Overcoming "Lack Of Experience"

Do you have what it takes?

New graduates from medical assistant training programs often feel that don't have enough experience to compete with others, not realizing that the skills they gained from previous jobs, volunteer work, related coursework, vocational training, and extracurricular activities can be just as impressive and beneficial as experience in the specific field. Related experience should always be listed in the resume and highlighted in the interview.

Lexi, a successful Certified Medical Assistant tells us:

"Did you do an internship? If so, put every bit down on your resume and applications. Make it look awesome, e.g. I live in a very rural area and traveled an hour and a half each way to school! I used this on my resume when I first got out to show how motivated I was to future employers."

YES - You Have Experience!

Remember, as a medical assistant student you did spend a considerable amount of time practicing important hands-on skills under the supervision of your MA instructor. For example:

• Basic concepts of EKG, ESR, Hematocrit
• Urinalysis, stool samples, throat cultures
• Drawing up exact amounts of medications from vials
• Injections: intradermal, subcutaneous, deltoid, and Z-track
• Basic wound care
• Vision screening, Snellen eye chart
• Venipuncture/Phlebotomy
• Collecting and organizing data for research and patient care
• Dataentry and safe keeping of records

Prior experience in the health care field, such as a nurse's assistant, or home health aide is very helpful and should not be forgotten either.

Determination Wins the Prize

Of course, any career change almost always comes with new and challenges and set of unique responsibilities. At the same time, moving on and up in the medical assistant career also ties in with more benefits and possibilities.

We recently came across a very creative way for medical assistants to get the word out on Craigs List. This medical assistant student shows that she is engergized and eager to get to work... Her ad also shows, very discretely, that she is looking for work to gain experience, and is willing to start at the front desk! Great move.