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Received an offer as Engagement Director from Salesforce (CSG, pre sales, L9). Great benefits package, 40% increase in total comp and better WLB.
I do love the people in my practice and current client, but career trajectory has stalled after taking parental leave earlier this year and (yet another) change in leadership.
Realistically, making to Director is 2-3 years away and will require sacrificing time with my family that I am not prepared to give up.
Should I stay or should I go?
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Wait! Wait, wait, wait.
1) Don’t give them a reason to discriminate against you.
2) If they want you for this role, you needing to have some time away when baby’s born shouldn’t impact your fit for the role and long-term value to the org.
3) If, God forbid, something were to go wrong, it’s not a conversation I personally would want to have with my (new) employer unless I absolutely had to, so I’d wait until at least my second trimester to disclose.
All of this too! ^
While it is illegal to be discriminated on this people still have bias so I would not tell them. It’s even better if you’re wfh and they can’t tell but I’d suggest waiting. One thing to consider is you may need to work somewhere a year before you see maternity leave benefits.
As a manager of a large team I would say tell them only when you’re going public with the news. They don’t have to know before then. I’ve had lots of women who’ve had children on my teams and the world keeps moving and the work gets done. I’ve also had several employees get pregnant in the first year with the company and again it’s never an issue. The thing I think of as more important is how long you plan on being out on leave. Again I don’t care about how much time is taken I just want to plan for it.
I was in the same boat once and was nervous about interviewing because I had just miscarried a month earlier. Once all the testing was okay with the new pregnancy, I ended up telling work at 20 weeks after a few months into the job. I was honest about why and no one blinked an eye. During the interview process, I made a point to ask if there was any time limit on their parental leave policy and there wasn’t. Some places require a year for FMLA. If you’re in NY it’s only 6 months. Good luck!
I would only tell at the beginning of a new job if I was 3-4 months out. Any earlier and who knows what will happen between now and your due date. It can wait.
I personally would not suggest saying anything until you’re comfortable with telling everyone. I went through something similar with my current job and was very early pregnancy when interviewing but would not have shared with anyone at that point. You can certainly ask about family/paid leave policies if they are not outlined explicitly in offer paperwork, they might get the gist you’re considering it but they aren’t allowed to ask, and you’re not required to say anything. If you’re early along now you’ll have plenty of time to prove your merit before baby comes!
I ended up getting pregnant during the interview process for a job I was really interested in. After I got the offer, I was torn on how to proceed because it felt too early to tell them, but the mat leave policy was dismal compared to what I would be leaving so it was a big point for me. I said something like “we are hoping to expand our family in the next year” as a way to open up the discussion for negotiation. In the end, they wouldn’t budge on their policy, and I didn’t take the job.
Exactly. Get all the info and figure out the best decision for you and your growing (and CONGRATS, btw!!!). While it didn’t work out for me with this company, I have no regrets about approaching the situation this way because it gave me a clear picture of what I would have been walking into. This article gave me some faith and courage to initiate the conversation: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/i-just-started-72andsunny-los-angeles-director-im-24-kate
Update: I was able to uncover what the maternity policy is without too much work. The next question - am I crazy to consider a pharma FT gig if that’s not really my dream but the pay and the benefits are really good? My partner and I are both freelancers and the stability and the mat leave pay would be really nice.
There is no shame in putting your family first. Follow your gut. I bet you’ve worked your ass off til now and if this opportunity allows you to transition and shift focus to your growing family - I think that’s great.