5 Physician Career Mistakes

THIS ARTICLE PROVIDED BY DON DECAMP, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, COMPHEALTH

In a Hot Job Market, It’s Easier Than Ever to Get Burned
It is the best of times, it is the worst of times: Jobs for healthcare professionals are plentiful, and salaries are up, but in this flourishing job market you may be tempted to make your worst career mistake ever.

To further paraphrase Dickens, it is the age of wisdom, it is the age of foolishness: Even the most successful healthcare professionals are making costly misjudgments about their careers.

For physicians seeking challenging and lucrative opportunities, the times couldn't be much better. Rapid changes in medical technology and the aging baby boomer generation have created a rising demand for skilled physicians.

Since there are so many opportunities and so many potentially seductive offers, today’s physicians can make a lot of career mistakes. Now more than ever, career management should be their primary concern. As hard as it may be, physicians have to resist the lure of short-term gratification for the long-term goal of a successful, fulfilling career.

I've identified five major career mistakes that physicians typically make:

Mistake #1: Not taking responsibility for your own career
In healthcare or in any industry, a well-thought-out career plan often gets left behind when times are good. Like all good plans, it should include strategies and tactics that will help you meet your goals, and your tactics should include an action plan.

Today, your career is your responsibility. Long gone are the days of career security, hospital/healthcare organization career planning, and clear-cut career paths. Don't be fooled into thinking your organization will help you with career management.

The key to a successful healthcare career is to have a plan that will help you attain the highest skills in your chosen specialty. Without career self-management, you stand a greater chance of losing your way and a greater likelihood of being downsized out of a job by your organization, even in a booming healthcare market.

Mistake #2: Chasing dollars instead of learning opportunities
It's very difficult to stick to a career-management plan in today's economy. It's easier to just say, "Show me the money." There is an old adage that says, "Make hay while the sun shines." This may be a good strategy for a farmer, but it could be the downfall of a healthcare professional.

While compensation is important, it shouldn't drive your career. You may find higher salaries using your medical training for more commercial purposes outside of actual practice. However, like most healthcare professionals, you probably went into the medical industry to help people and to enjoy a rewarding career of life-long learning with opportunities for professional and personal growth. For this reason, you'll be far better off in the long run by making decisions and taking actions based on long-term goals and interests, rather than compensation.

Mistake #3: Improper assessment of skill level or interests
Career management begins with self-assessment. What are your strengths and weaknesses? What are your work interests? And here's one of the most important questions: Where do you want to be in five years?

There are self-assessment tools, such as the Keirsery Temperament Sorter, www.keirsey.com, or the Career Search MAP, www.hr2000.com, that can help you evaluate skill levels and strengths. Most of these are also available through your local university or medical school. Aside from analyzing your clinical skills, you'll want to ask yourself what tasks you enjoy doing the most. For example, do you like research better than working with familiar patients and staff? If you're an excellent clinician and don't want to leave research behind, you may discover that you're not interested in a practice type of career path. Self-assessment tools not only help physicians of all kinds gain insight into their interests, but they also highlight skills that need improvement.

Another good way to gauge your interests is to look at your hobbies. What do you enjoy doing outside of work? You just might be able to put those Little League coaching skills to good use teaching in an academic hospital, for example.

Mistake #4: Choosing the wrong career track
It's critically important for your long-term career success that you build a solid foundation of clinical experience first. Even if you later decide to move into practice management, teaching, consulting, or perhaps become an entrepreneur and start your own practice, your foundation should be rooted in as broad a knowledge base as possible.

Should you decide to stay on a clinical track, keep up with the latest and greatest clinical skills. You may need to research the hottest technologies and then work toward attaining these skills—CME credits can be earned either on the job, outside of work, and even online.

What are you doing today to prepare for a career move into another area? This doesn't necessarily mean going back to school. No matter what type of healthcare organization or practice setting you are currently in, you should be able to find new opportunities in your current job. If you want to move into practice management, the teaching track, or if your goal is to do consulting, ask what resources your organization provides to help you reach your goals.

Mistake #5: Changing tracks before acquiring the needed skills
Hot growth markets make for a lot of career movement. Promotions and career changes are the norm. Before you decide to accept the next offer or your next promotion, ask yourself: Do I have the skills I'll need to be successful? Will I have the support I need? Will this position provide the training I need? Is my clinical foundation broad enough? If you're moving out of a purely clinical track, are you willing to forgo having the latest and greatest technical skills?

Prepare like the dickens
Avoiding these five pitfalls takes careful career management. As your career choices heat up, prepare for your next move by making plans now. Begin with self-assessment. Then make choices based on your skills and what you enjoy doing. Remember that any track you decide on is good--whether it's clinical, managerial, entrepreneurial, consulting, or teaching--as long as it's where you'll be happiest and therefore most successful. So don't just pick the "success" track of the moment. As Dickens would have said, it will be a far, far better thing you do than you have ever done, and a far, far better place you go than you have ever been.

Don DeCamp is chief operating officer at CompHealth Inc. He has more than 20 years experience in the professional staffing industry at companies including Romac International Inc. and Dunhill Staffing Systems.

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