The importance of job titles during a job search

One of the hardest things to figure out during my non-clinical job search was identifying job titles of jobs that I actually wanted. This was simple when I was looked for a clinical job because all I had to do was type in "Emergency Medicine physician" into a job board and wait for the results. I could also choose a job from the plethora of emails, texts, and phone calls I received from ER job recruiters.

Looking for non-clinical jobs was a different beast. There are so many different options out there and one job title may describe several different types of jobs. Here are a few examples:

"Senior Medical Director" may describe a job where you are the leader of a team of reviewing medical directors for a health insurance company OR it could it could be a drug safety or pharmacovigilance job in the pharmacy industry.

"Chief Medical Officer" could mean you are the CMO of a hospital or the sole physician working for a start-up health tech company. 

The point is, by doing the work and scouring job boards (LinkedIn and Indeed are my favorites) you will learn what different job titles mean, and which ones are options for you. I also found that when searching for one specific job title you often uncover a different job that you were not even looking for. Previously I was looking for health insurance medical director jobs and stumbled across a Vice President Payer Strategy job that I did not even know existed. 

Searching for a job is challenging and VERY time consuming. Most professionals are too busy to dedicate the necessary time to search and apply for jobs correctly. It is for this reason I often personalized job searches and resume/cover letter writing to free up your valuable time.