Seeking Advice - San Jose,CA

Been there! It's HARD. I used to go to interviews and not even mention the stares the potential employer would give my belly. None of their business! I'd still go in there confident and rock some interviews... never landed any job though. Just because I'm pregnant and have 2 kids already, doesn't make me any less qualified for the job!! I did get a few call backs, but no job. It's hard and I'm sorry you're going through this, but YOU CAN DO IT! Apply for what you would normally apply for, you won't be preggers forever. Understand though that starting a new job, you more than likely will not get maternity leave and will have to take vacation with no pay once baby comes. Better than nothing! Good luck :)

if you are looking for a home based job, then i know that one called Liveops.com is hiring. they just hired my SIL. and it's legitimate. its basically people calling in and ordering the made for tv stuff. there is upselling that you can do, etc. but you get payed a base rate of .25/min. which does add up. plus with the upsell you can get extra money. it is also 24/hrs day which makes scheduling easy. my SIL has made anywhere from $9-14/hr doing this so far. I did a work from home job that was Westathome.net. Very good company to work for. checked them with BBB and they had good ratings. they do work for different companies like ToysRus, Virgin Mobile, DirecTv, credit card companies, ProFlowers. They have a different pay rate for each company and different hours depending on which you work for. it's only inbound phone calls about technical, billing, changing things or ordering. very simple, very laid back. you can get benefits for a low rate, and also depending on which company you work for you can get perks. for instance when i worked for DTV, they said that people who worked 25/hrs week could get free DTV. also gave discounts on cell phones with sprint. they do make you pay now for a background check of $30 that is non-refundable and it does take a while to hear from them sometimes. my SIL applied almost 2 yrs ago and JUST heard something from them. but i heard back within 2 weeks.

are you only looking for home-based because you think it will be difficult to find something? go to a temp agency. you can be honest with them what you're looking for, and they can help you find something short term.

Temp agencies are a good idea. Sometimes they have 1-2 day assignments up to weeks long. Might be a perfect fit for you. Also, contact all your friends/family and tell them what you're looking for. You never know who knows what might work out. Good luck!

Why don't you babysit for a friend's child while they are at work? Offer to do it for slightly less than they pay their daycare and they might jump at the chance. You don't have to be licensed but can go thru that process if you want, or if they want. Take a CPR class which you should anyway for the safety of your own child. If this is your first baby you'll get some great experience ahead of time. It's a great chance to stay home, be with your baby, help a friend and earn some money all at the same time. I did it for 27 years!

Technically, they can't use pregnancy as a reason to not hire, but many do. They ARE entitled to know what sort of commitment you can make to a job but they can't ask "Due to your pregnancy, how long will you..."

There are some legitimate ways to make money from home and work it around your schedule, but you need to know how to sort out the companies. I can help you with that - criteria for honest companies and so on. Not sure if you are looking for that though or if you really want an outside job.

For an online video series about what to look for in a home business you can go to www.HealthyFamilyBiz.com/video. Watch the video and if you want more info, fill out the form on the right to get to a video training series. It costs nothing and is full of valuable information. Good luck.

Hi T..
If you have 60 college hours you could look into substitute teaching at a school in your area. Another possibility depending on your skills might be doing hair or nails for people for prom or graduation (since both are coming up in most places). Other than sales I don't know of too many legitimate home based jobs.
Good luck and don't give up!
Christi

Honestly? If you're looking for a homebased job that allows you to stay with the baby, I will tell you that even in a home-based job you will be putting in many hours away from the baby. No matter what you're doing-- there is no magic formula- if you are working, you will be spending time away from baby.

If you're married, maybe you can instead work out a better budget so that you don't have to work? PM me, I have lots of resources for helping mammas stay home with baby.

On the other hand, if you really NEED a job, then I will tell you that I was in your situation once and the only jobs I could find were like... in tanning salons and gas stations. And even then.... not much luck. I'll be praying for you to find work or find a way to stay at home with baby.

I feel for you... I was in your position and I just lucked out. I got a job at the county. I wore clothes that didn't draw attention to my belly. I was obviously pregnant though so I'm not sure if that mattered. It sucked. If there was any way around working away from home I would have done it. If you need a job, I wouldn't limit yourself now. It will just get harder each week that goes by.

lots of great responses!!! I hope this helped you!

Like others said I think a temp job would work for you. I was in your situation with my daughter but I was 4 months and not quite showing yet. I ended up getting a temp job at a bank that was supposed to last for 3 months but ended when my daughter was born. Good luck!

I agree with the advice to go to a temp agency, or contract agency. They may be able to find you a 3 month contract job (filling in for someone else on maternity leave). Good luck.

I was hired at my job when I was 7 months pregnant, and started at 8 months pregnant. Apply for what you want. If a company thinks you are qualified for the position they may not care that you are pregnant.

Updated

I was hired at my job when I was 7 months pregnant, and started at 8 months pregnant. Apply for what you want. If a company thinks you are qualified for the position they may not care that you are pregnant.

I'm 99% sure I conceived my son the day I had a job interview. Jump ahead 5.5 months later and I find out I'm preganant and working at the job I interviewed for. I could TELL they were mad I was new and going to be going on maternity leave soon.

Somehow my postion was "eliminated" when I was sevens months pregnant. It sucked waddling out of a job but I drew unemploment for two years!