pregnant and job searching?!!

[bmryan06]

I was working in a crazy busy level one trauma er up until last week. i resigned due to multiple reasons, including not feeling safe with my pregnancy. i am currently 28 weeks pregnant, and its obvious.

i had been attempting to go from full time to prn or part time since last may, with my nurse manager giving me excuses and the run around. i no longer needed full time work with benefits, and was looking to work less hours and make the same amount. but he just wasn't having it.

i am now in search of a new job. if my family pinched our pennies we think we could survive without me working until after i give birth. but i don't want to be out of the loop for six months, im afraid to lose my skills and knowledge. but i don't want to walk into interviews and it be obvious i am pregnant and ruin an opportunity. i know they can't ask me if i'm pregnant, and cant explicitly tell me they aren't going to hire me because i'm pregnant either. im afraid that they will not hire me officially for another reason, and not even consider me in august or july if i reapply then.

any thoughts? do i apply and interview for new jobs now? if so, do i put it out there that i'm pregnant, or do i try and hide it? or do i wait until after i give birth?

[twiddlywinks]

I would go ahead and apply for PRN jobs. I wouldn't think that they would care if you were pregnant.

[Pangea Reunited, ASN, RN]

I hope you didn't just resign yourself out of disability leave. It's very helpful to get those weekly deposits while you're out of work.

While no one is likely to tell you that they're not hiring you because of your pregnancy, I do believe that your job search is likely to be much harder. I'm not sure it would be possible to hide a pregnancy at that stage unless you are quite large to start out with.

Good luck and congratulations!

[OCNRN63, RN]

If you can afford it financially, I'd say wait until after the baby is born. Till you go through orientation, you'd be coming off orientation just in time for you to deliver, so hiring you will not have helped out any staffing holes that existed. Like others said, prospective employers can't deny you a job based on your pregnancy, but they can find another reason to do so.

Wait until your situation has stabilized and you're in a better position to be job hunting.

[CrunchRN, ADN, RN]

Go for it. What do you have to lose?

[bmryan06]

I did, but at the same time I didn't. I was out for almost three months at the beginning of the pregnancy with hyperemesis, that's now under control. So I had no more FMLA time off. I would have gotten off with whatever PTO I still had. And my job would have been saved for three months, but my boss loved to threaten that he didn't have to do that. So since I left, I still get my PTO. It works out the same.