How to prioritize your fertility goals while advancing your career

For many career-focused women, pursuing and prioritizing specific career milestones while also considering childbearing and future family planning can be daunting.

For high-achieving professional women, prioritizing fertility can feel like a compromise to your career ambitions. With women facing discrimination in the workplace, and the gender pay gap meaning women are being paid less across the US, it’s no wonder that fertility and family planning can fight for priority against excelling in your career.  

Whether your career goals are to climb the corporate ladder, you’re considering a career change, or you’re looking to start a business, it is possible to achieve your professional goals while also planning and preparing for your future family. 

By understanding your options, both in fertility and career advancement, you can be empowered to take the next steps in achieving both your personal and professional goals. 

Think seriously about your fertility goals

The first place to turn your attention when looking at fertility goals and career advancement is to think seriously about what your fertility goals are. It can be easy to brush this off as something that will happen ‘in the future’, and assume that when the time comes, it will happen easily and exactly when you want it to. However family planning comes a lot further ahead than you might expect. 

Consulting with a fertility doctor can help guide your future planning, to ensure that your goals are in line with your fertility health. The results of consultations, or even fertility testing, could help to put your goals, both personal and professional, into perspective and help you to understand what is achievable, and what your timeframe looks like. 

Knowing your timeline will help you to set the right career goals that work in harmony with your fertility goals. You may consider seeking out positions in other companies that pay more, have better maternity packages or offer flexible working. 

If you want a career change, you might pivot your search to focus on good jobs to work while pregnant if your fertility timeline is shorter. 

Balancing family planning with professional development can be challenging, but having a clear view on when you want to, and are able to, start your fertility journey will enable you to plan the important next steps in your career.  

Find the right fertility management method

Having a view of what your fertility timeline looks like can also help you to pick the most appropriate fertility management route for you. 

Whether that’s exploring fertility preservation like egg freezing, settling on the correct contraceptive method, like long-acting or short-acting hormonal contraceptives or barrier methods, or adjusting your lifestyle and diet immediately to aid fertility if you’re actively trying to conceive. 

Understanding any side effects of contraception will also help  you to preempt and manage these, so they won’t impact your career growth or performance in the workplace. With a plan in place, and opting for the right contraceptive method, you can feel more in control of your future, and provide one less thing for you to worry about, allowing you to focus on career advancement and taking the next steps in your work progression. 

Set savings goals with family planning in mind

With your timeline set and contraception managed, you’ll have a clear idea of when family planning will begin for you. 

Understanding what fertility leave packages are available to you through work, and whether it includes all aspects of fertility, from IVF to maternity leave, is a great first step. 

From here you’ll be able to work out how much time out of work you can afford, and how much you’ll likely need to save in order to have your ideal time for recovery and with your child. 

With this in mind, you’ll be able to set a savings goal to support your fertility journey. With budget management being a key factor in maximising career growth, you can have an understanding of how something like pay raises or promotions can impact your family planning, and give you even more motivation to achieve these career milestones. 

Similarly, by being in a secure financial position when you begin trying to conceive, you’ll hopefully lower stress levels, ultimately helping your mental and physical health at a vital time. 

Seek out working mothers as mentors 

Seeking out mentors is something we’re often advised to do when growing in our careers. However, consider looking specifically at partnering with working parents for your next mentor! 

Your workplace might already have a mentorship programme in place that you could explore and see how your current workplace supports its working women and how they achieve a good work/life balance.

Alternatively, consider reaching outside of your workplace to find a mentor. Look to your network on platforms such as LinkedIn to seek out a mentor, specifically for working parents to share their insights and advice. Ensure you’re respectful of their time – they’re likely balancing a lot already with work and family, so try to set clear boundaries together to ensure that the relationship is mutually beneficial and respectful. 

Speaking with working mothers may give you an insight into good jobs to work while pregnant and as a parent, and equally which are less suitable! They’ll likely be able to advise you on the right conversations to have with your employers in the lead up to fertility or maternity leave, while equally giving you career coaching to progress in the meantime. 

Create a working mothers network and support system

They often say ‘it takes a village to raise a child’. So alongside your mentor, finding and nurturing your village is key to having a strong support system for all stages of your fertility journey. Building a group of like-minded, career-driven women can help you to exchange ideas and information in the run up to starting a family, and beyond. 

Thinking about growing your network of working women will hopefully transfer to a solid group of working moms as you all progress in your personal and professional lives, and allow you all to share in your struggles and successes as you navigate motherhood, returning to work or starting your own businesses while pregnant.  

Explore starting a business while pregnant or on maternity leave

Unfortunately, fertility and maternity leave policies can be limited, or even nonexistent. With demand to return to work quickly, requests for part-time working being rejected or limited flexibility to work around your new or growing family needs, traditional career paths may not work once you’ve decided to start a family. 

For many, becoming a freelancer or self-employed is a great way to build and balance their careers around their family responsibilities and children. With the experience you’ve built climbing the career ladder, there’s likely ample opportunity for you to take your skills and create your own niche service, as a freelancer. Or, perhaps you can take a budding business idea to the next level with the support of the mentors and mothers network you’ve built!

Exploring alternative career routes could help you to navigate your changing priorities and help you to craft your perfect person and professional life balance. 

Excelling in your career doesn’t have to delay your fertility goals

Parenthood and professional success are not mutually exclusive. Through clear goal setting, with your fertility timeline at the front of mind, you can focus your time advancing in your career, allowing you to find fulfillment in both areas. 

Excelling in your career doesn’t have to delay your fertility goals, and equally prioritizing your fertility goals doesn’t have to curb your career ambition. Approaching your fertility goals with the same energy and ambition that you have in your professional life will no doubt enable you to thrive in your role of working mother.