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Career & Education Resources

Meeting Notes

Helpful Organizations & Links

Cancer for College Presenters on October 2024 community call

LinkedIn Profile Setup Tips and Tricks, March 2025

We were honored to have Mona Yaeger, Senior Career Management Consultant, join us to share how to best build and utilize a LinkedIn profile. She shared an incredibly informational and insightful slide deck, LinkedIn – Your Profile & How to Get Back to Work.

Some key information from the call included:

  • The goal of LinkedIn is to search for jobs and to showcase yourself as “talent” to recruiters.
  • Your profile picture should be only you (no pets or other people) and not include anything distracting.
  • You can show more personality in your banner. Canva at www.canva.com has some great free LinkedIn banners.
  • Your About section should be predominantly in narrative form and should share about you!
  • Your skills can be divided into categories and can also be highlighted in your About section. Repeating is okay because these are key words employers and AI will search for.
  • Under work experience, there is an option to add a Career Break. It is totally up to you if you label this medical/health but you should be prepared to answer questions about a resume gap.
  • The time to reveal your cancer diagnosis is when you have a job offer.
  • In an interview, if asked about a work gap you can say, “I was taking care of myself” or “I was taking care of a family member.” You don’t have to give any more information than that.
  • LinkedIn has a mobile app. If you tap the search bar at the top, it will present a QR code and a scan button so you can easily connect with someone you met.
  • LinkedIn is great for networking!
  • Find employees at the company you’d like to work at and request to connect with them.
  • See if you can find a common area of interest in their profile.
  • Always include a note when you request to connect.
  • If you are looking to switch career paths, make sure to change your headline and your about section to gear toward what you want to do, not what you’ve done.
    • Accountability: The Outcome of Responsibility, February 2025

    We were honored to be joined by Communication Expert, Paula White who chatted with us about Accountability: The Outcome of Responsibility. Here are the notes from our amazing conversation!

  • Accountability – an outcome, a task, something that someone has given you or you have taken on
  • Responsibility – your agreement or your promise to do that

    • You can’t be held accountable for something unless you take responsibility for it – this is the difference between a task and a promise

    Some questions to ask yourself:

  • What is one thing that I’m accountable for right now? (a task)
  • Did I take full responsibility for completing it or did someone have to remind me?
  • If you didn’t follow through with that, what was your excuse? Time, distraction, forgetting, partially completed it
  • Rate yourself from 1-5 on each of those questions: (1) I wait for reminders, I don’t take ownership (1 – I don’t at all; 5 – I take ownership and don’t need reminders) and (2) I follow through without being asked (1 – yes, 5 – I’m always being asked)

    • Write C-L-E-A-R vertically on a paper. Then think about a big task you are working on or one where you are getting stuck/not completing it and do each of the following.

  • Clarify the desired result
  • Learn what’s in the way
  • Explore what is possible
  • Action steps (list them out)
  • Revisit the result

    • You can use the CLEAR method daily if there is something you are stuck on; monthly for shorter term tasks; or quarterly for bigger goals

    How do you get motivated to be more responsible?

  • Revisit your CLEAR list whenever you need.
  • Create a playlist of songs that motivate you!
  • Recognize that motivation is self-fulfilling and the more you achieve, the more motivated you are
  • Your action steps should help with clarity and where to start
  • Write down your goal or to do’s as a promise to someone (it could be to yourself) and speak it out loud
  • When you get to the end of the action steps, give yourself grace if you haven’t gotten there and revisit and go deeper
    • Creating Your Personal Mission Statement: Discovering Your Mission, Vision, Values, Beliefs and Purpose, January 2025 Steps to Success: Part 1 of 3

    We were honored to be joined by Alivia Boddie who walked us through Creating Your Personal Mission Statement. This powerful call helped everyone think through what matters to them and how to find purpose.

    Alivia’s Presentation

    Mission Statement Exercise

    Cancer for College, October 2024

    We were honored to have Cancer for College join us to share about the amazing resources they provide!

    There are two main resources they provide that every AYA should check out – scholarships and medical debt relief.

    Scholarship Information

  • Applications for 2025-2026 scholarships are open from 11/1/2024-1/31/25
  • You have to have had cancer at any point in your life
  • You must be attending (or going to attend) a US accredited school (university, college, or trade school)
  • Gross family income must be under $150,000 annually – if you are under 25, you must provide your and your parent’s tax returns
  • Scholarships are available for specific majors
  • There are no age restrictions, and graduate studies apply as well
  • Welcome to reapply each year
  • Scholarships range from $5,000-$10,000

    • Medical Debt Relief Information

  • You have to have completed treatment prior to applying
  • Can apply for debt relief and a scholarship at the same time
  • They partner with a patient advocacy service
  • If accepted into the program, you get them all your bills, they connect you with the advocacy service who reaches out to your treatment hospital to negotiate a lower price on your final bill, they pay the remaining amount
  • In 2025, this will be capped at age 25
  • There is no financial requirement to apply for medical debt relief

    • Feel free to reach out to stevi@cancerforcollege.org or shelby@cancerforcollege.org

    Cancer for College hosts virtual workshops regularly!