Ep #64: How to Find the Best Job for You

Episode 64, How to Find the Best Job for You. 

Welcome to Clinicians Creating Impact, a show for physical therapists, occupational therapists, and speech-language pathologists looking to take the next step in their careers and make a real difference in the lives of their clients. If you’re looking to improve the lives of neurodiverse children and families with neurological-based challenges, grow your own business, or simply show up to help clients, this is the show for you. 

I’m Heather Branscombe, Therapist, Certified Coach, Clinical Director, and Owner of Abilities Neurological Rehabilitation. I have over 25 years of experience in both the public and private sectors, and I’m here to help you become the therapist you want to be, supporting people to work towards their dreams and live their best lives. You ready to dive in? Let’s go. 

Hi there, friend. Happy spring, if you’re listening to this when it first comes out. Or just happy day if you’re listening to this at another time. I just came from having the absolute pleasure of talking to a student who is finishing their clinical placement, where he has been asking me some questions about what I do and my role in the company. 

One question that he asked and I answered and I thought about bringing to you was sharing my perspective on how to find the best job for you. Now first, I love this question because this student, like many students, is entering a job market where it really isn’t an issue to find a job. But he and so many students have the luxury of choice. All of us, I would actually say as clinicians, have the luxury of choice right now in having a position or even going out on our own. 

What I’ve noticed though, is sometimes more choice can actually feel more overwhelming. Because if you think of it from the other perspective, a job is better, obviously, than no job. So when jobs are scarce, you take what you can get and then you make peace with that. When there is a literal buffet of choices, it can feel sometimes overwhelming to pick a job. In a sea of choices, what if you pick the wrong job? And what if you pick a job and then it feels hard? 

So today I want to share with you what I shared with this amazing clinician. So no matter whether you are a new grad, a soon-to-be new grad, or you’re considering a change of position, you can have the tools to find the best fit for you. 

Now, before I start, I want to say that this podcast is a passion project of mine because I want all clinicians to have the ability to use these kinds of tool sets as a way to magnify their impact, even if they never work either alongside us or with us at Abilities. And one way to do that is to spread this message. 

You can help me to do that in a couple of ways. First, if you could please follow, rate, and review this podcast wherever you’re listening to it to help feed that algorithm so that when a clinician just like you is searching for something like this, this podcast will come up. Secondly, if you share this podcast, or better yet, your favorite episode with a colleague, that would be so amazing. 

If you’ve heard this before and you meant to do it, but you haven’t done it yet, that’s okay. Let this be the sign that today is the day that you can help other clinicians. And if this is your first episode, welcome. Thank you so much for listening. And hopefully as you listen, you can decide who of your clinical friends would love to hear more of this kind of information to help them at work. Thank you so much in advance for your action here, and let’s get back to the episode. 

Now, I want to also start by saying when you’re looking for a position, I get it. Listening to me may feel biased, and I am biased. I mean, I am an owner, I am actively trying to hire people. But I also want to share the way that we hire people at Abilities is exactly the way that I like to think about choosing a position. 

So again, even if you never apply or even if you never work at Abilities, I think this can help you. I’ve literally designed our hiring process because in my more than 25 year career, there has never been a time, again, fortunately, that clinical jobs have been super scarce. And also the type of clients that we like to serve here at Abilities means that, of course, turnover is going to be inevitable. People are going to leave their jobs for a variety of reasons. 

We would love for clinicians to self select out for both their benefit, as well as the benefit of the clients before they even start. So one of the things that I’ve really learned is to hire slowly. And I would really advise you as a clinician, unless you have a compelling personal reason, to take your time to decide where you might want to work next. 

As I mentioned in the last episode on listening, I have found that time and space really does allow that higher part of our brain to engage. So let’s give yourself the time and the space to help you listen to your own instincts on which job will be the best fit for you. 

