Are you interested in making a career change from healthcare, but are terrified of making a mistake? Do you feel so scared of getting it wrong that you end up doing nothing? This is generally a sign that you are living in a fixed mindset.
In today’s episode, our guest Julie Stroup a trained SLP, share’s her growth mindset approach to careers and how she believes “if it doesn’t work for you, you can change it.”.
In this episode you will learn:
- How to take a more playful and experimental approach to your career, so you aren’t paralyzed by fear of making a mistake.
- The importance of doing the inner work when making a career change, and what that even means.
- How to recognize early signs of burnout and what to do about it.
This episode is a wonderfully candid conversation about the ups and downs of finding a career that works for you. I’m so excited for you to tune in.
Use the audio player above to listen, or tune in on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Covid Times Caused Her Career Change From Healthcare
Julie was a speech therapist for almost 10 years before she decided to make a career change from healthcare. This shift came when covid started because owning a business and being a speech therapist during the latter half of 2020 was such a challenge.
There was a lot of stress involved and Julie knew that something needed to be different. However, at first, she didn’t see a clear-cut path to exiting healthcare. As a rehab professional, specifically in speech pathology, she initially felt pigeonholed.
How to open up your mindset to explore other career options
If you want to make a career change in healthcare you have to open up your mindset. You have to know that there are other options out there for you as a healthcare professional.
You are not your job and you are not your position. Sometimes we can get so wrapped up in HealthCare that we forget there is so much else out there. When looking for a career outside of healthcare it’s so important to think outside the box a bit and realize how many of your skills are transferrable.
Transferrable Skills Can Help Your Career Change From Healthcare
As a healthcare professional you have so many transferrable skills. Understanding this can help you successfully make a career change in healthcare.
As an SLP you are not just helping kids speak better, you are also working with people, you are charting, and you can manage a caseload. There is so much more involved with it than just that one specific skill set.
You can dissect and break down the components of the different things you do each day to start identifying your transferrable skills. It’s also helpful to realize that you’re not just this one profession, there are other facets of you.
Transitioning Into Healthcare Tech
Julie initially did a career change from healthcare to healthcare tech. To get started with this transition she first looked on LinkedIn. She used keywords like coordinator and director and also decided that she wanted to work from home.
Julie did not look up any jobs related to speech-language pathology with the exception of healthcare. She worked on her cover letter and resume with the help of her friends and her therapist. It was truly a collaborative effort.
She had to do a lot of work on her mindset and getting out of her comfort zone. Something else that helped her make the transition was her parent’s perspective on careers. Growing up, she learned from her parents to have a more experimental and growth mindset with her career. They taught her that “you can do this” and “if doesn’t work for you, you can change it”.
Making a Career Change From Healthcare Requires Inner Work
After getting the job in healthcare tech, Julie knew that it wasn’t going to fix all her problems. The job was a great stepping stone to help her get out of direct patient care and start to recover from burnout, however, it wasn’t her ultimate end goal.
Working as an SLP was all-purpose and advocacy, but a horrible lifestyle that wasn’t sustainable. Working in healthcare tech was a much better lifestyle, but felt like it was lacking a purpose. When making a career change from healthcare, she didn’t want to lose her purpose.
She knew she needed to do some of the inner work of career fulfillment in a more structured and guided way. Normally, she is someone who enjoys reading self-help books and learning about psychology. She needed to be part of a program to help her feel like she was not alone while doing the work of career fulfillment.
How to recognize you’re burnt out
How do you know that making a career change from healthcare is right for you? It comes down to recognizing when you are going through burnout. Whenever you feel it and you know something is not right you have to be honest with yourself.
Sometimes that means staying a little bit longer in your bed or sitting in your car a little longer before you go into the office. If you feel a lot of resentment or dissociation, that’s a sign. It’s a feeling that you know you are not in a good place and it becomes heavier.
These are signs that you are going through burnout and it’s ok to acknowledge it and talk about it.
