Taking Advantage of your Agency Years Part 1: Connections and Relationships
Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May
(While You're Still a Staff Clinician!)
If you’re feeling the entrepreneurial itch and envisioning private practice in your future, you might begin to feel impatient while you are moving through your years at a publicly funded clinic. While it might be tempting to cast your eyes to the future rather than the chaotic reality of the present, my advice is: Don’t neglect the goldmine of opportunities surrounding you during your agency years!
Now is the time to 1) build relationships with people and organizations and 2) gather materials and information that will become less accessible later. Today, I’ll talk a little about the kinds of relationships you can start building now, and next week, in Part 2, I’ll talk about the importance of gathering and organizing information at this point in your career. And of course, you can find a more in-depth discussion of all these things in Chapter 4 of my book, GetReal, GetGOING: The Definitive Roadmap to Starting the Private Practice of Your Dreams.
One advantage to working at an agency is the structures that agencies have in place —financial, organizational and security-related— that may allow you to serve a wide variety of clients. Later on, when you may have a more niche clientele, you’ll value this experience.
You also have the benefit of working with a number of colleagues. You can learn your colleagues’ work styles and competencies, and to demonstrate your own. Down the road, you’ll be able to confidently refer clients to them … and they to you! Later on, when you are more isolated in private practice, the experiences you are sharing now will be the ones that your colleagues remember, and that may determine what opportunities get sent your way.
So now is the time to be as generous as you can: Become the type of person people want to consult and collaborate with. Go to office parties, volunteer for projects, seek out interdisciplinary collaboration, be friendly, curious and THANK PEOPLE!
Here are three GetReal GetGOING tasks that you should check off your list starting now:
Join at least one national association AND one state or local group Professional associations will provide fellowship and excellent networking opportunities, as well as the most current information regarding policy changes, treatment standards and new modalities—usually disseminated through association journals and newsletters. The information you’ll receive can range from articles focused on certain specialties, to alerts about proposed changes to the laws around record keeping or reporting standards.
Attend conferences and arrive prepared to network Now is the time to attend as many conferences as you can. Speak to people during breaks, ask questions during the conference, hand out business cards and develop a public persona. This will help people put a face to your name. Be open to networking in appropriate social settings as well. This is all easier while you are still employed, before you are seeking clients and referrals.
Write a short, professional bio describing yourself and your background This is something you’ll end up using far more often than you can imagine. Your agency will likely ask you for a bio shortly after you begin work to give to Human Resources, use for company brochures and flyers and so on. Additionally if you’re invited to give a community presentation, they’ll want an up-to-date bio to include in their promotional materials. And down the line, you’ll use it to develop your own website or brochures. Your bio should include:
A brief but powerful description of your work and your passion for it.
Your relevant education and experience
Your association memberships
Keeping your bio updated will work hand-in-hand with developing your “elevator pitch,” another essential networking tool, which I’ve discussed in this blog, as well as in GetReal, GetGOING: The Definitive Roadmap to Starting the Private Practice of Your Dreams.
So there are three tangible actions that will help you take advantage of your agency time. Tune in next week for Part 2, where I’ll talk about what resources and materials you want to be collecting now!
