Life After Completing a Medical Assistant Program

Looking for your first job after a medical assistant program is an exciting adventure.

Finally, you have the opportunity to show your newfound skills and credentials to the kind of employers who value them. With focus, dedication, and a little basic job search knowledge, you’ll be on your way to starting the satisfying medical career you’ve always wanted.

A job search can seem overwhelming. Still, it becomes much easier when you do things one step at a time. Looking for a job only becomes easier as you gain more experience. Your marketable skills in an in-demand industry give you a tremendous advantage.

Here’s how to get started:

1. Get Acquainted with Local Employers

Medical assistants may work anywhere from a large hospital to a small private practice. By running a simple search on medical facilities near you, you’ll find information on workplaces that may be a good fit. From there, you can check to see if there are any current job openings.

2. Set Up Alerts for New Jobs

Hiring often happens in cycles, and it may be the case there are no medical assistant jobs posted right away. That’s okay! Open up a new email account on a service like Google you can use to receive email alerts when new jobs are posted. A job board like Indeed is your best bet.

3. Get Professional on Social Media

Employers want to know they are dealing with conscientious, mature medical assistants. They will often search for you on social media platforms when they consider your application. With that in mind, it’s a good idea to be mindful of what you post online.

In the medical field and certain other prestigious industries, many professionals choose to start a new social media presence, particularly on LinkedIn and Twitter. A polished LinkedIn account can serve as a great lead-in to your resume or professional website.

4. Update Your Resume

Speaking of your resume, you’ll need to write one before you can apply to any jobs! Many new grads from a medical assistant program do not have any professional experience, but that’s okay. You can still make a great impression and motivate a call for the interview.

Remember there are two sides to the coin of being a medical assistant: Clerical skills and clinical skills. You’ve gained valuable insights that distinguish you from other jobseekers. Your resume makes the breadth of that experience clear.

Make sure your resume includes:

Clinical

• A full list of the patient-facing activities and documentation you can help with.
• Any volunteering experience you hold in a hospital or other healthcare setting.
• Involvement in groups such as the American Association of Medical Assistants.

Clerical

• Any skills you have in Electronic Healthcare Records systems like MediTouch.
• Experience with medical billing, medical coding, or other medical data entry.
• Any internships, externships, or job shadowing you performed in healthcare.

5. Start Preparing for an Interview

Remember, memorizing the exact wording of responses to job interview questions will probably trip you up. You need to be able to respond in a professional, yet fluid manner to the questions you receive. The best way to do this is to research the employer.

When you understand who your employer is, what their mission is, and what their values are, you can impress interviewers with that knowledge. Plus, you can think of ways that your skills and passions connect to the enterprise’s mission.

Remember: Virtually all interviews end with the interviewer asking "Do you have any questions for me?" Having a few questions ready (none related to compensation!) shows preparedness.

Medical Assistants are in high demand. Contact Athena's admissions office today to find out how you can get on the fast track to an exciting career in healthcare.