About once a month, I get a call from a medical student, foreign grad, or resident who wants to learn more about how I got into Healthcare Consulting. When I had set out to do something different from the traditional foreign medical graduate, I had the same questions and no way of knowing how to go about it. I didn't have any examples or role models to reach out to.
I've only been in healthcare consulting for a year and a half and am barely on the rim looking inward, but I've learned a few things thus far. I figured this may be important information for anyone looking to switch fields right now.
1. Networking was the key to getting my new job. I had 2-month old twin boys at home, so inviting people out for coffee or attending events wasn't realistically or even remotely possible. Instead, I turned to remote networking -- LinkedIn. My husband would walk in through the door at 5:15 PM from work. Typically, I scheduled 2-3 calls per day, each lasting about 15 minutes starting at 5:15 PM and with anyone who had the job title "Healthcare Consultant" and agreed to give me the time.
I always started these conversations with, "I'm trying to learn more about this field. Do you mind sharing a little bit about what you do?" This allowed a very organic conversation to take place. Often, by the end of the call, they tried to help me in some way by connecting me with contacts who could help me in my job search. Sometimes, the conversations were real duds. One individual tried to recruit me for a pyramid scheme; another tried to convince me that I needed to focus on getting into residency instead, and so on. But, I pushed on.
2. Look again at your body of work and figure out your transferrable skills. I had a whole set of skills and over 7 years in digital publishing and social media that were sitting unused and unvalued in clinical medicine. No one knew what to do with them. Residency programs didn't even look at them twice. However, I dusted these skills off when I embarked on this new job search. I used them to demonstrate my skills in writing, leadership, project management, output creation, visuals, and more.
3. Allow yourself to be short-sighted. I think there's this assumption that if you're going to switch fields or careers, you have to want to commit to it for the rest of your working life. While this would be ideal, it doesn't have to be necessarily true.
Let me explain. Different things work for different people in different seasons of life. Industries are continually transforming and technology is constantly evolving. When I started in my new career, it gave me the flexibility I needed to take care of my very little children. Will this always be the case? Maybe when they're all in school, I'll find that I need more excitement in my life. Perhaps a new field will emerge where my skills are more valued. Who's to say? This leads me to my next point.
4. Be open-minded. It's very possible that the more you learn about the new career you were hoping to get into, the more you realize it isn't right for you, but you did hear about something else during a conversation that sparked some interest. Chase that spark. Who knows where it'll lead?
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