Knowing when and how to talk about your maternity leave on a resume is stressful. This is especially true if you’re reentering the workforce or are looking for new opportunities soon after your leave.
Here’s a quick answer: as a general rule, you don’t need to mention maternity leave on your resume. Instead, you should utilize the space to focus on your professional experience and skills. Of course, in today’s professional world, many hiring managers and recruiters recognize the specific strengths and values parents returning to the workforce can bring to the team.
In this article, you’ll learn about specific situations when you should include your maternity leave on your resume and when you can safely leave it out. If you choose to highlight your maternity leave on your resume, this article will also address ways you can productively include this information. Plus, you’ll get easy tips to help you redirect any uncomfortable questions that might come up when you discuss your leave.
I recommend using the tool below to assess how your maternity leave is presented on your resume. It will provide insights on what to exclude and offer suggestions for improvements.
Do you need to put maternity leave on your resume?
When you’re applying for a job, it’s important to include any long-term employment gaps on your resume. However, you generally don’t need to include short-term leave. This goes for maternity leave or any other time you take off from your job that lasts a few months or less.
Instead of drawing hiring managers’ eyes to short gaps in your work history, focus on the continuity of your employment. This is especially true if you worked in your previous role for many years, and your maternity leave was a blip on that timeline.
When to include maternity leave on your resume
However, if your maternity leave lasted a year or more, you should include it on your resume.
This transparency starts you off on the right foot with your potential employer, and they know to expect this information before you come in for an interview.
Keep in mind you don’t have to list this employment gap as “maternity leave,” though. If you’re uncomfortable sharing this information so directly, there are many ways you can address your time away from work without specifically mentioning why you took a leave of absence.
For example, you can list the break as “Time Away from Work for Family Responsibilities” and simply list the dates you were away. You don’t have to mention how you spent your days, and your interviewer shouldn’t ask any questions about this personal choice.
Impact of maternity leave on hiring decisions
If you choose to include your maternity leave on your resume, most hiring managers will glide over it without a second thought. It’s a natural part of many people’s personal and professional lives, and it shouldn’t affect your ability to do your job well.
Discriminating based on family status is illegal in the United States. Of course, some biases still exist. If you encounter an interviewer or potential supervisor who questions your decision, redirect the conversation to your professional qualifications.
You don’t owe them any explanation for why you took time off work to focus on your family. If the conversation goes left, redirect it back toward why you’re the best candidate for the job.
How to include maternity leave on your resume
In most circumstances, you’re under no obligation to mention your maternity leave on your resume. However, if you decide to include this information, first consider where you’re placing it.
Mention the leave within the context of your job history — not as a prominent feature. For example, when you list your role as a marketing manager with a specific company, add a description note like, “Included a six-month maternity leave in 2019, during which I engaged in professional development activities.”
When you phrase your maternity leave this way, you can also expand upon those “professional development activities.” That way, your time out of the office is framed as an asset to your own growth. If you took any courses during that time or developed new skills at home, mention them here.
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