Pits and falls are ominous for anyone, but especially for a woman with child who is looking for employment. The pitfalls of the job search are the sadder reality when you're looking for work no matter what stage of pregnancy you're in. It may be a time in life when having additional income is more necessary than ever, which makes job seeking even more problematic and stressful.

Of course, your prospective employer is going to be thinking ahead. Time off for maternity leave will be considered, as well as availability and reliability of child care. Your dependability during childhood illnesses, and all the rest of the situations that occur when a mother has a new baby to consider in addition to her job, will be taken into consideration before you're given the job.

There are other considerations, as well. During the job search, it's possible that stress will lead to illness for a pregnant woman. Stress is be a big factor in the health of mother and baby. Care needs to be taken that Mom isn't unduly stressed while looking for work. Maintaining regular routines of a healthy diet, mild exercise, relaxation, and restful sleep at night will help Mom through a successful pregnancy even when she has the added burden of looking for work. This may take some doing when the daily routine seems anything but normal.

If the job seeker doesn't find satisfactory employment quickly and the search continues, extra support for the mother is necessary. Emotional support is the most important factor in helping Mom get through the process of finding work and getting a daily routine established before the baby is born. Family and friends can do a lot to ease the situation by providing the emotional and practical support that is so necessary to the well-being of both mother and child.

Interviews can be especially unnerving during this time. There is no period of time during pregnancy when stress will not impact the baby and the mother. If a prospective employer is at all compassionate, he or she will take into account the amount of effort it takes the woman to pursue job opportunities during this time. If the economic situation is severe, the success of the interview will weigh even more heavily on the woman. An interviewer can help reduce stress by being understanding and putting the woman at ease during the interview phase of the process.

If at all possible, women should wait some time after birth of their child to begin job searching, or make suitable arrangements for a start date well after giving birth. Hopefully, economic conditions will not be so urgent that the woman has to find and start a job during her pregnancy, but if so, she must take care not to get so overwhelmed that she harms her own health or her child's in the process. There is no job worth the life of a child.

Learn more about this author, Arabella Kelly.
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