First Year Out and Optometric Employment

¶ … Optometric Employment As the primary eye care profession, optometry provides a uniquely rewarding opportunity to improve the health and general well-being of persons afflicted with mild to severe eye conditions. In addition to helping people see and function more easily in the world, optometry is an attractive career path for students seeking to balance a challenging and rewarding career with an equally rewarding personal life, as it provides you with the time and the income required to pursue an array of extracurricular interests.

As with every successful career path, a career in optometry requires careful planning and specific goal setting in order to be successful. If, as according to the authors of Business Aspects of Optometry suggest, "success is getting what you want," then it follows that the first step to success is having a clear idea of what you want (Association of Practice Management Educators (APME), 19).

Do you want to own your own practice, work for a currently established practice, in an out-patient clinic setting or possibly an educational setting? If your goal is to own your own practice, do you want to work with associates or practice on your own? Conversely, if your goal is to work for a currently established practice, what practices appeal to you and why? While goal setting is an important prerequisite for success, according to Harry Jones of Achieve Max Incorporated, less than five percent of people clearly define their goals, and less than one percent of those who do take the time to write them down.

As a result, many students are out of school for at least four years, and are often married with at least one child before they even begin to set goals, and the vast majority of optometry graduates leave their first job within 18 months (APME, 19). When you begin to think about goals, APME authors suggest considering three words you would like to see on your headstone.

Common three word epitaphs include: "She helped people." "He was brave." "I was kind." "She loved well." While the three word epitaph doesn't clearly define specific goals, it can help you determine the heart of what is most important to you, which in turn can inform your goals. Regarding specific goals, consider the following: 1. What do you want from your career? 2. What is your vision of the future? 3. What your goals for your personal life, and are they compatible with your goals for your professional life? 4.

Are your personal and professional goals compatible your family's goals and the goals of your community? Asking these questions and others like them will help you to clearly define your priorities and what is important to you in preparation for setting specific goals, which APME authors define as the following: Goals are future realities you commit to in the present. A goal may stem from a wish, a desire, a dream, a want, or a need.

But a goal differs from all of these in that it is a planned commitment. To achieve it requires active effort in a positive direction. (APME, 20) In order to distinguish a goal from a need or desire, initiate the SMART test.

Is your potential goal specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound (APME, 21)? Can you write the goal down in easily understandable language, such as "I would like to own my own practice within five years," or "I would like to become an optometric associate at an existing practice within the first year of graduating"? Once you have determined that your potential goal in indeed an achievable goal, break the goal down into specific steps. For optometry students, the first step to achieving one's professional goals is the construction of a resume.

Your professional resume should include a heading with your complete contact information, your objective statement, education, honors and awards and professional work experience (APME, 56). While many students make the mistake of waiting until after graduation to construct a resume, the ideal time is within the third or fourth year of school. By that time, you should have a fairly clear idea of your preferred career path, be it private practice, out-patient clinical, educational, or even military.

Once you have determined your preferred career path, begin looking into the various opportunities available to you. An excellent resource for optometric employment opportunities is AOA Optometry's career center, accessible at www.aoa.org. You can also seek opportunities more directly by writing letters of inquiry to various practices you are interested in. Once you have a particular practice and/or opportunity in mind, construct a cover letter specific to that opportunity to accompany your professional resume.

The purpose of the cover letter is to draw attention to what makes you the best candidate for a particular position. The first paragraph should identify the position you are applying for and how you learned of that particular opportunity; the second paragraph should explain the reason for your interest in the position and any special qualifications you have, and the third paragraph should refer to your resume and applicable experience (APME, 56).

Remember to proofread your cover letter for any spelling and/or grammatical errors, as cover letters that contain errors rarely lead to a review of your resume, let alone a personal interview. Think of the cover letter as your "hook," the resume as your first impression, and the interview as an opportunity to show who you are, what you know, how you communicate, and how the interviewee will benefit most from hiring you over any other candidate.

If you are interviewing for placement at an established practice, research the practice beforehand and become familiar with its services, practicing optometrists and supporting staff. Come prepared to the interview with questions such as: "What qualifications are you currently looking for in an associate?" "What do you suspect that my biggest challenge as an associate would be?" "Why have past associates left the practice?".