A Guide to Finding Pregnant-Friendly Jobs in a Tough Economy
Check out this complete, step-by-step guide to help you find and land pregnant-friendly jobs during tough economic times.
As the economy reels from the pandemic and millions of Americans remain out of work, it can feel extremely difficult for expectant moms to find pregnant-friendly jobs. But if life has taught us anything, it’s that difficult isn’t the same as impossible. With the right approach and a can-do attitude, you’re on your way to finding a new job.
In this post, we’ll focus on three key topics to put you on the right track toward finding and landing the right job. First, we’ll help you come up with a preflight checklist to make sure you have everything ready before you begin your job search. Next, we’ll list out the most highly-recommended pregnant-friendly jobs that you can choose from. Lastly, we’ll wrap it up with a few practical tips to let you ace your job interview while pregnant.
Preflight Checklist When Job-Hunting While Pregnant
The hiring process can be hard for anyone to go through at any time. For a pregnant mom, job-hunting during a recession is many times more difficult. It can take a toll on you personally and professionally. So before you start sending out your resume, here are a few steps you need to consider.
- Decide if it’s really the right time in your pregnancy to go job-hunting
- Set expectations of what pregnant-friendly jobs look like
- Determine how the job aligns with your future commitments
- Know what employers usually think about pregnant job seekers
- Look into insurance and benefits coverage
- Be sure you’re aware of your rights as a job seeker
- Make your job-search process recession-proof
Let’s go over each of these in more detail.
1. Decide if it’s really the right time in your pregnancy to go job-hunting
It goes without saying that looking for a job can be a very stressful, demanding, and time-consuming activity. When you’re expecting a baby, stress and anxiety can have unwanted side effects on your pregnancy. So one of the first things to ask is whether it’s really the right time for you to go out and find a job. Keep in mind that each stage in your pregnancy brings with it some unique challenges that can complicate the job-hunting process.
During the first trimester, there’s very little in the way of visible signs that can reveal you’re having a baby. That’s why, for most women, the first few weeks of pregnancy is the most ideal time to begin the job hunt.
But it’s also during the first trimester that pregnant women experience symptoms like morning sickness, mood swings, irritability, and tiredness. While these can vary between individuals, these symptoms can affect how well you’ll be able to carry out activities like applying for jobs and doing interviews.
Some experts believe the second trimester is the best time to start job hunting. Lisa Durante, a career consultant, says it’s during this period that pregnant women will have already moved past morning sickness and have more physical energy for other activities.
Still, your priorities definitely will shift toward you and your baby the further you are along your pregnancy. So make sure to decide based on what’s really important at that specific point in time.
2. Set expectations of what pregnant-friendly jobs look like
Once you decide to put yourself out into the job market, you need to get a feel for what’s a day in a pregnant-friendly job really like. How do you tell if a job opportunity meets your needs?
As we’ll see in the next section, there’s plenty of jobs suitable for pregnant moms. But there are specific items that make a job genuinely pregnant-friendly. According to Mark Swartz from Monster.com, pregnant women tend to thrive in work environments that:
- Involve lesser physical demands (e.g., do not require exerting too much physical effort)
- Implement strict health and safety rules
- Minimize emotional stress
- Provide ample time for taking breaks and rests
- Allow for flexible schedules
- Include option to work from home as needed
3. Determine how the job aligns with your future commitments
Toward the end of your pregnancy and well after you’ve given birth, your responsibilities will only grow bigger. You’ll have an extra set of commitments and obligations to your new baby, your family, and yourself. It’s important to think about how a new job will fit into your schedule well before you start the job search.
To help you figure this out, Anastasia Belyh from Cleverism suggests carefully thinking about the following things when evaluating job opportunities:
- Will you go for a job with a fixed or flexible schedule?
- Are you available to work full-time (e.g., 9 to 5)?
- Will the job allow you to work from home and take care of your baby?
- Do you have someone to look after the baby in case you’re not available?
- How close is the job location to your home or a day care center?
- Does the job require you to frequently travel?
You also need to look into work arrangements like temporary, contractual, or part-time work as possible options, especially if having a full-time job doesn’t align with your parenting responsibilities.
4. Know what employers usually think about pregnant job-seekers
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 makes it illegal for employers to reject your job application just because you’re pregnant. Still, it can be hard for most companies to overlook the usual concerns they have about hiring applicants who are expecting to have a baby.
There’s no shortage of research that finds pregnant women tend to be discriminated against more often and more severely than other job seekers. These studies show that managers and peers tend to look at pregnant employees as less reliable in the workplace.
Some typical concerns that employers have when screening pregnant job applicants include:
- Absences due to medical appointments and sick days
- Slump in productivity
- Cost of hiring a replacement
- Concerns about general health
Of course, not all prospective employers will be swayed by these concerns alone. Some companies do weigh the value that a truly qualified job seeker will bring to the role.
5. Look into insurance and benefits coverage
We know that the cost of having a baby plays a key role in the quality of your pregnancy experience. With the specific quirks of the U.S. healthcare market, it’s very important for you to pay close attention to how well your desired job covers your pregnancy.
Some of the most essential things to check include:
- Benefits package provided by the employer
- Maternity leave policy and prenatal care coverage
- Medical insurance options
- FMLA eligibility (if you’ve been with a company for more than 12 weeks)
- Disability or medical leave (especially if you don’t qualify for FMLA)
6. Make sure you’re aware of your rights as a job seeker
We already know that the law prohibits discrimination based on pregnancy. But there are other important rights you need to be aware of going into the job search process.
