Career Planning
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Defining Your Ideal Position
Secure the Right Mentors
Establishing one or more mentors will be critical to your success in fellowship.
Not only are you required to identify a mentor for your research, but you will also benefit from having a “coach” to help guide your clinical work and other key aspects of your career progression.
Establishing one or more mentors will be critical to your success in fellowship. Not only are you required to identify a mentor for your research, but you will also benefit from having a “coach” to help guide your clinical work and other key aspects of your career progression.
Why do you need mentors?
These are people that have been there and done that. They’ve been around the block a few times. What challenges did they surmount? How can they help you avoid pitfalls and further your success and that of our field?
Your mentors should be invaluable resources for advice, guidance, support, and lessons learned. They are your sounding board for creative thoughts and ideas.
They are also a support system for doubt, uncertainty, fear, frustration, or any challenging aspects you encounter during your fellowship. Lean on them to discuss challenges and share concerns. This support structure is important in a high-stakes field like Neonatology.
Don’t underestimate that impact that your career may have on your mental health ability to cope with both professional and personal stressors.
Simply put, you need people to turn to when you need advice.
What purposes should they serve?
A mentor should be chosen to serve and support you in various aspects of your training and will likely become an important relationship well beyond your fellowship. It is common for mentors established in your training years to serve you throughout your career. As you review this list, consider your own needs and refer to them often.
Plan to assess the strength of your network and effectiveness of your mentors often to ensure you are being fully supported during training and even later in your career.
Research Guidance
You’ll need someone to support your desired area of research and to help you build your skills as a clinical investigator. Fellowship programs are usually well-versed in getting you connected with the experts in your area of interest.
As you progress in your fellowship, however, you may wish to explore other aspects of research or new skills you want to develop. For some, research may not be a good fit for their long-range career plans. It may be necessary to identify others who can help with non-academic career questions and options.
Aside from your research work and the mentorship you will need to support your project, consider others who can help you identify what you eventually want from your career. It is okay to go beyond the basic expectations of your structured program and the mentorship requirements you have to meet.
Clinical Skill Development
Honing your clinical skills is one of, if not THE, most critical objectives of fellowship. All of your attendings, peers, NNPs, and bedside staff will be a part of the process. You will learn from them all.
You will likely find, however, that as your confidence and skills grow, you will tend to gravitate towards certain approaches over others. Those whose practice styles you emulate will often become either formal or informal mentors.
Use them to provide perspective on your management approaches and to support your mental debrief of clinical situations encountered. A good mentor will challenge you, as well as help build your confidence from your experiences.
Effectively Teaching Others
At this point in your training, you’re well-versed in the “see one, do one, teach one” philosophy, and you’ve likely had multiple responsibilities related to teaching your peers, junior residents, medical students and staff.
Many fellows report that teaching is one of the aspects of training that they enjoy the most. It does, however, take a certain skill set to be able to teach effectively and efficiently. Look for a mentor who does this well, and learn from them.
You will also find that teaching parents and family members is a continual need. Teaching those without a formal medical background can sometimes be difficult, since we have to give up our usual lexicon of complicated, multisyllable words and acronyms and communicate in lay terms and across multiple different education levels.
Seek out a mentor who can teach you how to effectively do this. It is a talent that provides immense value to our mission.
Supporting Non-Clinical Professional Interests
It might be hard to imagine now, but you will start to gravitate towards things other than the purely clinical aspects of our profession.
This could be quality improvement work, clinical informatics, patient advocacy, or formal leadership roles. There are a myriad of options, and many find that honing this type of “niche” is a fulfilling change from the usual patient care responsibilities.
When you start to identify a certain passion for professional work beyond the bedside, identify people with whom to explore these options.
Career Planning
The most important role of your mentor is to help guide and provide support for your post-fellowship job planning. They should be able to assist with the actual job search as well as help you identify in what settings you are most likely to thrive.
If you are at all interested in non-academic practices, a mentor will be especially helpful to learn about options other than academic programs. Keep in mind that you may find your ideal mentor outside of your academic center.
How many mentors do I need?
The short answer: As many as you need to get the information and support you are seeking.
The practical answer: A handful if you can find them. The work will largely be on you to secure the support you need to be successful in not only your training but your career as a whole.
Aside from the required mentors for your program, you will need to network and reach out.
Where do you find them?
You will have access to many potential mentors within your training facility. However, don’t overlook the importance of reaching beyond your institution for different perspectives.
Go to conferences, connect with others. Talk to the speakers, join local or national committee positions such as state medical societies, AAP state chapters, or AAP Perinatal Section opportunities such as TECaN. Establish relationships. Use your time to build rapport and connect with people.
