Healthcare is such a complex industry, the idea of finding an entry level job to start your career in healthcare management might seem like a huge challenge. If you love helping people and would like to capitalize on that job growth, a career in healthcare management might be right for you.
Five entry level jobs that start healthcare management careers:
- Medical Records Clerk
- Healthcare Office Receptionist
- Finance Clerk
- Home Health Aide
- Patient Support Assistant
Job growth, sufficient income, and purpose are keys to job-choice satisfaction and can be obtained in a career like these.
Whether you are changing jobs or just starting out, you will want to discover more about joining the world of helping people through a leadership role in a medical facility. Read on to find out about careers in healthcare management.
Article Topics
What Exactly is Healthcare Management?
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says careers in healthcare are set to grow 15% over the next few years, much faster than the average for all jobs. Management is controlling the movement of something. You can manage:
- People
- Supplies
- Information
- Money
- Technology
- Assets
- Processes
So, healthcare management controls the movement of people, processes, or items in a healthcare system. From the tiniest pharmaceutical to the doctors in the largest hospitals, healthcare systems need managers.
Is Healthcare Management a Good Career?
In addition to the positive job growth in the healthcare industry, management job numbers are also expected to grow. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports, “Management occupations are projected to show steady and resilient employment demand over the next ten years.”
Combining the job growth and potential of both healthcare and management indicates that there will be many job openings in the next few years.
To most people, job satisfaction is most important; it is often more important than money. Many careers in healthcare management are inherently rewarding because helping people is part of the job description.
Since so much of the healthcare management industry deals with caring for others, there are specific qualities that potential employees should have, such as:
- Attention to Detail
- Authenticity
- Empathy
- Resilience
- Confidentiality
- Critical thinking
If you have those skills, desire to help others, hope to have an elevated income potential in a high-growth job field, and feel good about yourself at the end of the workday, a healthcare management career might be a perfect fit.
How do I Get a Job in Healthcare Management with No Experience?
When it comes to employment, everyone has to start somewhere. While getting your foot in the door may be difficult, due to the need for quality employees in the medical field, it might be easier to find an entry level job in healthcare than in another career area.
If you have experience in any occupation, there are some healthcare management jobs that would love to have you. Job skills that are transferable include:
- Promptness
- Professionalism
- Willingness to go above and beyond
- Positive Attitude
- Good Communication Skills
Just like most jobs, there are several things you can do to be successful in getting a job in healthcare management.
- Apply and show up to the interview if you get one. Even if you don’t get the job, if you show yourself as the type of employee that a business wants, they will consider training you or remembering when a job does come up.
- Be willing to accept the job that you don’t want if it could be the path to the job that you do want.
- Tell the people in your doctor or dentist’s office that you are looking for a job in healthcare. Tell your friends and family about your dreams and goals.
- Read a book on what you want to do, take a class, get a cphq cerfication. Show your potential employers that you are committed and are willing to make an extra effort.
Also, be sure to check out this article on where to get your healthcare management certificate online!
Entry Level Jobs That Start Healthcare Management Careers
If you’re already feeling overwhelmed by the idea of searching for entry level healthcare management careers, or you just don’t know which ones might be a good fit, we have a list of potential matches coming up next.
Medical Records Clerk
Every time a patient is seen by a practitioner, notes are taken, and medical records are updated. Organizing, filing, and providing that information to others who need it, such as:
- Other Practitioners
- Insurance Providers
- Billing Companies
- Financial Analysts
- Medical Trend Analysts
Medical records personnel often sit, all day, at a computer. Unlike a typical healthcare job, there is little to no interaction with patients. Documents, both digital and paper, are what a medical records employee manages, and medical records personnel are adamant about the correctness of the details of those documents.
Related to the correctness and completeness of medical records in compliance with regulations and institutional policies. This compliance ensures procedures are being correctly implemented and regulatory requirements are being met.
Risk management is a huge deal in the modern world and, as they ensure accuracy and organization of the medical record data, medical records personnel and staff play a large part in successful risk mitigation.
Also, since the information in medical records is so sensitive and requires absolute privacy, confidentiality is vital to success in a medical records job.
Healthcare Office Receptionist
The face of the medical office, the first person a patient sees as they walk in the office door, is often the receptionist. Cheerful, patient and empathetic are words used to describe quality receptionists.
A medical receptionist also must be kind. People are often not at their best when they arrive at a medical facility. They may be sick or hurt and will most likely be stressed. A friendly smile, compassion, and a confident demeanor will go a long way in reducing anxiety in a difficult situation as patients are welcomed to the medical office.
A medical receptionist answers phone calls that come to the office, directing callers to the appropriate person or department. A personable, easy-to-understand phone voice is important, as well as the ability to operate a multiple-line phone system, copiers, scanners, and computer systems.
While operating specific office equipment will most likely be included in on-the-job training, familiarity, confidence, and comfort with modern technology are skills that a beginning receptionist should already have.
Some of the personality characteristics of a medical receptionist are:
- Communication skills, if you know a second language, you will be even more desirable
- Organizational skills
- Multitasker
- Ability to handle pressure
- Friendly
- Technological aptitude
A medical office receptionist is one of the few customer-facing roles that are entry level. Bringing job skills from past jobs or life skills, if you are just entering the workforce, will be vital to your success as a medical receptionist.