For example, it’s illegal for an employer to ask you if you’re pregnant, and there’s actually no law that requires you to disclose that you’re having a baby.
It’s totally up to you to decide whether or not to inform a potential employer about this, although it would be very awkward not to do so if you’re already in the later stages of pregnancy.
7. Make your job-search process recession-proof
With the pool of job openings becoming smaller and smaller, the typical job-hunting approach you follow during good times won’t work as much as it used to. In a recession, you need to tweak how you search and apply for jobs.
In an article for Cashay, career consultant Allison McLean explains that now isn’t the time to use spray-and-pray tactics (sending your resume to hundreds of potential companies hoping to get a few responses). Instead, the article recommends that you should:
- Tap in to your network more closely (e.g., reach out to recruiters via contacts in a company)
- Update and polish your resume with feedback from a hiring manager
- Take time to fill any knowledge or skills gaps
List of Ideal Jobs for Pregnant Women
So which jobs fit the items we talked about in the previous section? To answer this, we took a look at different sources and aggregated what we found. Based on the job descriptions, we decided to follow the two main categories used by Luke Redd of Trade-Schools.net:
-Jobs for already-pregnant women
– Jobs for women planning to get pregnant
We think these two categories best match what the preflight checklist is all about. We based our aggregated list on the following sources:
- “34 Good Jobs for Pregnant Women (And How to Get Hired)” (Trade-Schools.net)
- “10 Flexible Jobs for Pregnant Women to Work from Home” (The Work at Home Wife)
- “Jobs for Pregnant Women: 23 Ideas to Try in 2020” (ivetriedthat)
Here’s the list of jobs.
Jobs for Already-Pregnant Women
These jobs provide very good employment opportunities for women who already have a baby on the way. These roles have mostly flexible hours and require little skill or experience to get into.
- Cake Decorator
- Chat Agent
- Customer Service
- Data Processor
- Dog Sitter
- Floral Designer
- Freelance Writer
- Infant Care Aide
- Library Assistant
- Office Clerk
- Online Community Manager
- Online Stylist
- Paid Survey Taker
- Personal Shopper
- Researcher
- Retail Salesperson
- Sales Representative
- Search Engine Evaluator
- Social Media Moderators
- Teaching/Tutoring
- Virtual Assistant
- Wedding Consultant
Jobs for Women Planning to Get Pregnant
If you’re looking to have a baby in the future and wondering which jobs can help you earn a steady income while pregnant (and even after you’ve given birth), then you should check out the following roles. These positions offer flexible hours and manageable workloads, although some of them require strong skills and solid experience.
- Accountant
- Administrative Assistant
- Bookkeeping Or Accounting Clerk
- Computer Programmer
- Corporate Recruiter
- Database Administrator
- Dispensing Optician
- Editor/Proofreader
- Financial Planner
- Graphic Designer
- Interior Designer
- Market Research Analyst
- Medical Transcriptionist
- Multimedia Artist Or Animator
- Paralegal Or Legal Assistant
- Photographer
- Public Relations Specialist
- Retail Or Wholesale Buyer
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Specialist
- Video Editor
- Web Designer Or Developer
- Website Manager
Interview Tips to Land Pregnant-Friendly Jobs
Interviewing while pregnant basically follows the same best practices as with any other job interview. You want to show that you’re the best candidate for the job, and that you’re someone they’ll love working with.
That said, there are a few crucial tips to keep in mind when preparing and sitting for your interview.
- Be proactive about handling the employer’s concerns
- Keep the interview grounded on your strengths as a candidate
- Prioritize your and your baby’s well-being
Here’s how to apply each tip into your job-hunting journey.
Be proactive about handling the employer’s concerns
Although the law protects you against discrimination (and good employers typically do not explicitly ask about your upcoming pregnancy), having a well-thought-out plan for handling your pregnancy needs and obligations can be a definite advantage.
It shows a great deal of proactivity and problem-solving abilities on your part, which are two of the things that companies look for in a candidate. So, make sure to put together a detailed plan and timeline on how you’re going to manage your changing responsibilities and obligations:
- Discuss how you’ll schedule around your various obligations
- Provide specific information about your leave time
- Explain when and how you plan to return to work
- Explore alternative work options like remote or telecommuting
Keep the interview grounded on your strengths as a candidate
In situations where you choose to disclose your pregnancy to an interviewer, it’s important to always make sure that the conversation remains on what you can deliver to the role.
When you’re sitting for an interview while already visibly pregnant, it can be hard to avoid raising the topic. So if you find yourself in this situation, simply acknowledge it as a fact and then focus on the details of the job. The idea is to create the impression that your pregnancy has little impact on whether you get hired or not.
- Emphasize your strengths and your qualifications
- Talk about a problem you’ve solved and explain your solution
- Be firm on your commitment to working for the company
Prioritize your and your baby’s well-being
The hiring process can especially be very tough on a pregnant woman. Doctor’s appointments can conflict with interview schedules, for example. In addition, pregnancy symptoms can flare up during the interview itself. All these can cause serious worries to a pregnant job seeker.
So, always (and we mean always) set your job search activities around your pregnancy commitments (and not the other way around).
- Make sure your current schedule accommodates your job search efforts
- Set medical appointments as non-negotiables
- Observe how your pregnancy symptoms behave and plan accordingly
Conclusion
In this post, we learned about how to get started finding pregnant-friendly jobs during tough economic times. We also went over dozens of potential jobs ideal for pregnant women. Plus, we talked about specific tips that can help you ace a job interview while pregnant.
Are you also looking for a pregnant-friendly job right now? How’s it going so far?
