What You Need to Know Before You Transition
By Jennifer Hohman
When PAs contact me to explore non-clinical career options, they often point to burnout as major cause. A 2018 AAPA article, based on data from the AAPA Salary Report, notes that one in eight PAs considers quitting clinical practice due to stress. For PAs interested in exploring non-clinical career options, I’d like to propose a framework for thinking about and implementing next steps.
Step One: Self-Assessment
Key to any constructive career change is self-awareness and a realistic, informed sense of the many options available. This means diagnosing the underlying issues motivating any career transition correctly: what problems are you trying to solve by making this change? For PAs encountering clinical burnout, it’s very understandable that non-clinical roles may appeal as a means of creating better work-life balance. But it’s important to make career moves from positive places, so I suggest stepping back and taking a balanced look at the pros and cons of being a PA, staying mindful of the arduous work you did to join the profession, and the unique latitude and flexibility of PA employment opportunities across the medical spectrum.
Could current dissatisfaction be healed from within the PA clinical profession, by finding a better, more sustainable job and specialty? Or making changes to an existing position? The theory and practice of Job Crafting offers strategies for doing so. If contemplating a change to non-clinical work, reflect carefully on the problems you hope to solve, and on lessons learned from your career journey so far. What gives you a sense of meaning and fulfillment?
The greatest challenge in a successful transition to non-clinical work is finding a career that builds upon your clinical background and your unique talents and interests. Outside the Clinic describes some of the major non-clinical career paths available to PAs. Exploring these and other options is both an inner and outer journey of discovery.
While contemplating a career change, I highly recommend reading What Color is Your Parachute, Richard N. Bolles’s life and career guide. It offers a peerless range of self-assessment exercises to unlock answers to the questions that underly a successful career change: what do you really love and enjoy doing; what are your greatest talents; and where is the best setting and context in which to use them? Delving into this rich trove of self-tests may result in a decision to continue with clinical practice, but in a reconfigured way (new specialty, new roles and responsibilities). For other readers, essential clues will be found about fruitful non-clinical directions to pursue in a spirit of positive change.
Step Two: Researching Options
As your ideas about non-clinical options crystallize, the next step is to launch a research campaign. I suggest taking a multi-faceted approach, seeking out information from professional organizations, reading current job listings and descriptions, contacting educational institutions, and exploring online resources.
The goal here is to develop a deeper sense of the realities, opportunities, and challenges of a new field, all the while asking: is this truly a better fit for my needs and interests than clinical practice? Would working in this field address the underlying causes of my career discontent? Other important questions: What are typical salaries and benefit packages? Current demand? Will additional education be required to be a viable job candidate?
Next, you’ll want to connect with peers and potential mentors. Use your LinkedIn profile and personal network to connect with peers currently employed in your area of interest. Consider requesting an informational interview—a brief meeting (half hour or less), treating your contact to coffee or lunch, to ask them well-researched questions about their field. You can also conduct the informational interview by email (be sure to send a thank you note afterwards!). Talk to as many people as you can about a new profession—this is an essential part of the research process.
If you’ve connected well, request to shadow your contact for a day to see what a day in the life of your potential non-clinical career really looks like, and gain more insider insight into the current issues and culture of a new field.
Step Three: Launching Your Job Search
Non-clinical employment job searches are best conducted while employed; current employment offers protection in case your search does not yield immediate success and makes you a more attractive candidate. Depending on your non-clinical job target, update your resume and cover letters to reflect your relevant administrative, advocacy, leadership, educational, technology, business, marketing, communications and other non-clinical accomplishments and skills. Get comfortable talking about why you want to make this change, and why you’ll succeed if given a chance to do so.
Start applying and interviewing, learning from your mistakes and successes. It is prudent to keep your clinical PA options open (license active, certification up to date, working clinically part time) as you venture into the waters of non-clinical work. Many PAs find, after some time away, that the rewards of direct patient care are irreplaceable; for other PAs, the ideal career combines both clinical and non-clinical elements.
For help in any career transition, make sure to visit AAPA’s Career Central. Featuring a wealth of information, including PA JobSource, AAPA’s Salary Report, comprehensive guides for recent graduates and seasoned PAs, and more, you’re sure to find resources and tools that will prepare you for your next position.
Additional Resources
Jennifer Anne Hohman is founder of PA Career Coach, a service designed to help PAs create healthy and rewarding careers. Visit her online at www.pacareercoach.net or email: [email protected].