While health information is a rapidly growing field, finding the right entry-level position can be a challenge in any profession. The difficulty often lies not in acquiring the necessary skills or credentials, but rather integrating yourself into the professional community. To become a health information management (HIM) or health informatics professional, you'll have to think like one, and work with the collaborative nature of the industry.
Volunteer
Volunteer at a hospital, physician's office, or other facility where you'd like to work. Think of volunteering as a way to help patients and demonstrate your commitment to health information in a low-pressure environment. By volunteering, you'll build your network from within, and will increase your chances of being notified about job vacancies.
Job Shadow
HIM curricula and internships are designed to expose students to a range of opportunities and job settings. Once you've established a professional relationship with someone in health information, ask to shadow them for a day. Gain a perspective that can't be taught in a classroom or through intern experience. As a natural next step after an informational interview, job shadowing can be a great way to observe intangibles, like culture.
Join a Professional Association
Joining AHIMA's professional association automatically extends your potential network by the thousands. By attending local chapter meetings, students can have several informal "interviews" with established professionals and recent grads. Associations like AHIMA offer students the resources to turn knowledge and connections into opportunities. Best of all, most professional associations extend discounted membership offers to students.
Network
Estimates reveal that 70 to 80 percent of jobs are obtained through networking. Networking does not involve directly asking for a job, but rather developing a broad list of contacts and professional relationships within a given occupation.
In most areas,health information is a tight-knit field. Ask your professors, friends, or mentors if they can introduce you to someone in your area of interest. Most are happy to oblige and genuinely want to see students succeed.
Find others with similar career goals online through AHIMA's Communities of Practice & or sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook. Offline, attend professional association meetings to stay current and become a true part of the health information sphere.
Cast a Wide Net
Since employers prefer to hire from within, don't rely exclusively on Internet job postings. Find industry-specific job boards (such as AHIMA's Career Assist: Job Bank). Work with a healthcare recruiter, leverage your network, and attend virtual and real-world job fairs. By spending too much time on any job search method, you'll miss valuable opportunities.
Translate Prior Experience
Past experience is as relevant as you make it. Just as health information bridges departments and professions, entry-level job seekers should illustrate the connection between past experience and future performance. If you worked in a retail store as a student, for example, you likely learned problem-solving and attention to detail. Playing on a sports team or leading a club requires flexibility, leadership, and listening skills. Make the connection for employers and professionals, carving out a niche and defining your potential role at an organization.
Show Your Personality and Passion
Don't be afraid to convey what sets you apart, either in person or through your resume and cover letter. If you have a compelling story concerning why you chose health information or internship experience, share it when speaking with professionals or during interviews. Demonstrate your passion for health information by joining the conversation and treating your job search as seriously as you would your future job.
All members should take time to mentor. Don't think that your time is so valuable that you can't invest it in the next generation of HIM professionals!
-Patience Hoag, RHIT, CHCA, CCS, CCS-P, CPHQ
Do you need help landing your first job or advancing your career? As a member of AHIMA, you belong to a community of more than 67,000 health information management (HIM) professionals and industry leaders and they are here to help. Take advantage of the AHIMA mentor program to be paired with experienced mentors who can answer your questions, provide insight, and offer guidance about advancing your career in HIM. Please complete the appropriate form listed below, and email the completed copy to Erin Duvic to be assigned a mentor. Don't miss out and request your mentor today!
Click here to access the AHIMA Mentee Form
Guidelines for suggested mentor activities include:
- Schedule regular meetings between mentors and mentees either via phone or in person (if local) at least four times per year, perhaps more regularly in beginning of the relationship.
- Help set realistic professional goals.
- Complete the worksheets in “You're the Boss: Put your AHIMA Membership to Work” and discuss.
- Discuss benefits of certification with mentee (why get certified, how to get started, etc.)
- Participate in a day of job shadowing with you.
If you want to become an AHIMA mentor and share your knowledge with the next generation of HIM leaders, please complete the form listed below and return it to Erin Duvic She'll add you to our mentor list. Thanks for helping make a difference!
Click here to access the AHIMA Mentor Form
*AHIMA does not warrant, and hereby disclaims, the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, or merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose of the information provided by AHIMA Mentor participants. In no event shall AHIMA be liable for any decision made or action taken by you in reliance on such information. AHIMA does not, in any way, guarantee the quality of services AHIMA Mentors provide, or the availability of such services. Nor shall AHIMA be liable for any damages, including direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or any other type of damages, arising out of the use of the AHIMA Mentor program, even if AHIMA has been advised of the possibility of such damages.
AHIMA’s Career Prep Webinars are an excellent tool you can utilize when starting a job search, or honing your professional development skills. These member’s only webinars provide tips on preparing for a job search, how to create an impressive resume, and how to use social media to your benefit, among many other things. Many of these also include worksheets with more information that you can fill out while listening. The current topic offerings are:
- Five Steps for Interviews that Rock!
- From First Job to Career Success
- The Write Way to Get a Job
- Advice from Recent Graduates – Navigating the Job Search
- Are You LinkedIn for Career Success
- Resumes for Results: Get that Interview!
Get access to all of these sessions here, but as a reminder, you must be an AHIMA member. Join today!