If you’re a recent medical college graduate or have never considered professional networking before, this concept may sound intimidating. However, it’s nothing more than making connections and building strong relationships with professionals and experts in your field. According to HubSpot, around 85% of jobs nowadays are filled through networking. Likewise, as per CNBC, 70% of jobs never make it to recruitment drives since networking provides candidates faster. It indicates how effective networking is, especially if you’re in a competitive field such as healthcare.
Networking is not all about securing jobs and finding ways to gain access to lucrative career opportunities. Instead, you also tend to gain ample knowledge, connections, and useful resources that benefit you in the long run. So, if you are stepping into healthcare and want to know why networking matters for healthcare professionals, this article is for you.
Below we’ll discuss the significance of networking and how you can get started with it:
Significance of Networking for Healthcare Professionals
As a healthcare professional, you can gain several benefits through networking. Let’s have a look at them:
- Lucrative Job Opportunities
Unarguably, healthcare is a competitive field. As per Statista, in the U.S alone, around 26,641 individuals graduated from medical school in 2019. Given such staggering figures, it’s challenging to cement your position in the industry. Nonetheless, your network pool can assist you in landing lucrative jobs relevant to your domain.
However, brushing up on your academic credentials will further boost your chances of landing high-paying job roles. Let’s say you’re a nurse striving to secure leadership positions, then enrolling in advanced online programs will prove worthwhile. For instance, you can opt for the MSN to DNP online program and move up in your career trajectory. Likewise, if you’re currently occupying managerial positions in healthcare, you can benefit from higher education to ensure career advancement. Higher education will prepare you to take on advanced roles alongside instilling essential skills and expanding your network further.
- Boosts Confidence
Connecting with professionals and experts in your field enables you to exchange current information, prevailing trends, and innovative practices. Such knowledge exchange reflects in your operational activities and conduct, enhancing your work efficiency and outcomes.
Self-esteem and work efficiency are critical factors influencing patient outcomes in the healthcare sector. Therefore, the more like-minded individuals you interact with, the further your knowledge bank will expand, elevating your efficiency. Not only this, but most novice healthcare workers go a step further and seek mentorship opportunities in their network. It further augments their work zeal and ethics.
- Enhances Reputation
It is crucial to remember that a patient will only come to you if you’re renowned and have a reliable reputation. According to studies, when healthcare facilities have a credible reputation, patients deem that the institution offers a safer clinical environment. And the stakeholders, mainly all healthcare workers, of a hospital are responsible for uplifting its reputation and goodwill.
Undeniably, a credible reputation is built when other notable healthcare professionals and patients refer you to others. If you get praised by a well-known doctor, your reputation improves significantly. It, however, can only happen if you work on expanding your networking pool.
How to Effectively Network as a Healthcare Professional?
There are several surefire ways to go about networking as a healthcare professional. Let’s discuss a few of them below:
- Attend events
In today’s interconnected world, a viable way to do networking in your field is by attending various events. Whether small or large scale, events provide a professional arena for healthcare workers to interact with the masses and renowned figures. It allows them to showcase their competencies and skillset while attracting newer contacts. Fortunately, most of these events are held regularly, especially in healthcare.
Through these events, healthcare organizations not only boost community awareness but provide room for professional growth for their employee base. These may include events such as seminars, conferences, and workshops. However, if your work commitments leave you no time to attend such events, participate in webinars. Attend these events, meet industry experts, and build your network.
- Consider volunteer work
This tip holds tremendous significance for healthcare workers serving in any domain or area. Not only will it add to your professional network but also enhance your career profile. You can offer volunteer work in various organizations, societies, and associations relevant to your field/niche. Joining these would enable you to gain confidence in your work and allow you to meet professionals working in top positions.
As a result, you can connect with these professionals, work under their supervision, and add them to your network. You can also get training from them as most of these organizations offer training and provide valuable information. Moreover, you can seek membership in various organizations relevant to your domain. This way, you’ll utilize the benefits such organizations offer while building contacts with like-minded professionals.
- Leverage social media
Today, social media is not a platform limited to enjoying memes and watching entertainment content all day long. If you’re smart enough, you can utilize social media effectively and benefit from it. You can use LinkedIn and Glassdoor to connect with professionals in your field. Fortunately, both of these platforms offer plenty of helpful resources for healthcare professionals to connect and grow.
In addition, you can share valuable information about yourself and your profession on social media. It will further attract people, especially those in your field, to connect with you, ultimately increasing your followers and connections. You can also join social media platforms to stay updated regarding work opportunities, research, and the latest happenings in healthcare.
Conclusion
Undoubtedly, networking is crucial for healthcare professionals, especially in today’s competitive time. It paves the way for lucrative career opportunities and provides valuable insight into how the healthcare system operates. It also boosts individuals’ work efficiency and self-esteem alongside enhancing their reputation. So, focus on expanding your professional network and reap the benefits for years. Start by attending online and offline events, volunteer your services, leverage social media, or pursue higher education to meet people relevant to your profession.
