inPractice - Summer 2019 - 3

SECOND
OPINION

Q
A

What advice would you give
our graduates to help ensure a
successful and fulfilling career?

Our experts weigh in.

"

"

Kay Brady

Thomas R. Harlow

Vice President, Human Resources
Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health

Senior Vice President, WellSpan Health
President, WellSpan Good Samaritan Hospital

I am often asked about the best advice I can offer to a new graduate
embarking on a job search in 2019. I always lead with the following:
Remember that getting a job is your job and that devoting time and
energy to the search process should be your most important priority.
Right now in health care, it is a job seeker's market, and graduates will
probably have choices if they stay engaged with their search and
interview well with prospective employers.

If my older self was talking to my younger self, what career advice would
I give to set me up for success? First would be to really "hardwire" the
technical skills necessary to become proficient in my chosen field,
whether that's direct patient care or playing an administrative or
support role. Developing technical knowledge or competence
is a given for achieving success.

I encourage interviewees to listen carefully to questions and communicate
with clarity and thoroughness, yet be succinct in their responses. The
interview with the hiring department is critical. The interview team will
usually have a number of dimensions it is assessing both technically and
interpersonally. My experience is that interviewing teams in health care
are looking for cultural fit and trying to determine if a potential hire will
work well with the current team. My advice: Be yourself, speak to who
you are and what you are interested in, and don't be afraid to highlight
your accomplishments as well as what differentiates you as an applicant.
Have an answer ready as to why you are the best candidate and why
they should hire you!

But one aspect that was not stressed enough early in my career was a
focus on soft skills-attributes that are essential to the development of
a strong, functioning team. Soft skills provide the ability to effectively
communicate with others and to have the emotional intelligence to
develop trusting, meaningful and mutually productive relationships. The
challenge with soft skills is that you cannot develop them by reading a
book: They must be practiced, coached and practiced some more. It
takes continual refinement and the ability to seek and use constructive
feedback to hone these "soft skills" over a lifetime. n

PA College / Summer 2019

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inPractice - Summer 2019

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