How does one best fit pregnancy into a PE career
As a woman eyeing a career in PE, how could one best plan pregnancy to minimise damage to one's career progression. Time it with MBA? Wait till Director or even Partner?
I doubt there are many mothers on here who can speak from experience, but I value the application of anyone's mind.
baby bump
I know I am going to get shot down with steaming turds for this but........................ At my new shop (PE) there is an unwritten policy to only hire women who have gone beyond the likely age for bearing a child. Having to pay for maternity leave (at least in the UK) and dealing with the disruption and expense of having to replace a member of staff for a period of time is a major PITA.
Back on the trading desks at a BB, we have a few females in their late twenties/early thirties so I guess its different there.
In my opinion timing it with an MBA would be the best from an employers point of view. I do know of MD/ED at BB I used to work at with kids. None of the partners at my current firm are female so can't comment on that.
Well if you wanna do PE as a job, just make sure you have enough of those carts with wheels, dodgeballs, and authority so that your students mind you. I'm glad people are aspiring to do Physical Education these days. Kids are getting so fat in America.
I think the really important question is not so much when is the best time to go through a pregnancy but rather, when is the best time to be raising a young child. With that in mind, it's clear that the more senior you are, the more you can dictate your own schedule and have flexibility (it's much easier for a partner to leave the office at 5 and then pick up work later in the evening that it is for a senior associate). This is obviously not specific to PE and there's a clear trend, especially among career-oriented women, to have their first child much later in life. Companies are also very much aware of that dynamic (Apple, FB egg freezing, etc).
That being said, the question also really depend on your personal circumstances: what does your partner do, what's your support system, how much of the child raising are you willing to outsource. If you have a partner that can significantly scale back or give up work for a couple years to take care of the kids would allow more flexibility. (it's 2017, it's ok for women to be the bread-winner). Being in a 2 high income relationship will make things a little more complicated, you'll have to be ok with nannies raising your kids.
Firm culture will also have an impact. Places that have female partners or where the partners have working spouse will obviously be a lot more understanding than a firm where all the partners have housewives.
Don't. Save the kid the trouble of not having the mother around. There's plenty of children already on this earth.
Throw all the money shit, I couldn't care less. At no point in your question did you show any concern for the quality of upbringing you could provide the child. We have PLENTY of shit kids in this world, please don't add to the list.
I don't know why this received so much MS, but this couldn't be truer. So many shit kids, because their parents didn't raise them well.
At OP, most firms balk at hiring a mother of a baby/child/preggers, etc, simply because of efficiency concerns. Even if the firm does agree to hire you, they're expecting that you'll stay, but won't promote you for a host of other reasons. Regardless of what most firms tout as being mom-friendly and shit, finance and especially PE/HF is difficult for career-aspirant wannabe moms. For instance, at my firm, one of the MDs (a group head) is over 40, and he's getting engaged to his fiance (at a HF) who's nearing her 40s herself. I'm pretty sure he's either got her eggs freezed somewhere, or they don't bother with it at all.
If you want to raise a child, join an IB as an associate, then move into a tech company or a startup. Finance is otherwise less forgiving, even of working moms.
I couldn't agree more. Good luck having a fucked up kid raised by nannies.
It's tough to be a working parent, unless you have a stay at home. That said there is no good timing for raising a kid. Just bite the bullet and go with the flow.
And frankly, I know way more people who were f-ed up by being raised by their stay at home mom than people who were helped raised by their grandma or nanny.
This is why I'm marrying an instagram model, teacher, nurse, or pediatrician.
There is no good time.
That being said, you don't need everything in life to fit neatly into a plan. Figure out what's important to you and act accordingly. If having kids is a huge priority and having a career is equally important to you, you might try to find a husband who is willing to stay with the kids. Many women don't find guys who make less money than they do attractive, but it works for guys, so why not for you?
No matter what, you are bound by biology. If you wait too long, your only option left will be adoption. Not a bad thing, as far as I'm concerned.
Are you married now or getting married soon?
Bump
Assuming you don't want to raise bratty kids and want to be semi-involved, especially when they're young, I've seen it done successfully two ways. First, as others have said, you wait until you're senior enough to take some time off and not let it hurt your career.
Second, you have them before you start climbing the ladder aggressively. This is what I did. Although I work for a REIT, not PE, I think the similarities of a high-paced finance career apply. I timed my children (3) in my early twenties, after a starter job and during my MBA. At the same time I also started a business from home and did some finance related consulting work. This all took about 5 years and is reflected on my resume (recommended once by a CEO) as "Part time activities due to children".
Personally and professionally I could not have planned it better. From a personal perspective it allowed me to be at at home with my children when they were young (something I'm forever grateful for) and I think it also helped not produce f-upped kids, since they had their mother around when they were young. It really does make a difference - they're a lot more stable and well behaved than they might otherwise be. Yes, it can be challenging to do an MBA with kids, but if you're business minded anyway, studying for an MBA can actually be a welcome break from the mundane drudgery of childcare.
Professionally it was perfect because it wasn't seen as "wasted" time by employers because of the MBA and the startup (they also liked the entrepreneurship it demonstrated). Yet, because I had a job for a few years before the break I wasn't seen as an unproven entity. After that I was able to be hired as a "fresh" MBA. Just try to time your MBA graduation as close as your job search as possible - the further out you get, the harder it is. As is true with most jobs, the best are got by networking, but this is so much more important when you're technically "unemployed". So, key to this formula is maintaining one or two well-placed contacts through the years who will vouch for you and personally help get you interviews when the time comes.
Now that my kids are in school we have a part time nanny (nanny, not daycare is definitely the way to go), but my husband is also very domestic, more senior in his job (so he can take more time off), and does a lot of the house duties. So a husband that will pitch in and be Mr. Mom (and like it!) definitely helps a ton.
Finally, when you do interview, take it upon yourself to set employers' minds at ease about your role as a mother. In one interview when my future boss alluded to the "demands" of the job, I immediately jumped in and told him we are done having kids, we have a nanny, and I'm 110% committed to my career now, with my husband's full support. I'm up for VP at the end of this year, so I'd say things are working out.
Good luck to you!