Health care professionals often face unique challenges when seeking new roles or industries. It’s common to resist change when uncertainty looms, but successful professional advancement requires navigating temporary discomfort. Although 45% of employees aren’t focused on career change, others actually are seeking new workplaces or job titles. Career pivots won’t happen spontaneously, and it's up to you to drive the transformation. Fortunately, you can tackle transitions with small, concrete skills that build over time — we call these microskills.
Here are six microskills that can help health care professionals successfully pivot in their careers.
1) Write a Comprehensive List of Skills
You likely possess more skills than you realize, and many are more transferable than you may appreciate. Start by taking the time to write them out — include both the skills used in your current role and those acquired earlier in your career, such as during medical school, residency, or fellowship. It may help to brainstorm with friends and colleagues to identify forgotten or overlooked abilities. For instance, if you were the resident responsible for creating shift schedules, you’ve developed skills in organization, time management, and team coordination. Without realizing it, you have gained valuable project management experience.
2) Collect Opportunities of Interest
Social media is an underappreciated tool when it comes to job hunting. More than 90% of companies use it for hiring. Instead of viewing others’ success as intimidating, flip the script. See each post as an educational opportunity to discover potential career paths. Track industries, job titles, degrees, and certifications that spark your interest. Opportunities also arise through word-of-mouth, networking events, and casual conversations. For example, our professional collaboration began with a simple conversation: “If you ever want to write together, let me know.” Job boards in health care journals and websites are great resources, but don’t limit yourself to traditional postings. Explore platforms like LinkedIn, where opportunities in health tech, health care administration, telemedicine, consulting, and academia are plentiful.
3) Practice Professional Self-Promotion
Self-promotion does not come naturally to many of us. There is an inherent altruistic nature to many health care professionals, and the servant leadership concept adds to the counterintuitive importance of this skill. However, we believe in the power and importance of developing your elevator pitch. Practice talking about yourself aloud. Record yourself. Be concrete and clear when speaking with your “personal board of directors” and professional network so they can more effectively direct you to new opportunities or keep you in mind in their daily lives. Rehearse in the mirror, record and playback, and role play the pitch with a member of your board. There are ways to self-promote on social media that are educational and bring an audience with you on your professional journey. Self-promotion is even indirectly accomplished through an intentional email signature including degree/s, title, website, recent publications — even your top five Clifton Strengths.
4) Apply Even If You Don’t Meet All Requirements
It is not an absolute requirement to have all the qualifications in a job posting. Reportedly, men apply for a job with 60% of the qualifications, while women won’t apply until they meet 100%. So apply even if your skills do not exactly match a job description. Creating an application, responding to essay questions, and completing the interview are never time and energy wasted. For example, Resa has applied to health care fellowship positions she did not get. However, she learned from each application, and was better prepared for the next opportunities she landed.
5) Write Your Own Letter of Recommendation
Writing your own letter of recommendation is a great strategy for success. Why this is one of the best kept health care industry secrets in the medical school, residency, fellowship, and faculty application process is beyond us. Remember that you are the best person to share your qualifications, accomplishments, experiences, skills, and fit for the next position. Lower the activation energy for your letter writer and write the first draft. In doing so, you are taking a portion of the work off the plate, demonstrating your motivation, and inspiring them to support you. A final touch we like: Include a list of health care professionals who could supply quotes about you and your work, which can be woven into the body of the letter.
6) Nurture Your Local Reputation
As you explore the career pivots, imagine your exit, and even confirm a new place to work, consider your current position and responsibilities. You want to protect your professional reputation and relationships while also evolving your skills. Anticipate creating a succession plan. Identify with your supervisor and team what you will drop, delegate, or complete. Don’t ghost people on communications, miss project due dates, or express apathetic body language and energy as you position yourself for the change.
Learning these six microskills can benefit you at any career stage no matter your role in health care. By learning and integrating the skills one at a time, everything will compound and make the process less overwhelming. The more you prepare now, the more opportunities you’ll be ready to actualize in the future.
What are your tips for someone considering a career pivot? Share in the comments.
Resa E. Lewiss MD is a professor of emergency medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and host of The Visible Voices Podcast and the Academic Emergency Medicine Education and Training Podcast. Adaira Landry MD, MEd, is an assistant professor of emergency medicine at the Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and co-founder of WritingInColor.org.
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