Job Hunting After Treatment?

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crikklekay
Posts: 142
Joined: Thu Feb 15, 2018 9:47 am
Location: Richmond, VA

Job Hunting After Treatment?

Postby crikklekay » Tue Nov 20, 2018 2:18 pm

So one thing my DH's cancer diagnosis made us realize is that life is too short to be miserable. John has wanted to switch careers for a while now but the time never seemed right or we weren't in a good place financially for him to start somewhere new. Now that he's almost fully healed from reversal surgery we want to look into finding him someplace else to work, but I'm realizing that any new job he accepts will need to have decent health insurance. I wish job postings had the health insurance options listed right along with the salary range! That's something that would normally be brought up in acceptance negotiations right? I'd hate for him to go through all the interviews only to find out at the end their health insurance is shit and he has to turn the opportunity down. His current job isn't ideal as it treats him less as a person and more as a replaceable cog in the machine, but it has decent health benefits. My company has awful health benefits and it's twice the price, so we can't afford to switch over to mine.

For those who have changed jobs shortly after treatment, do you have any tips? How did you navigate these murky waters? I assume we should avoid mentioning his cancer treatment at all, though I don't see how it would come up.
Caring for DH John
Stage IIIC, Lymph nodes: 6/22
Chemo: FOLFOX (6)
12/17 ER and emergency surgery
02/18 Hospital w/MSSA infected port, PICC line inserted, chest CT scan showed septic emboli & blood clots
03/18 Hospital w/CDIFF
08/18 CT Scan Clear, NEMD
2018/2019/2021 Colonoscopy Clear
2019/2020/2021/2022 CT Scan Clear
2021 PET scan & MRI show one spot on liver
08/21 Liver surgery to remove spot, confirmed mCRC. Now Stage IV
09/21 Start Folfiri + Avastin
03/22 CEA Rise, continuing chemo

KimT
Posts: 695
Joined: Sat Feb 20, 2010 8:53 pm

Re: Job Hunting After Treatment?

Postby KimT » Tue Nov 20, 2018 2:42 pm

My husband has been through a couple of job changes in the past 10 years. (Not after cancer) He has always been presented the health insurance as part of any job offer.
2/10 dx colon cancer
right hemicolectomy 3/19/10
Stage 2a 0/43 nodes
Lynch syndrome
3/14/10 colon resection/ removal of metal clips
Nov 11 dx ovarian cancer

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betsydoglover
Posts: 978
Joined: Mon Aug 14, 2006 2:31 pm
Facebook Username: Betsy Lindh Williams
Location: Maryland - outside DC

Re: Job Hunting After Treatment?

Postby betsydoglover » Tue Nov 20, 2018 3:41 pm

At least where I worked, the applicant was always seen first by HR, and HR discussed benefits with them and gave them a pkg of detailed info. Hopefully that is the case many places.

I do think (fair or not), that if he were to try to schedule an interview by phone / email and say that he first needed to know about benefits, it would be less likely that he would get the interview.

Large companies often have web sites that at least hint at their benefits - small ones not so much. My son just recently took a job with a company with only about 85 employees - the first thing they did was give him a benefits presentation - before he had any tech interviews.

Best of luck,
Betsy
diag. Stage IV, 5/05, liver met
lap sigmoid colectomy, 6/05
6 cycles Xeloda/oxaliplatin/Avastin (NED after 2)
11/08 9x13mm right lower lobe lung nodule; removed via VATS 4/09
NED
6 cycles Xeloda + Avastin
Avastin only 10/09-5/11
Still NED 06/18

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Phuong
Posts: 1508
Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2010 10:43 pm
Facebook Username: Phuong Ly Gallagher

Re: Job Hunting After Treatment?

Postby Phuong » Tue Nov 20, 2018 4:20 pm

Cancer and Careers is a great resource. You should check them out. https://www.cancerandcareers.org/enBTW, definitely a no on mentioning cancer. Look at it this way - if he had diabetes, so you feel like you owe it to them to tell them? Nope.
Phuong
http://sonofamotherlessgoat.net/
dx'd Stage III Rectal (T3 N1 M0)
Now Stage IV mCRC


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