Humans in Healthcare #42: Jumpstart your non-clinical career transition

Hi friend, Amy here, your authentically honest full-stop human, community builder, and creator of Humans in Healthcare, sharing the stories and experiences of healthcare professionals, patients, and caregivers. Today’s chapter is part of my clinician creator database where I highlight clinicians building creative endeavors. Complete your creator database application below to be featured.

✨ Today’s newsletter is sponsored by Defining Point Coaching & Consulting ✨ 

Brandy Wilkins is a PT turned healthcare quality expert and career coach, and founder of Defining Point Coaching and Consulting. She has taught me so much about the strategy of a non clinical transition. She is offering an incredible 4-week boot camp to jumpstart your transition. She is pairing up with experts like fellow Humans in Healthcare Community member Dr. Ruth Vo to bring this action-packed and practical boot camp. The first live session is Monday, 4/29 so click the link below to enroll. Don’t miss out!

Jumpstart your non-clinical transition

To expand on why Brandy is an expert on transitions, for this newsletter chapter, I’ve infused some of the insights she recently shared in the Humans in Healthcare community about a transition to a non-clinical role with my own relatable experiences.

I meet with many clinicians who are exploring that first step out of the box of their clinical career. Commonly, they want the care (or action) plan before they’ve done the diagnosing. I understand why. Action feels good, like forward momentum, but contemplation doesn’t always feel the same — it’s slower because you are often asking yourself deep questions that you may never have confronted in your clinical work. What do I like? What environments would be best for me? What jobs would I enjoy? What skills do I have that also give me energy? And so on.

📌 Enter Brandy’s first tip: Don’t blindly apply.

Narrow down what it is you want to do next as it relates to your values, interests, passion, and goals. For instance, if you want to leave clinical work because you need a break from interacting with people every day, perhaps a person or client-facing role as your next opportunity is not ideal. Or, maybe you have loved the data analysis and trending of data that comes with being a clinician. Perhaps a data-driven role could be interesting. In Brandy’s boot camp, Dr. Ruth Vo, founder of the Career Cliniq, will speak to how to identify a path that aligns with your strengths, passions, and unique gifts. This is fundamental to your transition.

So you’ve narrowed it down to something that resonates with who you are, what you like, and what you need, but how do you know what the day-to-day is like in these roles or how people have successfully pivoted to them?

📌 Enter Brandy’s second tip: start making connections.

Healthcare professionals aren’t taught the value of a network during their education. Though there is a definite increase, many healthcare professionals still don’t use LinkedIn. You are already at an advantage if you do. Side note, in her bootcamp, Brandy is bringing in expert Shantel Love to teach you how to set your LinkedIn up for success in a way that does not offend your current employer — a masterclass in and of itself.

Networking can feel like a chore, especially for us introverted types. And many times, networking is an exclusive, not inclusive event. Not all of us can attend a happy hour in downtown cities at 9 pm to try to be in the room of exclusivity and opportunity 😏.

The good news is networking and making connections can happen quietly and virtually and still be as impactful in the way you need it to be. How do I know? Because I created a community for this reason — clinicians doing interesting things in their careers to connect on a deeper level and learn from each other. A good majority of us identify as introverted and the depth of our connections is our superpower. Come join the community and get immediately connected to a network!

Back to Brandy’s insights. So you’ve narrowed down your interests and learned from new connections about their experiences. Now you need to get practical about learning for the new role.

📌 Enter Brandy’s third tip: upskill strategically.

As clinicians, we are knowledge holders, SMEs, and continuous learners. In general, we love to learn. But the reality is, when it comes to a transition, we need to strategically learn. We can’t take all of the courses or get all of the certificates. It’s not useful to gain a certification just to have it on your resume. You’ll want to gain skills that apply to the new role. Showing proficiency matters, but the application of said skill also matters — you’ll want to speak to how you applied what you learned and how you’ll continue to apply it in the new role.

This happened on one of my interviews. I have a certification in Change Management and had it listed on my resume. During my interview, the interviewer wanted to know how I specifically used the change management methodology in my current job and what the outcome was. Storytelling in interviews matters significantly, but, that’s another newsletter for another day!

Finally, after you’ve narrowed down your interests, made connections, and upskilled strategically, Brandy says this is the time to focus on crafting your resume. And, if you want tips on that, you’ll just have to sign up for Brandy’s boot camp where she she has specific and actionable tips on the art of resume crafting!

I hope this has been helpful as you explore your career transition. I’ll leave you with this:

In humanity,

Amy

When you are ready, there are 3 extra ways I can help:

1. CLINICAL COMMUNITY: Join a curated membership space for clinicians in transitions, clinician creators, and peer support and empowerment.

2. FIND TALENT & OPPORTUNITIES: Are you a hiring manager or recruiter hiring a clinician? Consider posting to an incredible and talented network of seasoned clinical tech operators and leaders, content experts and SMEs, pharma educators and researchers, product and project managers, frontline clinicians, and more.

3. SHARE YOUR STORY: Are you a healthcare professional, patient, or caregiver and want to share your story? Collaborate here.