Hi Jodi,

Thank you for writing to us. Congratulations on your upcoming bachelor’s degree! While it can certainly be scary to change careers while still recovering, we have a number of tools and resources that will hopefully make this transition a little bit easier.

Understandably, you might have concerns because multimedia is a change from nannying, however, many skills you used in your career as a nanny that could transfer well into this new industry. For instance, time management, following a schedule, and staying organized – these are all skills that are heavily used when caring for children, and can translate into a different professional environment. Additionally, your love of sports can help provide you a little more direction as you begin to look for positions that fit with your education and interests.

I have passed your question along to one of our career coaches but in the meantime, I encourage you to take a look at some of our job searching resources that can assist you as you begin the process:

• Use our free resume review service for help crafting and formatting your resume: https://www.cancerandcareers.org/resume_reviews/new
  


• Job Search Toolkit (3^rdedition): https://www.cancerandcareers.org/publication_orders/new (features advice on improving resumes, cover letters; interview and networking tips and other useful tools to help you during a job search)


• Webinars on Enhancing Your Skills:https://www.cancerandcareers.org/en/community/videos/bwc/enhancing-skills and making a Career Change: https://www.cancerandcareers.org/en/community/videos/bwc/career-change  


• Job-Search Tools: https://www.cancerandcareers.org/en/looking-for-work/exploring-your-options/job-search-tools
  
  

Best of luck as you embark on your job search!

Kind regards,

Nicole Jarvis, LMSW

Senior Manager of Programs

Cancer and Careers

Hi, Jodi,

Congratulations on your upcoming graduation! That is a huge feather in your cap that will give you a nice foundation for a career going forward.

Since you are not yet graduated, I would recommend a few things to advance your job search.

• Immediately get in touch with the career planning and job placement department of the college where you are enrolled. Professionals in job search, resume writing and interviewing are usually on call to assist new graduates with the essential tasks to prepare for their first jobs. Take advantage of ALL that the college offers in this regard and follow through with ALL their recommendations to prepare for your search, including applying for job postings that the college may have available.


• Embrace all opportunities to work in multi-media in a wide range of fields and industries. Most industries are in need of those with multi-media skills, so whether it is in a sports related field or even in education or retail, you can find a need and fill it if you showcase your skills appropriately.


• Contact all your professors to gain insights that they may have on the best approach for your search. This may include contacts they may have, recommendations they may be able to offer, and any leads or firms that they may know of who hire new grads from your department.


• Don't turn down opportunities for paid or unpaid internships with firms that could use someone with your skills. It is not unusual for a newly minted graduate to start in a contract or temporary role, then use that as an opportunity to prove your worth to the firm you are working for in a temp or contract capacity.


• If available, take advantage of professional associations in your field. Sign up as a student membership and gain access to any job postings that may be on the sites they offer. Also, you can use these associations as a foundation for that all important networking effort.


• Build a networking campaign as well as following job postings. People still like to hire those who come recommended by someone they know.


• Gain some immediate experience by offering your services on sites like GURU or Fiver. These sites are great places to pick up individual projects such as script writing, book cover design, creating trailers for books, blogging, or creating websites for individuals or small businesses. The more work you can pick up this way to add to your resume the better, because you will want to be able to offer employers proven experience as well as coursework in your new field.


• Don't worry about the fact that you are making a career change. The new degree gives you new status, and Nanny work can be positioned as something that makes you flexible, resilient and committed to your educational goals, as it most likely funded your college degree. Employers will admire that.


• Position your resume with your functional skills in Multi-media, not nannying. List skills obtained via classes, and prove your capabilities with outcomes and achievements with class projects, and/or the type of internships or freelance work that you hopefully will be able to flesh out more and more as graduation comes closer.


• Make gaining some valuable experience your number one goal, even if you have to volunteer to have some projects and accomplishments to discuss on your resume.


• Because the pandemic has shifted the way people work today, with remote interviewing and working from home becoming a standard rather than a one-off, become comfortable with the tools that many companies use to interact via the web, including Zoom, Skype etc. Be sure that your background and lighting are professional, so that you come across as a savvy individual who takes this essential basic seriously.


• Be sure you have a quality LinkedIn profile because 90+% of firms use LinkedIn for screening and sourcing candidates, and use LinkedIn, Indeed.com, Glassdoor.com etc to read and understand job postings in your field. This will give you a good understanding of the language you may wish to include on your own resume and make it much easier for you to decide what information you will want to prepare for your interviews. Glassdoor also offers info on interview questions and salaries one can expect. Also, ask your college placement office or professors for realistic salary expectations, as they usually do salary surveys for different graduate fields, or for professions.


• Finally, take advantage of all the resources that C+C offers for resume writing and job search as well as techniques to address your cancer experience or how not to make it the center of your search.

Jodi, I think you have a wonderful adventure ahead of you, in spite of the challenges you had this past two years. I encourage you to dig in to this task of job search with joy about your achievements, and a focus on the promise your future holds.

My congratulations and blessings for a bright future,

Kathy Flora, Career Coach and cancer survivor.