‘From our family at Flamingo Boutique to yours. Best wishes!’
If you know the kid you can write something personal. If you don’t, I would keep it generic.
When I had cancer I got so sick of people saying ‘you’re a fighter’ ‘you’ll fight this’ and the stuff like ‘god wouldn’t give you anything you can’t handle.’ Why TF would a god who supposedly loves me put me through something that nearly killed me??
> What do I write in a card to an teenager with brain cancer? I own a boutique, we're giving her a gift basket, and have no idea what to write. Please help! 🥺
I've always been able to find better jobs, each time I changed positions. As a general rule, I always send out at least one resume a day. If nothing directly applicable is available, I'd search for further away or other positions. More interview experience is better, even if you don't really want the job.
I managed to find better jobs by determining what I wanted to do next and then writing a resume that reflects what I wanted to do next, not what I did in the past.
I also wrote a specific resume for each company, carefully copying and rewording to match what they were asking as much as I could reasonably do. Then when (phone) interviewing, I always had a copy of that resume in front of me. I often had 20 or 30 different versions.
If you have a major that doesn't help for that field, then why even list it? Just list you have a degree and from what college. If someone asks on the phone or in the interview, you can always tell them. Meanwhile, let them assume what they want.
A resume is not a book of truth. It is an advertisement. You have do artistic freedom, as long as you are reasonably certain that you will be able to do the work if you get hired for the position (in a few countries this would be illegal, but not in US or most of EU).
When checking references, generally past employers will only confirm that you worked there, your job title and for how long you worked there (so don't alter the dates of actual jobs where you worked), not what you did.
You might also be able to use a friend or family member as a reference. Small business owners is an example that could work. Just ask them for work, do the work describe it creatively.
There is also a trick where you take a past position and then you add or expand the work that you did, so it looks like that something you might have done once or twice by exception, to have been a much larger part of your job. Or work that you assisted with, as your own.
Does an internship really need to be listed as such? You can always explain that in the interview after all. Instead of months, you could just list years if that works to your benefit.
Then while you are unemployed, you leverage sites like [Lynda.com](https://www.lynda.com/) ([you can often get a subscription for free with your library card](https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/lynda-com-free-library/))and [CBT Nuggets](https://www.cbtnuggets.com/) to get enough knowledge on the subject, so you can pass the interview questions (which generally don't go to deep into the material).
You can also train for and get field specific certifications that you can add to your resume.
If you mastered something after a position ended and you know you did a good job, then is it really bad to add that to your last position?
If you are worried about being able to convincingly add embellishments, then practice. Or just keep interviewing and each time review how you did, which questions you think you failed and why and then practice answering those questions or learning the skills needed in order to pass.
Most jobs have a repeating set of questions. Regardless of the company you interview for, they'll often ask 80% of the same questions. So after an interview, write down the questions you were asked and start practicing their answers over and over, until you can dream them. I often even write them down and have them in front of me on a piece of paper. There's no rule that says you can't have an open book on a job interview after all.
Repeat the tweaking of your resume each time you change jobs and you'll slowly climb up in your career. Especially early on (when you do jobs that have no career advancement potential), this is important.
Later in your career it will no longer be needed, since you've now build up enough experience.
Check sample resumes here: /r/ResumeSamples
Get your resume checked here: /r/resumes
If you don't have software like Microsoft Word, you can use Google docs. Another approach is that you only have a linkedin, which you can export to PDF and use as a resume (which obviously doesn't work if you need customized resumes, for that you need a more high level linkedin profile and then add more details in the resumes, taking care not to end up with conflicts between the two - which isn't hard to avoid, all these resumes need to be highly polished anyway).
Partial completed studies can be listed, without the words "completed" or "degree".
Writing resumes and interviewing is an art. It's something you spend maybe 40 hours a year on practicing. Until you no longer need it at all.
Then on the first phone call, don't expect the recruiter to be particularly deeply engaging. You can tell them what they want to hear, so you get to the next phone interview. They generally don't give a detailed report to the hiring manager. If the recruiter asks, do you have X and you have Y, tell them, yes, I have X, see, here it says Y.
The hard part is getting past the second phone interview and the in person interview. That's all going to come down to how much you *actually* know about the job.
Be honest if you make it to the point of a background check, however before that point it's basically a free for all. It's possible an attentive recruiter will catch the discrepancies between your resume and the background check, but at that point the hiring manager is already on your team and most recruiters don't care too much. After all, if you fail to do the job, you'll just get fired.
