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Jobseeker’s Guide to Job Searching for Physicians During a Pandemic!!

Jun 24, 2021

 

  • Be prepared for what’s next — make sure your résumé and LinkedIn profile are up to date. Make time to track and document your accomplishments.
  • Analyze your transferable skills and experience, understand them and get clear on using them in the career transition process. How can you leverage the skills and knowledge you already have?
  • Remember that some aspects of the job search remain the same — Physicians are needed.
  • Be prepared to interview for the position virtually (rather than in person). Watch out for my post on tips and tricks for the virtual job interview.
  • Consider contract work to try a different industry.
  • Adjust your mindset — instead of ‘I am just a doctor,’ think about how can this work for me given my clinical acumen and medical expertise?
  •  Are you having trouble finding a job in your field? Evaluate your process and look for any loopholes. Are you using the correct document, A resume, not a CV? Are you networking with the right people? Do you understand the target industry?
  • Allow more time for hiring in a pandemic environment. The hiring timeline has grown longer in some cases.
  •  Consider your timeline and take action to improve your current situation.
  •  If you’ve been furloughed by your current employer, develop a job search strategy. Update your job search documents to immediately apply for positions if you find yourself without a job.
  •  Research your state’s unemployment benefit requirements to determine if taking on short-term or part-time work will affect your benefits.
  •  Keep in contact virtually with your network. Your network can be a vital part of your job search, and staying in touch with people you know through social media, phone calls, Zoom or FaceTime, email, text, and LinkedIn messages can help you identify opportunities. If you do not have a network, now is the time to start building one.
  • Some pandemic-related changes may become permanent — such as virtual job fairs, virtual interviews, and remote work opportunities. Plan for the future and be prepared for whatever comes your way.

 

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Sudha Bakhshi

For me, Jawaria has been a game changer in seeking non-clinical employment. I’ve been working with her for a period of time that was divided into a number of phases.

This first part was to undergo an inventory of professional traits to better understand my strengths and weaknesses. In general I am skeptical of organizational personality assessments and feel that they tend to overgeneralize and group people based on superficial assumptions. However, I decided to commit to this approach in order to obtain a more objective view of how my interactions may result in certain perceptions in a work environment. This helped me to focus on my motivations and how I wanted to approach this stage of my career.

In the second phase, Jawaria helped me to create a coherent narrative that was reflected in a revision of my resume. She was very supportive as I overcame my hesitation to assert myself in more contemporary formats, such as LinkedIn. I felt that the conversations that we had were essential to feeling more confident as I moved forward to identifying positions that were of interest, researching the employers and writing customized cover letters to accentuate skill sets.

The third phase navigated the strange and often confusing experience of the interview process. Jawaria helped me to just accept the black box that is HR for many corporations and to then move forward to interviews with medical directors and company executives. She was present after every interview, to challenge and also to validate my perceptions of what transpired.

I have many supportive friends in medicine and other professions that offered insight and encouragement in my job hunt. But I feel that the investment in the professional coaching Jawaria offered was essential to creating the mindset necessary to approach and feel comfortable competing in the current non-clinical environment.

In the end, yes, I was able to get an offer for a job that I feel will be very interesting and challenging. And I am very grateful for Jawaria’s assistance in helping me in this process. She was very willing to share her own experiences as a physician and this was enormously meaningful.

There is a saying: “When the student is ready, the teacher will come”. This definitely applied to me and I felt that what she said resonated, even from our first conversation. As physicians, we invest into our profession, but there is something to be said for investing in ourselves as well. I would encourage my fellow doctors to consider how important professional mentorship can be and how often it can feel inaccessible. But if you are ready, then Jawaria can be the catalyst to empower physicians to feel energized about their career choices.