Mom brings toddler to job interview in viral video, sheds light on childcare crisis

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Moms shouldn’t have to choose between their careers and childcare.

That’s the message St. Louis-based mother Maggie Mundwiller, 38, sent viral after she posted a TikTok video bringing her 1-year-old Mylo to a job interview. 

Maggie Mundwiller, 38, and her 1-year-old son Mylo.  (Courtesy of Maggie Mundwiller)

"They asked if I could come in for a second interview last minute. My husband was at work and my family, who I would rely on to watch Mylo, were busy. I said, ‘Hey, I’m really sorry I can’t find childcare to come in today,'" Mundwiller told FOX. 

Mundwiller said the company she was interviewing with for a sales and marketing role assured her they were "child friendly." 

So Mundwiller dressed up Mylo in a baby blue, seersucker suit and made him his own resume complete with skillsets like "destroying a clean space in 20 seconds" and "spotting a dog a mile away." She even listed his professional references: "Mom and Dad."  

While the interview prep felt lighthearted, Mundwiller said she hopes the video, with more than 8 million views on TikTok, shed light on the serious childcare crisis parents like herself are facing post-pandemic. 

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Mundwiller told Fox she was laid off from her job just six weeks after Mylo was born and had difficulty finding work and balancing childcare during the pandemic. 

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Women lost 12.1 million jobs between February and April of 2020 alone, according to data from the National Women's Law Center. What's more, women would need more than 13 straight months of job gains to recover the nearly 4.2 million net jobs lost since February 2020, according to the NWLC.

During the pandemic, women provided 173 unpaid hours of childcare – almost three times the amount of unpaid hours of child care provided by men, according to a recent analysis from the Center for Global Development. 

Mundwiller said that at times she had to cancel other interviews because she had no one to watch her son.

Mundwiller hopes more women will be candid about their childcare needs when interviewing with companies.