By Karen Mauss
When I lost my job at a local non-profit agency in early 2010 during the height of The Great Recession, I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do next. I had done many very different jobs in the course of my working life, and as a reflection of that, my résumé looked like a patchwork quilt. Not being twenty-something anymore, I knew I had to make a decision about a field and stick to it. After some months of research and personal inventory, I finally decided upon the business/administrative/information side of healthcare. I had circled around the field now and again, but never truly worked in it. My background was mostly in medical insurance, with a smattering of durable medical equipment and some medical database software thrown in. So then the fun began: how to get in the door. Everyone wants experience but mine was razor thin and at least five years old. And let's face it, to say it's still a tough job market is like saying that Bill Gates is slightly well off. I am by no means a career coach, and certainly no expert at job hunting; however, I am someone who spent 19 months unemployed and trying to get into this field. As such, I hope these bits of advice coming from a truly personal perspective will be of assistance to someone in a similar situation.
Transferable Skills Are Your Best Friend
If you have little to no actual healthcare experience, the single best piece of advice I can give is to know what you are good at and be prepared to make a case for it in cover letters, your résumé, and especially in an interview. Perhaps you're very good at putting people at ease, or you're highly organized, or you're known as a great problem-solver. I happen to have excellent communication skills, both written and verbal. What I had to learn to do was make a compelling argument that things such as grant writing and donor relations could translate to a medical office.
An Internet search of "Top 10 Transferable Skills" has a list that looks something like this: Communication, Teamwork, Time Management, Problem-Solving, Organization, Learning, Computer, Listening, Creativity, and Leadership. From my eight months of working in a large medical office, I can say for certain that all ten of these are in great demand.
Get Some Formal Training
In healthcare, professional credentials aren't everything, but they do mean a lot. Even if you don't have a certification or a degree completed, being enrolled in courses shows that you are serious about what you're doing and not window-shopping. I was fortunate in that I was able to get into a federal program called The Workforce Reinvestment Act for the recently unemployed that paid for virtually all of my education at a local community college. Through that, I was able to get my AAPC certification. Granted, I'm not doing a coding job at all right now, but I firmly believe the fact that I was taking these courses made some difference why I was picked over several other candidates for the same job. If you can possibly find a way to get into a formal training program of some sort, it's time and/or money well spent.
Don't Put Your Perfect Job On a Pedestal
Most of us have an idea of what our perfect job would entail, even if we can't put a title to it. I had something very specific in mind and for a long time, I wasn't willing to compromise, especially in looking at part-time jobs with no benefits. However, as one year of unemployment became two and I was staring down the barrel at my benefits running out, I eventually set "ideal" aside, and started looking for anything in the field. In the end, the position I was offered was part-time and had nothing at all to do with coding, billing, or medical records, but it was at a large specialty practice, so I jumped at it. Is it anything like my ideal job? No. On the other hand, it became full-time, is putting food on the table, making my car payment, and giving me valuable experience. So if something comes across your radar that looks far less than ideal, don't dismiss it out of hand. It just might be the ticket you were looking for.
Develop an Elevator Speech
This refers to the ability to articulate what you're looking for in the time it would theoretically take to ride an elevator with someone. I finally got mine down to "I'm looking for a full-time position in medical records, coding, or billing at a hospital or a large medical practice within 30 miles of my home." I've discovered that most people, even total strangers, genuinely want to help, but they have to understand very clearly what you want. One of my first networking experiences was with a gentleman who ultimately helped me find my job, but after we had initially talked for half an hour, he looked at me and asked, "So exactly what is it you're looking for?" This was after I thought I was being fairly clear. It turns out I was being anything but! So once you have your elevator speech ready, tell everyone you know. It may sound silly, but you really never know who knows who.
And Last But Not Least: Turn Off the Computer and Go Meet Someone for Coffee
This was the biggest turnaround in my situation and outlook besides going back to school. I was very nervous about the whole networking concept at first, especially when I started reaching out to people I had never met. The hidden job market is not a myth. I used to believe that all jobs were advertised. They're not. In fact, many sources say that 80 plus percent of the available jobs are never advertised to the public. So it really is all about finding people who have a connection to where you'd like to work and letting them know you exist. It's not easy and it takes a lot of time (and it definitely contributed to my Starbucks addiction) but it was therapeutic in that it got me out of the house, and it was how I finally found a job.
In closing, I know that there is no magic bullet when it comes to job hunting. It comes down to hard work, patience, and a tiny bit of luck. The hardest thing for me was staying motivated and staying positive. I had never been unemployed for more than a month or two since I graduated college, and I fully expected to easily be gainfully employed within three or four months. As three or four became six, then twelve, then fifteen months, I truly began to think I was never going to work again. But when I finally was offered a job, I could point back to "seeds" I'd planted almost a year prior. I hope that something I have shared herein can help another job-seeker to plant similar seeds that will also blossom into a job offer.
Karen Mauss is an aspiring medical writer and certified coder who lives near Lancaster, Pennsylvania and is currently employed at a Neurosurgery practice. She enjoys making new connections, and is on Linked IN or can be reached via email at kkmauss@embarqmail.com.
