What to do with employer?

[ame2entre]

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I am about to graduate in three weeks (Finally!) and have had some job offers. I am a construction management graduate and have planned on working in that field until I get accepted and start medical school.

My concern is that most companies hiring out of college expect that you will be there for at least a few years (at least that is what they imply as they go over their first-year training program). I am applying this cycle and assuming I get accepted somewhere I won't start until a year from September. This will give me a good year and a half to earn some good $.

If I told an employer my future plans I don't think I would get any job offers. But the nature of the business (it's very cyclical) is that the chances of you being with the company you started with out of college 2 years later is very slim.

I am wondering if any of you, when applying for med school, came across employers that you had to sneak around to interviews, etc... without them knowing and how you dealt with the changes with an employer who expected you to be there as long as they did?

 

[whatintheworld?]

I was honest and upfront when I applied for my current job a couple years ago (which I will be leaving this summer to begin med school), but there is a high turnover rate anyway. They worked with me for all the days off I needed for interviews (even short notice), the MCAT, etc. Perhaps I was lucky though.

 

[UPSPOSI6]

I'm pretty critical when it comes to employers/ jobs/ society.

I promise that your employer cares about #1 the company and #2 the company.

Consider what HR is going to think when they interview you next to another candidate; who do you think will get the job?

Does that answer your question?

 

[menaniac]

I had the same internal debate when I was looking for a new job while I was thinking about going to medical school. For the first round of job interviews, I was very up front when the question "where do you see yourself in 5 years" came up. "In medical school" was evidently NOT the answer of choice. I got zero offers, and these were jobs in offices where the pay was no more than $12 per hour.

The correct answer was, apparently, "I see myself slaving away the next 20 years of my life, for basically no money, right here!". Once I learned this, I got a perfectly fine job (which pays more than $12 an hour too). Its taken me 2 years to be accepted into school, so I gave them a year longer than I though I would. In the meantime, they had a terrific employee for the last 2 years that they wouldn't otherwise have had. They are sad to see me go, but are thrilled for my success. I guess the slight inaccuracy of my original answer that I would be here forever is now forgiven.🙂

My advice...they're looking out for #1 (themselves), so you should be too. If you are a good employee, and do a great job for them, they won't be mad when you leave, even if you did say you'd be there for 50 years. They will be glad to have had you for as long as they did. Believe me, good help really is hard to find!

 

[Sol Rosenberg]

Yeah, just worry about yourself. The company is doing fine without you now, and will be fine without you when you leave in a year.

You may burn a bridge with that company if your medical school/training doesn't work out and you need to go back into your old field, but in addition to the fact that this situation is going to be pretty rare, time also has a habit of healing old "wounds."

Case in point: I COMPLETELY TORCHED a bridge to one company about 5 years ago. I left in the middle of a project (on which I was a key, if not THE key technical contributor) when my employer did something extremely unethical and underhanded (IMHO) to me. I'm sure they burned me in effigy after I left and maybe even considered bombing my car (OK, I doubt that they considered that) but a few weeks ago, I got an unsolicited call from someone there asking if I would consider coming back. I was floored (even though my response was HELL NO!)

That's a worst-case situation. If you go to the job, do your best work and are a productive employee, any hard feelings will fade with time, IMHO. But, I wouldn't be upfront with your short-term ambitions with that company. They aren't looking for that in an employee and will quickly pass you over for the next guy.

 

[MtnGntx]

My father was a brilliantly successful construction managaer and I also went into construction right out of college. In order to succeed financially in construction management you MUST change jobs every 2 years. Every time I did, I got a promotion and a pay raise. Staying in the same position promised a long slow grind of 'more of the same' with no real expectation of movement.

Now, this is a far cry from what my father experienced. He grew up in a time where 30 years with the same company meant something. That world NO LONGER exists. In fact, I watched on the sidelines as my father's experience and wisdom (This is a guy who was directly responsible for an avg of 3 to 4 hundred million of volume annually) was brutally brushed aside for younger, less experienced and lower paid executives. He was cut off from his pension by corporate raiders and put out to pasture by an industry increasingly controlled by investment groups and corporate banking interests. It took many years of legal wrangling to settle much of his financial interests and by that time, they were all but worthless.

My point in all of this is these corporations are self-serving. Even the few family run operations are self-serving. Tell them you have to travel for a sick relative. Tell them you are involved in religious migrations. Tell them that your cat got stuck in a long-haul truck that ended up in Canada and you have to go get him back through customs. Tell them whatever it takes for YOU to be successful at what YOU want to do with your life, because, in my experience, they could CARE LESS about your success and well-being beyond their balance sheet.

Good luck!

 

[Enginerds]

Definitly agree with the above. Companies have no loyalty to their employees, only to their stock price and bottom line. I was in the same situation about 9 months ago. I had already begun a self direct post-bac and was preparing for applying to med school this summer when I was offered an interview for a different job outside the company. At the interview didn't mention that I was taking classes or anything regarding medical school. It is my business what I do outside of work, and it doesn't affect my performance at work to pursue something else outside of work.

Like MtnGnTx said above, most people are going to be moving jobs if they ever want to advance, you wouldn't go into an interview saying that you were planning on leaving in 2 years for anyother job, so going to med school shouldn't be any different.

