Dear Marissa, 

 Thank you so much for writing with a question so important to many people. 

 If you have to take care of three step-children, is someone taking care of YOU?

 Also, if you have small children to take care of, could you make some space in your home or apartment to care for a few more babies or after-school children? 

 Is there anything you could do or sell online? 

 Here are my tips on finding a job: 

 Finding a job is a job in itself. It is a “numbers game” and it may take numerous interviews before landing a job. Each interview you get is a huge opportunity and will require advance preparation. 

 First, make a list of the types of jobs you could do. 
 Make a list of the places you’d like to have a job or the people with whom you’d like to work. 

 Writing down your goals, intentions, and a list of planned actions will help you create a resume. 
 Write a resume specific to the job you want. 
 Guidance for writing a resume can be found online. Do the research. 
 If necessary, adapt your resume for each interview, to address the specific job for which you are interviewing. 

 Before an Interview: 
 Research the job, the employer, the company. 
 Learn as much as you can before going into the interview. 
 Role-play your interview. Write potential questions and answer them in your mirror or with a trusted friend. 

 When you go to the interview, look and dress impeccably and appropriately. 

 At the interview, sell yourself. 
 Share your strengths and how your skills would serve the employer. 
 Omit all “bad” stories of your troubles or lack of success. 
 Omit all comments about how much you need the job or why this job would be good for YOU. 
 Be at service to the goals of the employer. 

 Know the goal of your prospective employer or ask about them. 
 Find out more about the position by interviewing them, too.

 During the interview or on your application: 
 Never bad mouth a past employer. 
 Never make excuses about your past. 
 Never make others wrong. 
 Always, find an honest way to respond to the question, “Why did you leave the last job?” 
 Like, “It was not a good fit," or "I was looking for something closer to my goals and skills.” 
 Adopt an honest, yet positive point of view. 

 Online, information on getting a job covers every aspect of job hunting. Research is a priority. Make this search an education for your betterment and well-being will be yours. You already know it’s time and you reached out to me. 
 This is a major opportunity to learn. Being gifted a body and a mind, talents and skills, getting a job is a further skill worth cultivating. 

 The book What Color Is Your Parachute: A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers is a standard that helped me many years ago when I was about your age and considering shifting to a new career path. 
 Originally published in 1970 (!), What Color Is Your Parachute has been updated and edited every few years and has sold over ten million copies in many languages. It is available as an audiobook. To get the most benefit from the book, I read and fulfilled the workbook pages in a special notebook at a special time each day, like a home-learning course. Marissa, get this book and fulfill all the assignments and it may change your life, as it did mine. At age 24, I took this book seriously and ended my waitressing career and began start working in jobs closer to my interests and skill set. This book is as relevant today as ever and many young people still use it. It changed my life. 

 Love, 

 Allyson