The world of medicine is as big and varied as Planet Earth itself and offers more specialist roles than the end credits to Blade Runner 2049.
This means when it comes to choosing your own medical specialty, the real difficulty is exploring the sheer, bewildering variety of roles on offer and then deciding which one really could be perfect for you.
While there’s no cure-all answer for everyone, we do have some top tips to help you.
It’s also all about you
While your vocation is going to be all about the people you care for, how you do this must begin by examining your own personality – and meeting its needs.
So take time out to ask yourself what you really want for your life, then identify career options that will support these ambitions.
Asking yourself which professional choices would best match your interests and values will help guide you closer to your goal.
Be honest with yourself
Recognising your skills – and acknowledging those you don’t have – means you can play to your strengths. This will not only provide the best service for patients, it will also bring you the most job satisfaction.
That’s not to say you shouldn’t set yourself challenges. Healthcare is a sector that evolves every day and to be your best you must upskill and evolve too.
Your lifestyle matters
Ask any medical worker whether they have the ideal work-life balance and we can guarantee the answer will be no. Then again, they also recognise the fact they didn’t get into medicine and health care for a cushy number.
There are, however, flexible training and working options that might better match your own lifestyle – so investigate these.
Perhaps you have a young family where the on-call commitment for different specialties would be a major consideration?
Seek advice from the pros
No academic textbook or job description can ever fully prepare you, but talking to peers and practitioners with years of experience is a great way to hear the personal tales of ‘life in the field’.
Listening to both the upsides and the downsides of a specialist job will offer a more rounded view and help you decide if the balance is right for your own character and aspirations.
For a wide range of specialist vacancies in Medicine and Health Care visit s1jobs.