Job Search Strategies for Healthcare Professionals

Being on the job search can be stressful and taxing, especially if you are currently unemployed. Knowing what resources are available to you will be the best way to put yourself out there for those offers to start coming in. We recommend making use of these four strategies to maximize your exposure and help you put together the perfect strategy.

Networking

You’ve probably heard this one a million times over, but for good reason. Some experts say that about 70% of people ended up in their current roles due to networking. While others show that number closer to 85%. Networking allows you to talk to people directly in the field to learn about current or upcoming opportunities. Many of which are “hidden opportunities” that never get posted to the public.

Start with the people you already know and ask them to connect you to someone in your line of interest. Talk with them, then ask that person to connect you with someone else, and so on and so forth. Managers are typically interested in hiring reliable people that they can depend on. So if you’re able to network your way into the department of your liking, the chances of you landing a role goes up significantly. With those types of odds, it makes sense that networking with people in your field is the stronger approach to take when searching for a job.

Targeted Research

This one sounds pretty straight forward, but you’d be surprised how broad your job search strategy can end up being. The key is to narrow down your focus to organizations you would like to work for and then network and apply from there. Do you want to work for a hospital or hospital system? Or would you prefer to work for a health plan? Maybe you’re more interested in non-profit work, or even a traveling role.

Knowing what you’re looking for will make your search more targeted allowing you to sift through everything else that’s not your ideal fit. This also allows you to be more proactive and reach out to your organizations of interest to network, whether they have a position open or not. That way when a position does become available. And you’ve maintained communication with your contact there. They’ll likely reach out to you about applying for the position, increasing your chances of securing it.

Professional Associations

If you’re not already in a professional association or at least following one, it’s time to do that now. These organizations are extremely helpful for the job search process because they are networking breeding grounds. This is a great way to meet other professionals who are in the same field and get to know more about the work that they do. You might find that from meeting many different people that you’re interested in roles you didn’t originally think you would like and maybe not as interested in roles that you thought you would like.

Many associations also have a career section on their websites where they post job announcements or tips and tricks relevant to your specific field. They may even have a newsletter that you can sign up for where you can get these types of announcements right to your inbox.

Ultimately, networking in a space that is concentrated with people who are in your line of work will give you a much better understanding of all the options that are available to you and allow you to better target your job search. 

Career Fairs

Ready to meet with a recruiter directly? Well, career fairs are the place for you. Careers fairs are a great opportunity to meet many different recruiters all in the same place at the same time. The best part about these events is that the organizations there typically are actively looking to hire people.

Think of this as you would an in-person informational interview but with a recruiter, so it’s best to prepare ahead of time and do your research so you can communicate your strong candidacy.

Recruiters have to talk to many people throughout the day so you’ll need to have an elevator pitch ready, resume printer, and business cards ready to go. If a job doesn’t come out of it immediately, you can rest assured knowing you walked away with contacts and expanded your network, just be sure to keep with the people you met. 

Thankfully there are a lot of options at your disposal. Our recommendation would be to incorporate all four strategies into your job search so you can cover more ground.

Having a strategy in place will also help curb some of the stress that comes up. Rest assured knowing that if you’re putting in the work with these strategies, it’s only a matter of time before some offers start falling in your lap. Good luck to you on the job search!

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