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.

If all of our kvetches have to be sound, Hec, that's going to damage my posting volume as much as if you broke my fingers...IJS. (Ooh, disturbing Goodfellas image)

Susan, in the Business Section of the newspaper a week or so ago there was an article about how people handle gaps in their employment due to downsizing, etc.

Most people found any kind of job to make money, so they ended up with work experience that had nothing to do with their career.

A lot of these people were omitting these jobs from their resume, even though the experts said that it wasn't a big deal. And that they should include all their work experience.

You have skills you had before, the skills you've gained through free lancing, writing, dealing with a kid, all make you a valuable employee.

The article stressed that confidence is extermely important, that if you go in and treat all your jobs and experiences as important and do it confidentally potential employers will react positively to that.