Interviewing for a job when you are obviously pregnant is a hard thing to accomplish with a win of the job of your dreams at the end.

It costs 1000s of dollars for a new employer to train you in a position, even if you have experience in it already. There is the breaking-in time and the building of your daily potential contribution through good momentum to your peak efficiency and productivity on the job. However, such discrimination against the pregnant is illegal -- See this Hub:Illegal Interview Questions and How to Handle Them

But, you are pregnant and due soon, are hired, and then soon take time off for the baby and are gone for 12 weeks.

Or it should be 12 weeks, becuase that is how long it takes to get an infant off to a good start in the world without an early-onset personalty disorder or other mental illness stemming from improper bonding with mom because too short a time was given. 12 weeks is MINIMUM for mom and infant to bond properly (Houk Institute, 1998 - 2008, and 60 years' anthropological research globally) and many employers do not give that long a time period off. Interestingly, some countries' employers gladly give this time off. In some of these places mom and baby live alone together, served by the female members of the clan for 12 weeks - then dad and the males can come around.

See a related Hub: Emotions and Abuse.

Four negatives when you are pregnant, due soon, and are hired:

1) You'll have to start over to build your potential productive contribution after you come back - if you do come back - some don't - and the company insuracne paid for the delviery.

2) Your boss has to pay someone else, like a temp - or overtime to other staff - to come in and do your job for you while you are gone, so he pays twice. Yes, he needed someone to start with, but he had a temp or someone working overtime, now he has you AND them to pay.

3) The boss's insurance premiums will rise the more the employees file health and medical claims -- If he can avoid new "mouths to feed" he might. New dependents increase insurance costs overall.

4) Mothers miss more time from work than healthy single women, because the kids get sick or they all have appointments. SOLUTION: Some employers have day care, sick-child day care, and wellness clinics right there on site, so there is much less of a problem from such lost time because the kids are right there. However, some of those bosses that do not have these benefits, consider sick kids and lost time because of them unacceptable. That's illegal to discriminate with agasint a wprker, but some may try.

So, the short answer is, hiring a pregnant woman in her 2nd or 3rd trimester will cost the company a lot of money that they are not guaranteed to get back through her productive work. However, if you can prove that you really are able to make them a LOT of money, then you stand a better chance. There are also other solutions.

For some women, peak efficiency and productivity do not happen during the last portion of pregnancy. Some expectant mothers need to go on partial or complete bed rest and this is becoming more common as the incidence of low-birth-weight babies continues to rise in America in the 21st century.

Not only are more babies being born with low birth weight (which signals other problems as well), but also with numerous allergies, autism, autism spectrum disorders, ADD/ADHD and related neurological disorders and learning disabilities, as well as other conditions. These all chronic conditions cost the employer more money long term in time lost from the job and increased insurance premiums. Even if you and your relatives have never been sick a day in your lives, you cannot convince the potential employer that you and your child will remain healthy and he is not allowed legally to ask about any of this.

In summary, all of these situations mentioned above raise the burden not only on the national healthcare system, but also on the employer's portion of the Employee Health and Medical Insurance premiums paid. In short, they cost the employer more money than would a healthy single female or male under the age of 50 (when premiums jump dramatically, whether you are healthy or not).

All of this is one reason that women are sometimes offered lower wages than men for the same job and duties (also not legal). That is why it is very wise to know what the job SHOULD be paying and to insist on receiving fair pay.

See the related Hub: How to Prepare for an Interview

Women that are pregnant may not even feel physically able to put up with the running around necessary in the interview processes or with the extra stress of interviewing. But others need and want to work. Some even work up the the day of delivery.

Women should not feel bad about not revealing pregnancy before they show. Personal health information is legally not the employers' business.

At the six-month point talk to the hiring employer about being a contractor and say "You'll get the best of two worlds. I'll be a contractor and you don't pay anything towards insurance and maternity leave. BUT if you like my work, hire me full-time after the baby is born." Many employers would love that option of no insurance premiums, no unemployment insurance, no workers compensation, no benefits. The hourly rate they pay you might be a little higher as well.

For insurance during that time, single mothers can benefit from their local counties' "healthy child and pregnancy" programs.

Independent Contractor (Self-Employed) or Employee?