Career Planning
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Defining the Ideal Position
Why Bother?
It’s often said that if you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there. You’ve already dedicated countless hours to your training, and finally YOU get to decide your next move.
There is a lot to consider, and the only way to know which road to take is to know exactly where you want to end up.
Once you have your ideal position defined, even partially, you will begin to eliminate certain routes, and others will become more clear.
It’s often said that if you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there. You’ve already dedicated countless hours to your training, and finally YOU get to decide your next move.
There is a lot to consider, and the only way to know which road to take is to know exactly where you want to end up.
Once you have your ideal position defined, even partially, you will begin to eliminate certain routes, and others will become more clear.
Defining your ideal position helps you to achieve the following:
1. Identifying What You Want
Knowing your ideal position will allow you to narrow your search by filtering the various opportunities and practices to those most likely to meet your needs.
Is high compensation or a flexible schedule the more critical factor? Perhaps local community and work-life balance are high priorities. Your practice preferences will dictate the location, practice type, and group dynamics you need to look for.
The questions on the subsequent pages will help you think broadly about all of the aspects to consider.
2. Narrowing Your Choices
Fortunately for our field, there are many positions available to you, each with a unique work environment and group culture.
Narrowing down your choices will be an important aspect of your search and long-term career success. Sometimes figuring out what you want is best attained by quickly eliminating what you don’t want.
3. Knowing Your Deal Breakers
Everyone has a few absolute non-starters. Perhaps you know that solo practice is not for you. Or maybe you can’t fathom living somewhere not close to the mountains (like me!).
Maybe you don’t intend to work nights, weekends, or holidays…good luck with that one. If you know your deal breakers then completing step 2, “Narrowing Your Choices,” gets a lot easier.
4. Decreasing Wasted Time
Time is precious both for you and the programs looking for neonatologists. Defining your ideal position allows you to focus your limited time and decreases the chances of going down dead-end paths.
5. Increasing Your Chances of Finding It
While the perfect position may be a unicorn, the more prepared you are, the greater the likelihood that you just may find it.
