Hi Tiffiny,

Thanks for reaching out! I'm sorry to hear that you were laid off, but it sounds like you have great experience and have put some thought into the direction you would like to take your career. I have sent your question to our coaches who will get back to you soon.

In the meantime, I would recommend checking out the following resources on our website (if you haven't already):

- Free Resume Review Service: http://www.cancerandcareers.org/resume_reviews/new
- Job Search Tools: http://www.cancerandcareers.org/en/looking-for-work/job-search-tools
- Job Search Toolkit (can be ordered or downloaded for free): http://www.cancerandcareers.org/publication_orders/new

Please let us know any additional questions.

Best,

Sarah, Manager of Programs, Cancer and Careers

Hi Tiffiny,

I am sorry you are having such a rough time. When I read your post it seems to me that you have two questions. One is about going back to work in your current functional area - marketing, getting noticed and dealing with possible discrimination because of your age and health situation. The other is about changing careers. I appreciate that you want and need to go back to work however it sounds as if your priority is getting through your chemo treatments and feeling better on a more consistent level. Have you consulted with your medical team about whether it even makes sense to look for work full-time? It would be very disappointing to find an opportunity that you are excited about and then not be able to pursue it further. This of course is up to you.

To address your question about discrimination, yes discrimination occurs for many reasons. It is up to you to prepare and practice responses about your gap in employment (which isn't that concerning candidly) and potential reactions about your age. At Cancer and Careers, we talk about using "the swivel" which is a communication technique used to address the tricky question briefly and confidently and then moving the conversation to a positive such as "And I am clear that I can generate high levels of consumer engagement for you, as I did for xx company." 

As for why people are not contacting you, there could be several reasons. One is that simply applying on-line has proven to not be an effective method for getting interviews. If you do apply on-line, it is also important to reach out to your network on LinkedIn or otherwise to find someone who can also walk your resume into the decision maker's office. As Sarah mentioned, it might be useful for you to send your resume to the resume review service on this site. It happens that I am the coach who reviews them and perhaps I can give you insight about things you can do to strengthen it and make it more keyword responsive. 

While changing careers seems like a possible next step for you, doing this takes time and introspection and I am inclined to say that there are tons of interesting marketing jobs out there and because you have great experience, I suggest pursuing these for a while more using some of my suggestions to improve the odds of getting interviews. If you want to write back to learn about the steps to changing careers, I am happy to share those with you as well!

 Good luck!

Julie  

Tiffiny:

First of all, I am sorry to hear about your health
problems.  Stay strong and focus on
getting better.

I agree with everything that Sarah and Julie and have to
say.  Sarah has pointed out some very
good resources.  I urge you to take
advantage of them.

As Julie pointed out, you have asked two questions – looking
for work in marketing and making a career switch to social work.  I think you need to spend some time figuring
out which direction you want to go before you go further.  If you choose to stay in marketing, keep job
searching.  If you choose to move to a
career in social work, I suggest you suspend your job search and begin gaining
the credentials you’ll need to move into that field.

Regarding your question about age discrimination – recently I
did a series of videos directed at older, or should I say, more experienced
workers who are looking for jobs.  In the
very first video, I suggested that people should change their way of thinking
about themselves – I told to think that they’re not old, they’re
experienced.  Thinking of yourself as old
can lead you to a place where you feel as if you are selling damaged goods –
not a good place to be when looking for work. 
Thinking of yourself as experience will lead you to a place where you
can confidently discuss your accomplishments and the knowledge you’ve gained
over the years.  This helps your
confidence and will make you a more attractive candidate.  A powerful cover letter is the best place to
discuss this type of stuff.

As Julie points out, applying on line is a very ineffective
way to job hunt.  Applicant tracking
systems – ATS -- (computer programs that do the initial review of resumes) can
be very fickle and kick you out for no good reason.  Networking is the best way to find a job –
again, as Julie points out, work your LinkedIn network and your personal
network.  Do your best to get your resume
hand delivered to a hiring manager by someone in your network.  Human beings can and do override the ATS.

I wish you the best of luck as you go forward with your
treatment and decide what you want to do for work in the future.

All the best,

Bud