Feeling Stuck - Want Experience, But Can't Get Job in HC...

[Gauss44]

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Any pre-meds on here (or past pre-meds) that have had the problem of wanting to get experience working with patients, being a scribe, or doing research prior to applying to medical school, but after months or years on end of applying to every single job you can find, got nowhere (despite having professionals review your resume, etc. and getting positive feedback)?

If it's not possible to get a job in the healthcare field, what else can one do to get a favorable mark on the inevitable interview question of, "What did you do since you graduated?"

Would it help to get a certification? Do you know of some sort of quick (<1 year) program that would make one very eligible for jobs in healthcare that would be relevant for a medical school applicant?

Thinking about EMT training, but I don't drive, no drivers license.

 

[Eccesignum]

There's nothing low level in healthcare that will be "relevant" in the sense that it'll teach you any medicine (or give you massive app points). Whatever you're doing job-wise now, there's no reason to stop doing it to grab a very short stint in paid healthcare. "Paying my rent" is a perfectly valid aspect of a "What have you been doing?" answer for adults with responsibilities.

If you just want to see the environment, phlebotomy and CNA have relatively short training periods. However they also pay poorly, and CNA in particular is a rough gig. You need to want to be doing what you're doing and not just there because it might look good later.

Clinical exposure can be gotten just as easily through volunteering. Hospice, nursing homes, camps for sick kids, etc. Volunteermatch.org has an entire health and medical category for untrained volunteers, if you live in a relatively populated area.

 

[futuremdforme]

Any pre-meds on here (or past pre-meds) that have had the problem of wanting to get experience working with patients, being a scribe, or doing research prior to applying to medical school, but after months or years on end of applying to every single job you can find, got nowhere (despite having professionals review your resume, etc. and getting positive feedback)?

If it's not possible to get a job in the healthcare field, what else can one do to get a favorable mark on the inevitable interview question of, "What did you do since you graduated?"

Would it help to get a certification? Do you know of some sort of quick (<1 year) program that would make one very eligible for jobs in healthcare that would be relevant for a medical school applicant?

Thinking about EMT training, but I don't drive, no drivers license.

Sending resumes off into space isn't a great way to get a job. Introductions, warm referrals, etc are much better. Any way you can volunteer somewhere and try to get a job that way?

Side note: many med schools will require you to drive so if learning to drive and getting a license is possible, I would do that while you have free time.

 

[Goro]

Nursing or retirement homes!

Any pre-meds on here (or past pre-meds) that have had the problem of wanting to get experience working with patients, being a scribe, or doing research prior to applying to medical school, but after months or years on end of applying to every single job you can find, got nowhere (despite having professionals review your resume, etc. and getting positive feedback)?

If it's not possible to get a job in the healthcare field, what else can one do to get a favorable mark on the inevitable interview question of, "What did you do since you graduated?"

Would it help to get a certification? Do you know of some sort of quick (<1 year) program that would make one very eligible for jobs in healthcare that would be relevant for a medical school applicant?

Thinking about EMT training, but I don't drive, no drivers license.

 

[FCMike11]

If I was not already a nurse, would have definitely pushed for a scribe job. You get close contact with a doctor, and certification doesnt seem to be lengthy either.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using SDN mobile

 

[DrBelle]

If I was not already a nurse, would have definitely pushed for a scribe job. You get close contact with a doctor, and certification doesnt seem to be lengthy either.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using SDN mobile

I second this. Before I got accepted into nursing school, after all my research, becoming a scribe seemed like a fantastic way to go. Find out if your local school or hospital uses these. Around my school's hospital, it was a relatively new program but that program paid for your expenses to fly out and get trained. The experience you get from shadowing a doc and writing those notes? fantastic. The CNA thing is also a way to go but its not easy at all

 

[Gauss44]

I second this. Before I got accepted into nursing school, after all my research, becoming a scribe seemed like a fantastic way to go. Find out if your local school or hospital uses these. Around my school's hospital, it was a relatively new program but that program paid for your expenses to fly out and get trained. The experience you get from shadowing a doc and writing those notes? fantastic. The CNA thing is also a way to go but its not easy at all

Already applied to Scribe America last year. Interview went okay. Guy I interviewed with forwarded my resume to a few hospitals with no results. Do you think I should apply again? Is there another good scribe company I should apply to as well?

Scribe jobs can be hard to get. Are you aware of any clinical position that is easier to obtain?

 

[DoctressM]

Dear OP: Do you have time to volunteer? VOLUNTEER. If you commit to one clinical, one non clinical thing and do it for a long time it looks good in your app.
I had a similar issue, and even though I was offered medical assistant jobs, which would give me exposure, I could not justify the $5 drop in salary. Scribe jobs are really hard to land not all doctors use scribes, mostly ER doctors do. I started looking for work in either a medical setting or research in November and must have gone to about 50 interviews until landing a job in Research in May. So my personal recommendation is keep your job, pay your rent and then get exposure from volunteering a few hours a week long term.