 

[8744]

Definitly agree with the above. Companies have no loyalty to their employees, only to their stock price and bottom line. I was in the same situation about 9 months ago. I had already begun a self direct post-bac and was preparing for applying to med school this summer when I was offered an interview for a different job outside the company. At the interview didn't mention that I was taking classes or anything regarding medical school. It is my business what I do outside of work, and it doesn't affect my performance at work to pursue something else outside of work.

Like MtnGnTx said above, most people are going to be moving jobs if they ever want to advance, you wouldn't go into an interview saying that you were planning on leaving in 2 years for anyother job, so going to med school shouldn't be any different.

This is absolutely true. Not only have I worked as an engineer for somebody else but I have also had my own engineering firm and the only loyalty in life you should expect is from your wife. Job security is a myth. You have to be enthusiastic to work and give good service for your pay but you also need to understand that at the first sign of trouble for a company, you are going to be on your own. Nobody wants to be like GM which is dragging more retired people on its payroll than actively working.

With that being said, if a stipulation for your employment is that you will be there for at least two years then maybe you are honor-bound to be honest. Otherwise take the job, work hard, make your money, and if you don't get into medical school you will still have a decent and useful job (unless they lay you off before that).

 

[njbmd]

I am about to graduate in three weeks (Finally!) and have had some job offers. I am a construction management graduate and have planned on working in that field until I get accepted and start medical school.

My concern is that most companies hiring out of college expect that you will be there for at least a few years (at least that is what they imply as they go over their first-year training program). I am applying this cycle and assuming I get accepted somewhere I won't start until a year from September. This will give me a good year and a half to earn some good $.

If I told an employer my future plans I don't think I would get any job offers. But the nature of the business (it's very cyclical) is that the chances of you being with the company you started with out of college 2 years later is very slim.

I am wondering if any of you, when applying for med school, came across employers that you had to sneak around to interviews, etc... without them knowing and how you dealt with the changes with an employer who expected you to be there as long as they did?

It sounds like your prospective employer has a high turnover anyway and thus, I would avoid discussing any furture plans. In the best of situations, you would be with the company 1.5 years instead of the normal 2 years, after which, you said your chances of being with the company anyway were very slim.

At this point, you have the education and you are ready to do the job at hand. To discuss anything else other than what you are prepared to do for this company with the company is premature. If it is uncommon to be with a company like this more than 2 years, then interviewing one year later would just be getting a jump on the move that you would be making whether you went to medical school or not.

Let's say you are offered a job, you take it and go through their training program and do an excellent job. Even if you leave after 1.5 years, you have done your job for the company and they have gotten more than their money's worth in having a good employee. If the worse happens and you don't get into medical school, you have a good employment history, a good job and you stay longer.

When asked in an interview what you future plans are, reply that you see yourself working hard and being and extremely good employee. Anything more isn't needed. The only thing that you "owe" any employer is the best work that you can do for the paycheck. You are not marrying this or any other company and your future plans outside the company are your own business. Do what you have to do for your personal advancement and do a good job for the company that hires you. Beyond that, do not discuss your future plans with any employer.

 

[Nombre Falso]

OP,

Worry about yourself. You are #1.

The only concern I would bring up is if you don't have enough LORs. Schools like to see them from places (jobs, volunteering) where you have significant experience but it won't kill your app if you don't have one from this company. I would worry about the interview process when the time comes. You could always quit your job (and get something less time consuming/lower paying) if they won't give you time off.

Good Luck.

 

[Dr Klyph]

When an employer needs to save money what do they do? Layoff maybe?

Like many have said. Look out for yourself. I was fired once for telling my employer my aspirations. Now I keep such things to myself.

They don't care about you and you shouldn't care about them. They look at their bottom line and you need to look at yours... getting into school. It may get tricky come interview time. This is when they found out in my case. It's difficult to take phone calls from schools while at work, yet we all know that schools, for the most part are mostly inflexible, not only with their calling you, but their interview schedule as well.

Good luck!

 

[Rogerswife]

I just wanted to warn you that, even after you get the job, it is absolutely ESSENTIAL that you not let your employers know that you are applying. Like you, I took a year off after undergrad, and I ended up working at a pharmacy making a little more than minimum wage with no benefits (Would never do that again BTW). I had mentioned that I was premed in the interview, but also said that I wasn't sure when I would be starting med school, because I wasn't at all sure that I would get in the first time around. Long story short, it was a small family owned business, and they kept encouraging me to share my life with them, "be a part of the family", etc. However, when I finally told them I had been invited for an interview at a school, THEY FIRED ME AT THE END OF THE WEEK!! They said "You're really smart, so we feel that you'll probably going to get in to medical school, so we're going to have to cut our losses and let you go." Keep in mind, this was only one week after they had given me a raise & told me I was off probation & permanent, so it wasn't that they thought I was incompetent or wasn't good at my job. I ended up NOT getting in that first time (although I did this time around), but as a result of that experience I definitely believe that businesses (even small, locally owned family businesses) will ALWAYS look out for themselves before they care about you. As an aside, they actually had the nerve to tell me as I was sitting there crying because I was just fired for the first time in my life, that this was really hard on THEM!! 👎 Has nothing to do with this topic, but that's messed up!

 

[WisePrincess227]

I'm pretty critical when it comes to employers/ jobs/ society.

I promise that your employer cares about #1 the company and #2 the company.

Consider what HR is going to think when they interview you next to another candidate; who do you think will get the job?

Does that answer your question?

agreed!