Finance Clerk
The finance clerk in a healthcare institution facilitates the day-to-day financial affairs of the office. From receivables and payables to billing insurances and patients to asset accounting, finance clerks take care of the money. Finance clerks are the first line in the accounting story that tells about the company through the financial statements.
The payable that the finance clerk enters into the billing system will, one day, make it to the monthly financial statements and is part of the information used by executives to make operating decisions for the institution. That is a big job, and it must be done correctly if the financial statements are to be fairly stated and correct decisions are to be made.
Another reason for accuracy in the financial clerk position is billing. We have all had the experience of an erroneous bill from a hospital or doctor’s office and the frustration that results. The finance clerk is usually the person who is in charge of billing, and it is the finance clerk who usually deals with angry customers.
Finance clerks may also be the go-between when it comes to insurance companies. Insurance companies are notorious for not wanting to pay any more money than they have to. Sometimes, it takes a phone call or an email to get discrepancies cleared.
Some of the skills important to a finance clerk are:
- Attention to detail
- Number fluency
- Accounting aptitude
- Communication, both verbal and written
- Technological savvy
- Ability to learn new and unique IT systems
A finance clerk might come into the office at the beginning of the day and spend all the time at the computer, entering billing information, insurance codes, checking to make sure addresses are correct, doing low-level financial analysis as a reasonableness test, and talking to other finance people.
This is not a patient-facing job, and there is less people-to-people interaction than in other healthcare careers.
Home Health Aide
A home health aide goes to people’s homes and cares for them there instead of in a clinic or hospital setting. Patients who have home healthcare are often recovering from medical procedures or are elderly. The care is often minimal and includes:
- Checking on Patient
- Administering Medication
- Taking Vital Signs
- Monitoring Basic Necessities Such as Food and Water Intake
- Light Cleaning and Cooking Chores
- Transporting Patients
- Befriending
- Listening
- Helping with Basic Hygiene
- And a variety of other chores, depending on the patient’s needs
Caregivers can build strong bonds with patients above and beyond a medical caregiver position. Of all the entry level healthcare jobs, the home health aide is one of the most typical medical jobs. It is almost all patient-facing or interacting with patients.
Since home health aides spend so much time with patients, they must be observant. Often, the first indicator of a medical problem is a change in behavior and attitude. A home health aide might be the one who first notices a life-threatening problem and can quickly get the necessary help.
While the job growth potential and the chance to interact with patients is a wonderful opportunity to start a career in the healthcare management field, if you are considering a job as a home health aide, there are some concerns you might want to take into account.
Rather than sitting at a computer all day, home healthcare often involves typical nurse-type duties. Lifting, maneuvering, and helping mobilize patients are all part of a home healthcare aide’s duties. The work is often physically taxing and strenuous.
Sometimes, home healthcare patients are not at their best. Home health patients may be recovering from surgery, ill, or elderly. Patients sometimes suffer from dementia. In these cases, interaction with patients can be difficult and stressful.
A characteristic quality home health aides must have is the ability not to take negative things personally and to have a positive attitude even in the face of adversity.
Patient Support Assistant
The typical view of a nurses’ station is one of controlled chaos, and nurses are some of the busiest people in a medical setting.
Patient support assistants remove some of the burdens from nurses and other front-line caretakers as they step in and complete vital tasks supporting quality patient care.
Some of the characteristics of a patient support assistant are:
- Willingness to go above and beyond
- Physical strength and stamina
- Friendliness
- Flexible
- Helpful
- Kind
- A positive attitude, no matter the task
A patient support assistant is one of the jobs that can be a gateway to a management position in healthcare. You will gain experience in the medical field while learning how to deal with people in all departments, from executives to janitors and everything in between.
Your attitude as you work with different types of people can be a beacon that showcases your attitude in handling difficult tasks.
How Do I Get Started in Healthcare Management
Like with most entry level jobs, to get started in Healthcare Management, you apply, show up, be professional and show your potential employer that you would be a good fit for the company.
Show commitment by gaining knowledge about the healthcare industry and management. Taking a class or getting a certificate would be a great way to show commitment. Even reading a book about the subject would be helpful.
Tell your friends and family that you are looking for a job in healthcare. Your personal practitioners, such as people in your doctor or dentist’s office, maybe looking to hire or know someone who is.
Live life such that when you mention to people that you are trying to get a job in healthcare, they say, “Oh, that would be a great fit. Let me tell my —. I know they are hiring,” instead of, “Oh, well I don’t really see you in that type of a role.”
Be willing to do jobs you don’t like to do jobs you do like in the future. An example of this is you might not want to change dirty hospital bedding but, as a patient support assistant, you get asked to do that.
You can choose to change the bedding with a positive attitude or complain about it. When a job farther along the management track comes along, supervisors will remember your attitude when you were asked to change the bedding. It is up to you whether they remember you positively or negatively.
Outro
Even with no training, education, or experience, starting an entry level job in the medical field can lead to a career in healthcare management.
There are as many ways to start a job in healthcare management as there are jobs available. And if you have or develop the skills and qualities necessary for that kind of job, you will be on your way to healthcare management greatness in just a short time.
