Company Culture - Why a Good One is Key

Selecting a new job right out of school can be a stressful process, but in that stress, it is important to consider every aspect of a prospective position, including company culture. Now, more than ever, students are exiting school with massive amounts of student debt piling up, and it may be enticing to outright take the highest paying role you can find.

Brett Kestenbaum, Head of Growth at CovalentCareers and Vice President of NewGradMedia, has some advice about company culture and considering your own goals before settling in for your first paycheck.

It is just as important to consider the cultural fit as it is to weigh the clinical facets of your potential practice. As a new therapist, you have the freedom to shape your career and your personal style and your workplace will have a big hand in that. You may be inexperienced and nervous in seeing your first ten or even thirty patients. You may encounter folks that you are not sure how to manage.

Choosing the right place for you, ensures that you are working alongside practicioners that understand what you’re going through. When you are in the right environment, with the right people, they will think about you as someone with shared experiences and can help you move from a novice, meeting with the most basic cases to someone that can handle anything that comes your way.

As a healthcare practitioner, you have to understand what your objectives are and be honest with yourself. Even with clinical goals in mind, you may also have financial goals that are just as valid and essential. One of the ways to consider this when searching for a new place of employment is to understand the type of employment as well.

You may only be interested in pursuing full-time opportunities in therapy. Full-time gives you the stability of knowing when and for how long you will be working as well as the possibility of benefits. Things like health, dental, vision, and life insurance can be incredibly valuable, especially for those with families.

On the other hand, you may be able to find per diem work which offers a great deal of flexibility as well as higher earning potential. Per diem work, however, will likely not provide benefits, but that might not be an issue for single therapists as they are often not as financially advantageous if you do not have a family.

At the end of the day, the most important thing to consider is to take care of yourself. If you are in an environment or a financial situation that is causing you stress, then you might bring that stress into the workplace, and that stress may come with you to the workplace. This might even come to affect your patients as you won’t be able to bring them the care they need. You’ll feel much better about your decision if you honestly consider what it is that you need out of your career and your life.