Susan, ignore Hec. Grump and whine away.

Blood sugar is fine. I probably am panicking on too little evidence, but I'm convinced I'll never get another job, now that I've accepted I need one if I don't want our family finances to go to hell forever. You see, there's no good way to spin what I've been doing the last year in a cover letter. If I handwave and ignore, they'll assume I was fired from my last job. If I just mention freelancing and leave it at that, they'll assume I'm an entrepreneur at heart who won't do good work and will jump as soon as I find a better business opportunity. If I mention anything about the baby, they'll assume I'll be a lousy employee because I have a kid. IOW, I can't win at all. Might as well file for bankruptcy now, because no one's hiring me, and especially not at a level that'll let me turn a profit after daycare costs.

This may or may not be a rational panic. After all, I've only sent four cover letters, all in the last week. Still, I'm so used to being The Goddess at this sort of thing that I was half-expecting a quick nibble for one of the ones I matched especially well. I just got an email from my career counselor friend saying, "Network, network, network." I suck at networking, and don't want my job search to be limited to that handful of UW departments and the like where I actually know someone.

If I mention anything about the baby, they'll assume I'll be a lousy employee because I have a kid.

Okay, I know this one is a fallacy. Plenty of places are pro-parent. You'll be fine, Susan. You might have to wait a little longer, but you'll be fine.

Hec, that sounds like a Trove O' Publications. I just picked up the book of Marvel 1602. V. interesting.

Susan, if I can get a job with having to explain 2.5 years off work with *no* explanation, you're gonna be fine. I understand your fears...and I think they're reasonable fears. But, you're gonna find a job. It takes time, though. Remember, it took my mom 7 months. Try not to be too hard on yourself. I know it's tough...trust me, I know.

This may or may not be a rational panic.

Is it better to have an irrational panic?

Susan, sooooo many people - particuarly new parents/moms - have gaps like you do in their resumes. It is not even a little bit unusual. In fact, I think it makes you look like a Find. Since you obviously had good work skills before hand and just need to come back into the workforce. From an employer's POV, you're basically a bargain because you won't have to be paid a lateral-jump-with-a-bump salary.

Despite all my fine rhetoric about having plenty of time to search, I'm feeling stressed just at the moment because of a temporary financial crisis. We spent more money in Alabama than I budgeted for, so until DH gets paid a week from tomorrow, our financial situation is the tightest I've ever personally endured. Once that paycheck hits, we'll be fine. And if either my dance company client pays what they owe in the meantime (they're getting their third reminder Tuesday) or we get the reimbursement check I'm expecting from our medical flex account, that would be enough to stem the worst of the panic.

But meanwhile I'm all, "Not enough money! Not enough money! Need job now!" Not that starting a job tomorrow would give me money tomorrow, but at least I'd feel like if I had to put something on the credit card, it'd be OK because we'd soon have more money for paying off bills.

And really, I'm probably more extensively connected at UW than I think. Development's tentacles extend across campus, after all, and anyone I don't know, DH or Christine Edgar or Paul or various others might.

But still. Want job! Or at least interview to convince me I've still got mad cover letter mojo.

If I mention anything about the baby, they'll assume I'll be a lousy employee because I have a kid.

Susan, if companies didn't hire people with kids, there would be very few companies.

(And now I'm envisioning Eunuchs, Virgins, and Chaste, Inc.)

Susan, sooooo many people - particuarly new parents/moms - have gaps like you do in their resumes. It is not even a little bit unusual. In fact, I think it makes you look like a Find.

Really? So you think my current cover letter line where I say that I left Former Job in 2004 after the birth of my daughter, have been freelancing, and now am seeking a return to full-time work, might not be the Kiss of Death I've been fearing?

Susan, if companies didn't hire people with kids, there would be very few companies.

(And now I'm envisioning Eunuchs, Virgins, and Chaste, Inc.)

Worked for the Catholic Church for millennia....

Seriously, it's not so much having a kid, as being a woman with a kid who took a year off instead of a decent workaholic's 1-4 months. And I'm probably overthinking, since my primary target employer is U-fricking-Dub. Universities aren't exactly notorious for being family unfriendly, after all.

DH is trying to drag me out of the house to experience something called "sunshine and fresh air." Back later.

So you think my current cover letter line where I say that I left Former Job in 2004 after the birth of my daughter, have been freelancing, and now am seeking a return to full-time work, might not be the Kiss of Death I've been fearing?

Far from it. Honestly, that's a very very common scenario for a woman with a young child.