If you are searching for a new job in health IT, you need to be ready to talk intelligently about your past. For example, if there are job hops and short stints on a resume, a hiring manager will want to know what happened in those situations. Below are some suggestions on how to prepare to handle this, both on your resume and in an interview.
Resume wording
Organizations merge, get acquired or are sold. Make sure that if your company changed hands and you didn’t leave, that you display this correctly in your resume. Keep all of your positions under the latest company name instead of listing separate employers when they really were part of one organization. An example would be:
University Health System, City, State 2008 to present
Regional teaching and research healthcare organization with three community hospitals including Regional Community Hospital and 400 employed physicians.
Vice President and CIO 2010 to present
Reporting to the Corporate CEO and responsible for the IT leadership for all the region healthcare facilities.
CIO (Regional Community Hospital) 2008 to present
Reporting to the Hospital CEO and responsible for the 328-bed community hospital.
In many cases, people leave off prior work history before they moved into healthcare IT jobs thinking it is irrelevant, or because someone told them that job experience from more than 10 years ago is not important. Your entire career narrative is important, so be sure to at least touch on your prior positions. Be ready to describe how you moved into healthcare IT.
An example would be:
Prior work experience
From 1990 to 1998 worked in manufacturing and high tech industries as a Programmer, IT Project Manager and IT Technical Specialist.
U.S. Army Officer from 1988 to 1990, Reserves until 1998.
Interview tips
Before an interview, practice what you will say in regards to, “Why did you leave?” There are many reasons for leaving a position. They don’t always show up on your resume, so you need to explain those transitions. Here are some examples:
- “The organization decided to centralize and my role was eliminated.”
- “My boss left and hired me at his new company.”
- “My position was being relocated to another state and I could not move, so I decided to leave.”
- “I had to commute 80 miles every day and decided to take a local position.”
- “The company laid off their IT staff and decided to outsource.”
- “The organization was being acquired and my role was changing to a lesser role.”
- “I went into independent consulting work because I could not relocate my family.”
- “A family member was ill and I had to move to another state.”
The reasons why you might be considering making a career change are also important. A hiring manager wants to be sure you are interested in their position and in the community. Research the area and have sound reasons for making a change.
Every transition can be another opportunity for you in your career path, but presents challenges as well. Honesty is the best policy, but be ready with clear answers regarding your past job changes.
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