By Choice, by Chance or by Crisis

By: Perry E. Ellie, MA, RHIA, FAHIMA

President, H.I.M. Recruiters

My definition of career management is personal professional survival. I advocate that we all either directly or indirectly need to consider ourselves as our own self-employed corporations. Incorporate, Inc. your way to career success.

In a world of reengineering and rightsizing, each Health Information Management (HIM) professional must move to create a self-supporting structure around themselves. The continuing major shakedown by corporations and the frantic day-to-day pace of our professional and personal lives mandates a desperate need to reevaluate and manage our working roles.

We were all taught as children that if we went to school, did well, went to work and performed well that we would move steadily toward a good life and a secure future. But this American dream seems to be fading. In the last two years well over ten million Americans have been laid-off and tens of thousands of those have been in our own "safe from layoff" field of healthcare.

New staff reductions are announced everyday and yet we have H.I.M. professionals with twenty-years of experience calling our firm surprised that they received a pink slip. "I knew staffing cutbacks were coming, but I didn’t think it would happen to me!" Often these professional peers have done little , if anything to prepare themselves psychologically, financially or professionally for even the possibility of losing their current position. While most people relate immediately to the financial and professional impact of losing a position, let’s pause for a few thoughts on the psychological impact.

As we spend more and more time at work, we are forced into close contact with those we work with, often spending more time with them than our significant others. It is only natural then that, for many, their work and co-workers are not only friends, but their entire community. So the shock of finding yourself suddenly out of work and cut off from the support of these people is traumatic. Anticipate, expect and accept that there will be a "loss of community" period of grieving, just like we experience whenever there is a loss in our families.

While the vast majority of our AHIMA membership is working, I am constantly amazed at the cost that many incur to their lifestyle. On virtually a daily basis we hear from H.I.M. professionals who simply can’t take it anymore. Too many hours, no free time, illness, divorce, not enough money to pay the bills or save for retirement. Any sort of balance in their activities or their lives, is gone. By their own admission, the quality of their lives is shot!

Times and situations like these make people feel trapped and angry. Our dissatisfaction factor grows as we become restless, discontent, bored and desperate. We come to seek and dream of alternatives. Whether we feel this transition as real or perceived, it shakes us from our complacency and forces us to find new solutions in order to not give up on our dreams. We instinctively move to create a beautiful new vision, a compelling future of what our lives can be. It is in these times of great distress that often the greatest dreams are born.

Right now, myself and well over twenty-four million Americans have decided they were not willing to give up on our dreams. We have found a solution, a New American Dream. We have become self-employed, our own bosses, creating the freedom and the flexibility we need to live and work the way we desire. We work for our dreams, not for someone else’s. While working for others can still be an excellent situation, I urge you to consider entrepreneurial self-employment as a career management option. It is no longer necessary to exchange freedom and flexibility for economic survival and security. Instead through self-employment you can have the freedom and flexibility to create your own security and thereby ultimately achieve greater security than you may have in your job today. The moment you decide to pursue self-employment, to achieve your dreams, your attitudes toward work and making a living change forever. Self-employment is rising rapidly as a career option, lets talk briefly about why!

Four main forces are changing the face of employment in America today.

The first is office technology. For under four thousand dollars you can now have a professional quality phone, computer, printer, fax, modem and copy machine all small enough to keep in a closet. Therefore recreating the functionality and support systems found in a traditional office in your own environment.

Second, is outsourcing, the silver lining of rightsizing. More and more work is being contracted out to small business and individuals. By the year 2000 it is estimated that nearly fifty percent of our workforce will be employed outside the once traditional professional career. Your personal corporation could be cashing-in on this movement and providing these contracted services.

The third force at work is the development of niche markets. The more you become rushed for time, overloaded with duties at home and work; the more you look for help to cope. Have you considered a housekeeper, a lawn service, a H.I.M. consultant or computer consultant for help in services you would have performed yourself five or ten years ago? The likely answer is "yes," so you too are supporting the steady growth of niche markets. For example, as a healthcare recruiter, I have found great success by specializing in the HIM niche.

The final force at work is the phenomenon that small business expansion is the foundation of the American economy. Did you realize that of the twenty-four million U.S. businesses only seven thousand have more than five-hundred employees? Of all the rest, sixty percent have less than five employees. This translates to the fact that nearly fifteen million American businesses have less than five employees. I can personally attest that the many corporations that utilize our services are unaffected by the fact that we have less than five employees. They utilize us based upon our industry expertise and the quality of our work. Just like they could use your services. Intriguingly, a new home-based business is started every forty-six seconds!

Be it through the demands from outsourcing, small business expansion, or market niches, the number of people leaving the conventional path to seek their dream by choice, by chance, or by crisis is becoming the norm instead of the exception.

