Hello Ryan,

I never hid my family during my two job interviews (and I was offered
both so I'm pretty sure it wasn't held against me). For the second
interview, I was two months pregnant, and although I did not
specifically say that I was pregnant during the interview, I was open
about the fact that we were hoping to have another.

Family did not come up during the actual meetings with the search
committee or at the faculty meeting, and though I did not include a
family slide in my presentation, I was not hesitant to talk about my
family during lunches, dinners and mixers. It was a very open and
honest process that reassured me that it was a place that I could work
and would be accepting of me and my family.

Although, there were some surprise expressed when I appeared with a 2
month old, my dept head and the other faculty have been thoroughly
supportive and all express a sincere fondness for my little boy (who
my husband still brings over in his bike cart to see me on most days
to nurse - he is now 16 mos).

I wish you all the luck with your job search and I really do believe
that having a family will not be a make or break issue.

On that note, I was greatly impressed reading about the 2007 McArthur
recipients and that one had 3 children under 3 and it doesn't seem to
be negatively impacting her career!

http://sciencewomen.blogspot.com/search?q=Yoky+Matsuoka+

Melissa


--- In scienceandfamilies@yahoogroups.com, "wapusker" <wapusker@...>
wrote:
>
> I'm in the thick of job search right now and just did one interview
> and my approach is to be very up front about having a family and
> including a photo of them in my 'about me' slide at the beginning of
> my talk. I want everyone to know I have a wonderful family supporting
> me and that makes me a better scientist and teacher not worse! My
> philosophy is that a department that won't hire me because I have a
> family is a place I don't want to be! I don't think starting a
> position with my family a secret is a good place to begin -they are
> not a liability and should never and will never be viewed as such.
>
> Best,
> Ryan
>
> --- In scienceandfamilies@yahoogroups.com, "leah.beche"
> <leah.beche@> wrote:
> >
> > I feel compelled to join this group, as my labmates and I have been
> > having these types of discussions for years!
> >
> > I, too, am interested in the response to this question, particularly
> > for women candidates. While it is technically illegal for committe
> > members to broach this subject, I find it hard to believe that they
> > would not consider a person's family situation during a search (even
> > if it is done silently by each individual), especially at a R-1
> > university. That is not to say that you would be discriminated
> > against, but I think that it is pretty difficult to say whether your
> > family situation plays a role in hiring decisions.
> >
> > A practical question for you all...If you are not obviously
> pregnant,
> > but you have a family, do you stay 100% silent about it at an
> > interview? Only bring it up if it appears that the
> department/certain
> > individuals might be amenable to it (i.e. untenured faculty with
> young
> > kids)? Or do you try to bring it up so that it isn't a big secret?
> > That is, by addressing it, you verify that it is not a big deal that
> > you have a family, you are dedicated to your profession, etc?
> >
> > cheers,
> > Leah
> >
>