In this episode of the Prosperous Doc®, our host Shane Tenny, CFP®, talks to Melissa about her work as a career coach, specifically in the realm of healthcare, medical, and science professionals. Melissa says that what draws her to this work is her ardent belief that everyone deserves to be in a job that uses their best and favorite skills, compensates them well, and gives them the time and energy to enjoy life outside of work.
Melissa McClung, M.S. didn’t have any plans to be a career coach when she began working at the career center at the University of Kansas Medical Center. But while there, Melissa fell in love with career coaching, and 12 years later, she’s established a niche helping doctors get into residencies and scientists decide whether they want to work in the field or academia.
In this episode of the Prosperous Doc®, our host Shane Tenny, CFP®, talks to Melissa about her work as a career coach, specifically in the realm of healthcare, medical, and science professionals. Melissa says that what draws her to this work is her ardent belief that everyone deserves to be in a job that uses their best and favorite skills, compensates them well, and gives them the time and energy to enjoy life outside of work.
“I have this well-rounded exposure to many different facets of the healthcare, medicine, and science industries, which makes me uniquely positioned to work with clients — whether they're clinical or not — through their transitions,” Melissa explains. “Most of us know how to look for a job that looks just like what we're doing right now. But when it comes to changing completely and looking in a different direction, sometimes it takes somebody with a unique insight into that industry to be able to say, Well, have you thought about this? And I get the opportunity to do that with my clients every day.”
Name: Melissa McClung, M.S.
What he does: Melissa is a Professional Career Advisor and Owner at Life by Design Careers. She specializes in career coaching for healthcare, medicine, and science professionals, helping them figure out the next step on their career paths.
Company: Life by Design Careers
Words of wisdom: “Ultimately, what we have to realize is that, as human beings, we have to grow in competency over time, and we need to look for ways to build that into our career journey so that we can stay fulfilled and stay true to that mission [that is] uniquely for ourselves.”
Top takeaways from this episode
[06:26] Fatigue to fulfill: Shane discusses Melissa’s book, Mind Your Career: Job Search Like an Entrepreneur Without Becoming One, which talks about the reality of burnout and shifting from career fatigue to finding fulfillment.
[08:29] Grow and change: Melissa believes it is part of human nature to yearn for growth and change. Her line of work allows her to help people find work that challenges them and keeps them engaged.
[10:40] Common denominator: When healthcare professionals come to Melissa seeking a career change despite the years of schooling and training they’ve put into their career, it is often because they feel they can no longer give enough time and attention to important things outside of work, such as family, health and passions.
[12:32] Telling stories: Researcher Brené Brown talks about the “stories we tell ourselves,” which Melissa references in her book and her work. She asks clients who feel stuck or like they could never find a new job to rewrite their own story.
[20:34] Start with the basics: One of the most common mistakes Melissa sees in her line of work is people thinking they need to hire someone to rewrite their resume when they haven’t decided on a specific job they are trying to target.
[25:04] No burnt bridges: Melissa reassures her clients that searching for and starting a new career doesn’t damage the path they have already forged. She is not in the business of burning bridges but rather creating new ones for professionals to more openly navigate their own career.
You worked hard to earn your white coat, but what happens if you get sick and can’t work? During the course of your career, you are three and a half times more likely to be injured and need disability insurance than you are to die and need life insurance. But disability insurance can be nuanced and complex.
Thankfully, the advisors at Spaugh Dameron Tenny have developed the Disability Insurance Guide for Physicians and Dentists, a free ebook outlining the key considerations, benefits, and misconceptions about disability insurance. Protect your family from the consequences of life’s events by protecting your income.
Disclaimer: Prosperous Doc podcast by Spaugh Dameron Tenny highlights real-life stories from doctors, dentists, and those whose work can help them to encourage and inspire listeners through discussions of professional successes and failures in addition to personal stories and financial wellness advice. Spaugh Dameron Tenny is a comprehensive financial planning firm serving doctors and dentists throughout the U.S. To find out more about Spaugh Dameron Tenny, visit our website at http://www.sdtplanning.com . You can also connect with our host, Shane Tenny, CFP®, at shane@prosperousdoc.com.
Compliance code: CRN202507-2643038
Top quotes from the episode:
[05:57] “When we're talking about healthcare providers, everybody wants to help other people. They want to be somebody who really serves their community, and so a lot of times they need reassurance that there are more than one or two or three ways to do that, and that there are a lot of ways to serve and to care for other people that may not demand quite as much.”
[18:45] “Even though physicians don't always use LinkedIn at the same rates that perhaps other business professionals do, if you don't have a LinkedIn profile, you're missing out on opportunities to really have great conversations with people.”
[20:35] “Probably the biggest mistake I see people make [when searching for a new job] is thinking that their first step needs to be rewriting their resume, and so they hire a resume writer to rewrite their resume. And the reason why that is a mistake at first is that without knowing what your job target is, it's very difficult to write a resume.”