Hi Bruce,

Thank you for reaching out to Cancer and Careers. First off, I’d like to congratulate you on passing your licensing exam! It’s an exciting time! With that said, I can understand the anxiety that may arise as you are navigating a new career with a new diagnosis. So, I want to provide you with a few things to consider.

 First, it’s important to have a sense of a timeline for treatment before you think about next moves. So I would have some more conversations with your healthcare team to get a better understanding of what to expect. Of course they can’t tell you anything for sure but it is worth getting a general idea. I would recommend that once you have had those conversations with your healthcare team, you begin to think through how that coincides with your plan for looking for a position. Do you want to wait until treatment is over? Do you want to schedule your treatments around a new job? Is it realistic to start a new job and start treatment at the same time? These are all personal decisions that can be made a bit easier by having the information you need to make informed decisions.

In regard to disclosing during a job search, that is going to be a personal decision as well, and one that may change based on how treatment goes, how your future jobs/prospects are looking, etc.. We have a number of articles and materials regarding disclosure on our website, as it is a particularly sensitive topic and decisions about telling work can vary from person to person, it’s a highly personal choice.

• Managing Disclosure When Looking for a Job


• Sharing the News


• 
  Deciding Whether to Work
  

Overall, I encourage you to get as much information regarding your treatment plan, timeline, anticipated side effects, prior to taking a deep dive into a job search. It would likely also be helpful to research companies you are interested in and getting a sense of their levels of flexibility.

Happy to chat further if you’d like! Please reach out to cancerandcareers@cew.org to schedule a time to talk.

Warm regards,

Nicole Jarvis, LMSW

Assistant Director of Programs

Cancer and Careers