So you’re still in med school, and you’re beginning to wonder about the future: what the world will look like when you get out of school and how easy it will be for you to find a job.
Fortunately, you happened to pick a career path that seems more relevant and viable now more than ever. In fact, with the Coronavirus pandemic devastating communities across the world, qualified healthcare professionals are needed now more than ever. While we’re all hoping for a speedy return to a pre-COVID normal, waiting with bated breath for the pandemic to pass now that vaccines are widely available, vaccine hesitancy coupled with the evolution of the virus means that we’re likely to be in pandemic territory for a good long while. Whether COVID continues to be an issue once you’ve graduated or not, however the medical field is perpetually short-staffed, it should be easier to find a job in this field than, say, if you chose to be an English major.
But how does one go about getting a job? And not just something that pays the bills, but a position that will likely lead to greater opportunities in the future? If you’re trying to plan out your future but have no idea where to start, stay tuned. We’re about to break down some of the most time-tested, effective means of not only putting yourself on the market, but strategically positioning yourself for the most success.
Networking: A Viable Strategy in Any Industry
Sometimes it isn’t what you know so much as who you know (an old adage that has so much truth to it, especially in today’s digitally interconnected world). It’s easy to keep in touch with old mentors, potential employers, and colleagues with connections at well-established facilities, and you definitely should… you never know when an opportunity may come up, and how much leverage the people you know have in who gets selected for it.
Furthermore, while in school you should do what you can to get your name out there. If opportunities come to work with employers before graduation, or if you get the chance to put yourself out there in front of a greater audience, such as the medical community writ large, you should take it. The more exposure employers have to you before you graduate, the better, as they’ll be more likely to think of you when doors start to open.
Browse a Job Board
While Indeed and Glassdoor.com may have a few postings available, job boards that were developed with physicians in mind, like PracticeMatch.com, have a large variety of positions available for physicians searching for jobs in every station and field. The advantage of surfing a job board is that you have a veritable smorgasbord of positions that you can look through, viewing deciding factors like location, rate of pay, opportunities for advancement, and daily duties from the comfort of your home. With many of them, you also have the option to search primarily for jobs in the field and position you’re interested in; from there, it’s just a matter of browsing the hundreds of available postings, filtering out the ones you aren’t interested in and narrowing down your path to success quickly and easily.
Frequent Recruitment Spaces, Seek Aid
If neither of these work or you’re just having trouble finding your ideal posting, you can always seek out opportunities at your local physician job fair or seek the help of a professional recruitment agency. Recruitment fairs are a great place to network if nothing else, and chances are that you’ll encounter contacts that you can later use when you’re on the hunt. Choosing to employ a recruitment firm can also be a viable option, as they tend to have industry-wide contacts that you won’t be privy to; still, avoid using them unless you absolutely have to as a last resort. After all, if you can do something for free, why pay someone else?
Read: 6 Workplace Perks Every Start-up Needs
Launching a Successful Career, One Step at a Time
Whether you’re still in school or beginning to enter the job market for the first time, following these simple steps will make it much easier for you to land the position of your dreams. Do what’s needed to place yourself where you need to be, and remember: the world will always need healthcare practitioners.