The American dream for generations has been a good steady nine-to-five job. These four forces have created another serious option to consider. While self-employment carries intrigue and promise for millions, it also gives rise to many concerns. If you still have a salary, it’s only natural to feel hesitant about giving up the security it provides. It is only human to resist even the prospect of such a career change. You may not only fear the risk of losing a reliable income source, you will likely anguish about missing the faces of co-workers and losing whatever self-esteem and prestige your job provides. Most people give up right here at these realizations. They sincerely believe that self-employment is not worth the risks. But I am going to tell you that it is worth every risk and that the risks can be minimized. Do not dwell on the risks, dream of the rewards. I have personally become one of the twenty-four million self-employed and so can you!

The concept that I am sharing is not that a new life of your own making will be a snap, but that you can truly have a promising future to believe in and to work toward. The point is that there is hope, not just for others, but for you! That through hard work, planning and effort your dreams can become a reality. Remember the job you create for yourself will not have the built-in security once provided by a traditional job, because there is no guaranteed salary or payday. But traditional jobs don’t offer that type of security anymore either. On your own, every day can be a payday!

Dreams of Choice

In Finding Your Perfect Work by Paul and Sarah Edwards they state that a full forty percent of all the self-employed move in this direction by choice. They simply decide that they are no longer going to compromise, delay or forego what is in their heart and souls. So they summon up their courage and make a specific choice that will change their lives. If you could listen to the thoughts of these "people of choice" you would hear, "I wanted more freedom, I always wanted to be my own boss, I wanted more control of my life."

Dreams of Chance

About twenty percent of the time people encounter at just the right time a new welcomed path that just takes off... You have heard the lines, "I just fell into it, people kept asking me to..., the idea just hit me, I happened to notice, it was almost by accident." Who would have thought I would be reading an article on Career Management in the AHIMA Journal when wham! I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

Dreams of Crisis

A full forty percent of all dream careers are born in the heat of a crisis. A crisis such as restructuring and technology as I believe our profession is undergoing right now. This crisis is providing an invitation for untold opportunity if you are open to it. "I was layed-off, I was fired, I was passed over for promotion, I had a crisis of conscience, the discrimination was intolerable, my spouse died, I was divorced;" do some your inner thoughts sound like these? The challenge is to come to a resolve with your career, you are at a crossroads. Whether you become self-employed or work for others, do something that you will truly enjoy and your chance for success will soar.

Believing in yourself is usually the first major challenge to self-employment. I liken believing your dreams are achievable to saying we want to win the lottery. Of course we want to win it, of course we want to achieve our dreams, but we do not think it actually will happen, so why spend the time and energy needed to decide what we really want to do! Your self-sabotaging thoughts tell you that you probably will not achieve it anyway. Strive to transfer your confidence as a HIM professional to the entrepreneurial area. Do not give up on yourself, be positive, if I can do it, so can you.

The second major challenge is being honest with yourself in determining what your dream is. What do you really want to do? Instead of asking yourself, "What can I do? or What’s the best thing for me?" Use your inner compass and determine if it feels right. You can literally build your work around what is most important to you, instead of the other way around.

Use this sentence as your driving motivation...when you hire yourself, you not only define your work, you also get to define the salary, the fringe benefits, the locale, the people you work with, your entire lifestyle. Stay in touch with your feelings by using the Goose Bump Test as poet Rusty Berkus calls it. "When I get goose bumps from an idea or possibility," she says, "I know that’s a track I need to follow."

The third major challenge is to find a way to earn a living which will provide support for these three key needs: 1) Your personal need for enjoying and developing your mental, financial, physical and spiritual well-being; 2) Your need for significant others to care and share in your life; and 3) Your need for meaningful work that contributes to the world in a gratifying way. Dare to imagine yourself fulfilling your dreams in each of these areas.

Allow me to draw upon my own experience to illustrate this process. I envisioned my dream of choice eight years ago. I have always wanted freedom in my work, the ability to control my work and I realized the best way to accomplish this was by becoming my own boss. My journey began through an audio-cassette message that said you can "Make a living or design a life ⁴." This simple statement has totally changed my life, and the lives of those around me. I took this statement as a challenge and started to dream what my life could be if I could truly design it. In fact, I am still thrilled and challenged by this message everyday.