Now, again, I know that we’re not unique in this way, but at Abilities, we hire first for fit. It’s really first and foremost. And I would invite you to think about choosing a job based on fit also. At Abilities, we start with a casual conversation, with most clinicians it’s with me, about what you’re looking for and allow you to learn more about what we are looking for in a colleague. 

So fit can be as broad as clinical, professional mentoring, and specific as the days and the hours you actually want to work. So I also like to invite people to think about their actual ideal scenario. What would their ideal dream job look like? So whether or not your prospective employer asks that kind of question, I would say it’s a great idea to think about that for yourself. 

And some ways that you can help to answer that question is to notice the kind of work environments you’ve liked, and which you haven’t liked, and then to ask yourself why. You can ask yourself questions like, how do you want to be compensated in your ideal world and why? Where do you think you would like to be next in your clinical career in five to 10 years and why? 

Notice I keep saying that why, the why is more important, actually, even than the specifics because you may be able to replicate that why in a different environment in a slightly different way. The more honest that you can be with yourself about the values, the environment, and any specifics you want in a position, the easier it is for you to decide if a given opportunity meets those needs. 

And while there may not be an ideal great fit out there, it is a great way for you to evaluate the opportunities that you have based on the criteria that is most important to you. 

Second, I would always see if you can do some kind of independent investigative work on your end before going into any kind of final interview. Can you do a visit to visit the opportunity that you’re looking at? Or talk to somebody who works there, who isn’t your potential employer or your potential supervisor, so that you can get a little bit more real and an honest understanding of what it’s actually like to work with. 

I invite you to check the Google reviews and see if they have any reviews on Indeed. Check on how they have responded to the positive reviews and the negative reviews. Before you try to sell yourself, be sure that this is actually a place that you want to sell yourself with. Be sure that it’s a place that you actually may want to work with. Find out what the compensation options are and what is and isn’t negotiable. Then talk to someone else who’s currently working there and verify what you think the opportunity fits or doesn’t fit for you. 

Whether the organization provides you with the people that you need, or you might need to do a little bit of internet sleuthing on yourself through LinkedIn or some other kind of social media platform, make sure ultimately that you can get some less biased understanding of the opportunity that you may be selling yourself for in any kind of potential interview. 

Now, I know at Abilities, we offer a variety of ways to do that, and I found that it really does help on both sides to understand the position or the opportunity that you’re signing up for. I would say that a good organization will understand that and will help you to do that, but of course I could be biased because obviously that’s what we do. 

Finally, as you talk to organizations and people, I would say listen and trust your gut. I say listen to your gut because especially as you decide in advance what is a good fit and you look for that fit, the truth is there may actually be more than one opportunity that could be a good fit. So listening to your gut helps you to confirm that fit. And then trusting your gut gives you something to say to your brain if you end up second-guessing yourself after you accept a position. 

I want to offer the worst thing that can happen if you find that it isn’t a good fit long-term, it can be an amazing opportunity for you to have that self-reflection and to find out why. And I have a couple of episodes about that, which include episode 17, When It’s Time to Quit, and episode 59, Do This Before You Decide To Quit, so that eventually if you do choose to move on, you can use that information for a more informed choice moving forward. 

You’ll have a better understanding of what a good fit currently looks like for you, knowing that it can and it probably will change over time, and that you will make a selection or even remake the same selection that you have that better fits your needs in the moment. 

So give that all a try and let me know how it goes. And if you are looking for a position that matches what we’re looking for, reach out to me. Of course I want you to reach out to me. I want you to find the position that fits you best, even if it’s not at Abilities. So yes, of course I am busy, but I am not too busy to talk to you. You can always email me at heather@abilitiesrehabilitation.com. With that, have an amazing week and I will talk to you soon.

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Thanks for joining me this week on the Clinicians Creating Impact podcast. Want to learn more about the work I’m doing with Abilities Rehabilitation? Head on over to abilitiesrehabilitation.com. See you next week.