Jumping off a Waterfall & Surviving

My career began over 20 years ago in Nursing School. I have spent the majority of the past 20 years in the healthcare industry - recruitment & staffing being my areas of expertise. I have worked for hospitals and I have worked for third party recruitment firms. I have successfully overseen several start-ups and recruited throughout the USA, Canada, the UK, & the Middle East.

I thought we were bulletproof in healthcare. The nursing shortage and physician shortage - indeed, shortages all throughout healthcare, seemed to guarantee us rhapsodies of placements throughtout the USA and the world. Layoffs that would include healthcare professionals were mythological-proportioned rumors from the 80's.

And yet...here we are. The official number for unemployment is 10.2%. It must be new math because I would say that we are much closer to 20%. The last nine months in Nursing and Physician Recruitment have been long and sad conversations with candidates who could not sell their homes, had been laid off or had a partner laid off and needed a job - months ago.

Hospitals tightened their belts and mid-level Nurse Managers flew out the door. Many of them had worked for the same healthcare system for their entire careers and many had never even had to write a resume. People lost jobs and insurance coverage and hospitals cut back even more - hospital based recruiters were placed on hiring freezes.

I looked at my desk a few months ago and realized that I had stacks of candidates and nowhere to place them. These candidates were ones that I would have begged, borrowed and stolen a year ago to match them with my clients. CNO's, Cardiac & ICU Nurse Managers, OR Managers, Cardiothoracic Surgeons ... the stuff that retained contracts are made up of ... except now.

We are all waiting with bated breath to see what will happen with healthcare reform. Any government involvement in healthcare is going to completely cripple healthcare recruitment. Anyone who sticks it out will deal with a horribly impersonal and bureaucratic behemoth to fill the needs of the hospitals that the government will inevitably gobble up for minimum wages. I know this folks, I lived and recruited in the UK - NHS.

Many of us are finding out if our skills are transferrable and that is what I have been able to take out of the past year. It has been a bit lean but, happily, my skills are not only transferrable but they are needed. Relationship Building reigns supreme as it becomes all about who you know and who your connections know. All the years spent blogging for fun have turned into cash and freelance writing opportunities. Business Development is useful in any sector and my business to business experience has allowed me to build my own niche in this new world.

I have had to take my own advice and look at additional career options while still retaining some of my best clients. And you know what?

It has been a blast!

Applying your skills to a somewhat precarious market place and succeeding is like jumping off a waterfall and not drowning...

You surface with a big grin and a better appreciation of life!