The job market is a special world with very specific codes. What happens when cancer takes part in the equation? How to manage the disease in the company? What must be done to reassure and support the employee, without jeopardizing the company's activity? Should we lie to recruiters when we look for a job after a long absence due to illness? To try to answer all these questions and more, the magazine "Rose" in partnership with the association Cancer @ Work organized a job-dating for a dozen readers handpicked. Monday, October 6, at the Café des Editeurs in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, these readers had an appointment with HRD volunteers, curious to discuss the issue of the disease, but also happy to help on their scale, these women eager to return to the corporate world.

The key element is trust

It is not without some apprehension that most readers have arrived at the venue. If the job search is always a "stressful" moment for candidates, when they come back after a disabling illness such as cancer, it is all the more so. "The basic idea was not to leave with a job," explains Myriam *, "rather to test my resume to start a job search more serene." Same thing for Anne-Sophie *, 27, who had to leave her previous job to seek treatment: "I especially needed to regain confidence , submit my profile to experts and hear them tell me that" yes " I was qualified for a whole bunch of positions, and my illness was not going to stop me from moving forward. "

Trust is the key element to understand the situation of these employees forced to leave or even leave their work during the healing. For Nina-Caroline *, a human resources consultant, this is the main objective of this type of meeting. Reassure and counsel their counterparts so that she goes beyond the illness to project herself into the company. "When my cancer started, I did not want to talk about it in my workplace, my colleagues, or my hierarchy," says Anne-Sophie. "Result, I had to lie a few times". For Anne-Sophie Tuszynski, founder of Cancer @ Work , "It's still tough today to talk about cancer in business, whether you're directly involved or someone you care about. It's a difficult word to pronounce. "

Case by case

However, things are moving forward in this area. "If some taboos still exist, processes are put in place to support and support the employee in his fight," says Nina-Caroline. "In our company, we are putting in place an action plan to facilitate the care and follow-up of our employees affected by a disabling illness such as breast cancer," says Séverine Lesgourgues, Manager Human Resources at Altran. "By cons for the time being, everything is treated case by case," adds Nina-Caroline, herself faced with this type of questions in her company.

Because yes, while some patients prefer to keep an anchor in their professional life by arranging their schedules and their schedules, others on the contrary prefer to protect themselves the time of the cure while being absent from their company, in order not to be stressed more. "Time schedules can be a solution, but what is really important in the care is to prepare with him his return," says Nina-Caroline. It is indeed necessary to anticipate his return: to coach the teams, to keep him informed of current projects ... Everything for his return to be without a hitch. Other patients who feel guilty for staying too far away from their company, prefer to leave the time to regain health, even if it means having to go through a recruitment process.

Should we legislate to regulate this type of situation?

To the question "should we wait for supervision from the government? The answers are rather positive. A priori, all companies should shortly put in place action plans to address the issues of disabling diseases, including breast cancer. But action by the government would certainly facilitate the implementation of these processes, by introducing "special cases" of replacements, positions that can be duplicated without the taxes being so ... So many proposals that should be submitted to the authorities leaders in the coming years.

* The given names have been changed to preserve the identity of the interveners