At that time I was not aware of the three key areas of need, alluded to above, but I addressed each in my own unique way. You can to do the same. I began a small HIM consulting business, which forced me to learn about small business considerations (business plans, taxes, licensing, etc...) through classes provided by the Small Business Administration of the federal government. To look them up in you area call (800)-8-ASK-SBA. About this same time I was investigating, purchasing and learning about technology to support a business with my consulting proceeds. In that era, it took a year or two to set-up the computer, fax, answering machine, 800 number service, etc... During these years I also investigated a transcription business (too much capital and time investment), quality improvement consulting (fun, but travel took me away from my family), and ultimately decided that HIM recruiting was the route to my dreams. Even then, I proceeded very gradually and systematically. I have a wonderful wife and two children to support and I was not going to let them down. I tried to develop H.I.M. Recruiters on weekends and evenings with tedious and limited success. I soon realized that I would need nine to five business hours to make things work. So I negotiated a several month severance and consulting package from my hospital employer and resigned. Although I minimized my short-term financial risk, I still needed a reliable income stream to pay the mortgage, for the car and to eat, etc... So I accepted an evening position as the HIM Program Director at our local college. This provided steady, although considerably lower, income and open days to pursue my self-employment dream. Sometimes you must be willing to go back one-step, so you able to go forward two. During my entire professional career and especially during this period I also remained extremely active in professional activities. Not only because I love the work, but because it expanded my contact network and allowed me to market our business. Finally, after a few years I reached the point where my savings and success would allow me to, at a minimized risk, resign working for others forever. By the way, my wife Nancy quit her job, a few years ago, and works as my partner in life and business. We will always be our own bosses, and live our own dreams!

Why do I need to change anything?

Many of you have been forced to answer this question already. But for the rest you, do it for balance in your life, do it for you. Health care restructuring is guaranteed to continue and you must stop clinging to the hope that you will somehow be spared. Do not waste this precious time to anticipate, use it to prepare yourself for the near inevitable career change. Whether you choose to pursue self-employment or working for others, drive yourself to continue to grow and learn new skills. You need to create a determination to avoid dullness in your work day. As you should realize from my story above, it can take years to build the skill set and resources necessary to optimize the success of your personal corporation.

How do I prepare to manage my career?

It is not possible to address all the areas necessary, so lets look at a few additional areas that will produce the greatest results. Statistics show that up to eighty percent of all employment opportunities are found through networking. So a large part of your future success will depend on your networking skills. You must become visible within our profession and really work at nurturing relationships throughout your career. This will mean taking chances, volunteering for new projects, and trying new areas that stretch your current skills.

A critical instrument in managing your career is your resume. Develop it, maintain it and always keep it current. Be prepared when chance comes your way. Even if you are self-employed, a current resume is needed in marketing and professional association activities. In writing your document, I encourage candidates to always begin with a professional or career summary that pinpoints the highlights of your experience in a bullets format. This style will present your very best, right up front. Please use the references provided for additional insights.

In closing, I would like to leave you with several thoughts. First, don’t be naive, absolutely no one is immune from losing their position. Always keep you and your personal corporation ready to pounce on a new opportunity. Second, remember you have choices. You can work for others or you can work for yourself. Third, strive to keep a balance in your life. Do not allow your work to become totally consuming. Fourth, seek to manage your career as an option that will provide self-gratification. If you can not feel good about what you do, you will never do it well. And fifth, enjoy the journey...

"Will your journey be easy? It may be. It may be easier than you ever imagined. Will it be difficult? It may be. It may be more difficult than you ever imagined. But if you have chosen your path well, it will be filled with such magic that whatever effort is required will be worth it, because you will know you are on the road to your dreams. If you must stop for a while, that’s okay. Do so. If you must take a detour, that’s okay. Do so. But never forget where you are going. And never give up the journey. Along the road that’s filled with the magic of your dreams, as long as you continue walking forward in the direction you want to go, anything is possible, anything can happen. ¹"

 Acknowledgments

A heartfelt thank you to my wonderful wife Nancy and my writing mentor Angela Picard for each of their thoughts, insights, contributions, editing and support in the writing of this article.

Career Management Resources and References

1. Edwards, Paul and Sarah. Finding Your Perfect Work - The New Career Guide to Making a Living, Creating a Life. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1996.

2. Charland, William A. Career Shifting. Holbrook, Mass.: Bob Adams, Inc., 1993.

3. Glasner, Barry. Career Crash. New York : Simon & Schuster, 1994.

4. Robbins, Anthony. Personal Power. Audiocassette, Palm Desert, CA : Guthy-Renker Corporation, 1989.

5. Wicket, Mike. It’s All Within Your Reach. Audiocassette, Chicago : Nightingale Contant, 1987.

6. Spina, Vicky. Getting Hired in the 90’s. Chicago : Dearborn Financial Publishing, Inc., 1995.

7. Fournier, Myra and Spin, Jeffrey. Encyclopedia of Job-Winning Resumes. Ridgefield, CT : Round Lake Publishing Co.