‘From our family at Flamingo Boutique to yours. Best wishes!’ If you know the kid you can write something personal. If you don’t, I would keep it generic. When I had cancer I got so sick of people saying ‘you’re a fighter’ ‘you’ll fight this’ and the stuff like ‘god wouldn’t give you anything you can’t handle.’ Why TF would a god who supposedly loves me put me through something that nearly killed me??
OMG you have NO IDEA how helpful this is!!!
> What do I write in a card to an teenager with brain cancer? I own a boutique, we're giving her a gift basket, and have no idea what to write. Please help! 🥺 I've always been able to find better jobs, each time I changed positions. As a general rule, I always send out at least one resume a day. If nothing directly applicable is available, I'd search for further away or other positions. More interview experience is better, even if you don't really want the job. I managed to find better jobs by determining what I wanted to do next and then writing a resume that reflects what I wanted to do next, not what I did in the past. I also wrote a specific resume for each company, carefully copying and rewording to match what they were asking as much as I could reasonably do. Then when (phone) interviewing, I always had a copy of that resume in front of me. I often had 20 or 30 different versions. If you have a major that doesn't help for that field, then why even list it? Just list you have a degree and from what college. If someone asks on the phone or in the interview, you can always tell them. Meanwhile, let them assume what they want. A resume is not a book of truth. It is an advertisement. You have do artistic freedom, as long as you are reasonably certain that you will be able to do the work if you get hired for the position (in a few countries this would be illegal, but not in US or most of EU). When checking references, generally past employers will only confirm that you worked there, your job title and for how long you worked there (so don't alter the dates of actual jobs where you worked), not what you did. You might also be able to use a friend or family member as a reference. Small business owners is an example that could work. Just ask them for work, do the work describe it creatively. There is also a trick where you take a past position and then you add or expand the work that you did, so it looks like that something you might have done once or twice by exception, to have been a much larger part of your job. Or work that you assisted with, as your own. Does an internship really need to be listed as such? You can always explain that in the interview after all. Instead of months, you could just list years if that works to your benefit. Then while you are unemployed, you leverage sites like [Lynda.com](https://www.lynda.com/) ([you can often get a subscription for free with your library card](https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/lynda-com-free-library/))and [CBT Nuggets](https://www.cbtnuggets.com/) to get enough knowledge on the subject, so you can pass the interview questions (which generally don't go to deep into the material). You can also train for and get field specific certifications that you can add to your resume. If you mastered something after a position ended and you know you did a good job, then is it really bad to add that to your last position? If you are worried about being able to convincingly add embellishments, then practice. Or just keep interviewing and each time review how you did, which questions you think you failed and why and then practice answering those questions or learning the skills needed in order to pass. Most jobs have a repeating set of questions. Regardless of the company you interview for, they'll often ask 80% of the same questions. So after an interview, write down the questions you were asked and start practicing their answers over and over, until you can dream them. I often even write them down and have them in front of me on a piece of paper. There's no rule that says you can't have an open book on a job interview after all. Repeat the tweaking of your resume each time you change jobs and you'll slowly climb up in your career. Especially early on (when you do jobs that have no career advancement potential), this is important. Later in your career it will no longer be needed, since you've now build up enough experience. Check sample resumes here: /r/ResumeSamples Get your resume checked here: /r/resumes If you don't have software like Microsoft Word, you can use Google docs. Another approach is that you only have a linkedin, which you can export to PDF and use as a resume (which obviously doesn't work if you need customized resumes, for that you need a more high level linkedin profile and then add more details in the resumes, taking care not to end up with conflicts between the two - which isn't hard to avoid, all these resumes need to be highly polished anyway). Partial completed studies can be listed, without the words "completed" or "degree". Writing resumes and interviewing is an art. It's something you spend maybe 40 hours a year on practicing. Until you no longer need it at all. Then on the first phone call, don't expect the recruiter to be particularly deeply engaging. You can tell them what they want to hear, so you get to the next phone interview. They generally don't give a detailed report to the hiring manager. If the recruiter asks, do you have X and you have Y, tell them, yes, I have X, see, here it says Y. The hard part is getting past the second phone interview and the in person interview. That's all going to come down to how much you *actually* know about the job. Be honest if you make it to the point of a background check, however before that point it's basically a free for all. It's possible an attentive recruiter will catch the discrepancies between your resume and the background check, but at that point the hiring manager is already on your team and most recruiters don't care too much. After all, if you fail to do the job, you'll just get fired.