway, if she's pregnant?' As the one woman (and working mother) on the panel, however, I sympathise entirely with your desire to find employment now.
It's easier to find a job after one year of consultancy than after two years of consultancy/maternity leave. You would feel much more secure, knowing there is a job to return to, rather than facing the uncertain position of starting a job search from scratch after the birth of your child.
However, you will just have to accept that that's the position you will most likely find yourself in. And it's not the end of the world. You have said little about the nature and quality of the consulting work you have done, but this is probably your best chance in the short to medium term. Continue with this for as long as you can and present the experience you are getting from it in the best possible light.
Above all else, keep networking. Maintain and develop your contacts throughout your pregnancy and as soon after the birth as you can. Make sure you don't drop from the radar of your business contacts. That way you will be able to start your job search running, once you are ready.
Next week's question: I have recently secured a summer internship at an investment bank. Since the age of 16, I have suffered from a rare sleeping disorder, called narcolepsy, which causes me to fall asleep in the afternoons. Narcolepsy sufferers experience excessive daytime sleepiness and abnormal REM sleep. They may also suffer 'micro-sleeps' without being conscious of it. I am worried that my "sudden sleep attack" will give my bosses the impression that I am not interested in the job which is the opposite of the truth. How do I present this problem to an employer?
What would you advise? Send your answer to: expertadmin@efinancialcareers.com.
Look out for the Experts' answer to this dilemma and readers' comments on Ask the Expert next week!
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Our experts include: Roger Steare, a career coach at Roger Steare Consulting, Makbool Javaid, an employment partner at the law firm DLA and Tony Tucker, a recruitment consultant at ERG, talking to careers journalist Hashi Syedain.
