Hi Jennifer,

Thanks so much for reaching out to Cancer and Careers. What you're experiencing is not uncommon with patients and survivors, so please take comfort in the fact that you're not alone in these feelings. With that said, there is a lot you can do to begin the process of a career change! I will pass your question along to a career coach, but in the meantime I'll share a few CAC resources that you may find helpful. 

As I mentioned, the desire for a career change following a cancer diagnosis is something we hear often. Whether it's due to waning passion, physical/mental/emotional limitations from treatment, or simply a new outlook, it's understandable for cancer to inspire a change. A few resources that may be helpful as you begin the process of assesssing your needs and wants and make a plan of action for yourself.

• Our article What's Next: Cancer as Inspiration for Career Changes can help validate your feelings and guide you in your thinking around what needs to happen in order to decide on and make moves towards a new career. 


• You mention experiencing compassion fatigue, which is normal to experience with or without a cancer diagnosis, but it doesn't mean that you don't want a job that provides a sense of accomplishment and meaning - whatever meaning means to you at this point. Take a look at our article on Finding Meaningful Work to help guide your thinking around what type of work might bring you the satisfaction you once gained from social work. 


• Our Balancing Work & Cancer Webinar Series just started it's 2022 schedule and the series is kicking off with four sessions geared toward job searching. I'd recommend registering for these sessions to help guide your thinking and provide you with some insight for getting started. Our next session is this week - Resumes 101 on Wednesday, February 2nd, and the next two will focus on Networking (an integral part of job searching in this day and age) and Career Change after cancer. I think hearing directly from one of our volunteer career coaches can help get you in the job searching mindset.


• Finally, our section on Looking for Work has a ton of resources and articles focused on each step of the job searching process - so peruse that as you figure out a plan for yourself.

I hope the above resources are helpful. Feel free to reach out to cancerandcareers@cew.org if you have any remaining questions, would like more resources, or would like to speak directly with out staff.

Best of luck to you! It's a process but it's not impossible to find a new career after cancer.

Warm regards,
Nicole Jarvis, LMSW

Assistant Director of Programs

Cancer and Careers

Hi Jennifer,

It must feel very confusing to try to figure out what you can do next. Nicole has provided you with some really great resources and I definitely encourage you to read these and anything else you can get your hands on regarding career change. 

I wrote a book called I Don't Know What I Want, But I Know It's Not This which outlines a specific process for changing careers. Definitely start with identifying your favorite skills (the ones you still want to use versus those that you don't any longer), your personality type, things that interest you (personally and professionally), and most important, your core values which are the things that imbue your life with meaning.

Once you are able to articulate these, you will want to do research on jobs and industries on aggregate job boards and LinkedIn. While there are approximately 75,000 jobs, only a handful will have any appeal to you. Also, you may not want to pivot into a job that requires additional education or certifications. Once you have narrowed down a few jobs that interest you, you will want to have informational conversations with people who are in these jobs currently. 

You will then want to repackage your resume, LinkedIn profile, and elevator pitch to demonstrate your transferable skills and experience.

Then you will start networking to find job openings that you can apply for. 

I know it sounds overwhelming however as Nicole mentioned, it's a process that thousands of people go through with the end result of shifting/changing careers!

Please write back if you have any questions.

Take care,

Julie