How do you handle fork-in-the-road choices in your career? What about the navigating the time after the conclusion of a work/school era? Imagine you’re a brand new graduate, facing the choice between taking a residency and starting work for a company you like. What if you’ve finished your PGY1 residency and are torn between whether to start working immediately or pursuing PGY2 residency in a field you’re interested in? How do you make the choice?

I think I can suggest a mental framework that might help you to think clearly about your choices and how to weigh them. I use this framework when I’m trying figure out what opportunities to take advantage of, and which to pass up.

These are the phases I divide a typical working career into:

Pre-Full Employment Phase

Priority: Money

Priority: Time/Convenience

Priority: Purpose & Control

General note about career phases: Not everyone will experience all career priorities within the time periods noted, and some may not experience certain phases at all. The earlier phases and career priorities will probably be more likely to be experienced by pharmacists with less familial support and/or financial resources. As such, pharmacists with more financial (or career advice) support will more likely proceed quickly to the latter phases of career priorities.

Pre-Full Employment

Pre-full employment phase [PFE] (Aka: “Broke student”): While the PFE phase doesn’t need a ton of explanation – it is worthwhile to understand it as the precursor phase for all of the other phases. This phase and its impact on following phases vary for the individual and their financial and familial background. For many pharmacists this period spans the time period from entry into college into pharmacy school graduation day. This phase is typically characterized by increasing debt burden, less than full time employment, and a focus on completing pharmacy school requirements in order to move toward matriculation. This phase creates the headwinds that power some of the early stages of career priorities.

This stage is important because the increasing debt burden that graduate school often requires and the opportunity costs of not working full time are gradually increasing and creating more pressure on pharmacists to make decisions that have financially rewarding outcomes.

This phase may not be as important to understand for students whose parents or previous careers can subsidize the mounting costs associated with obtaining a professional degree. Or for students whose familial/financial situation don’t require immediate “return on investment” and can sustain continued years of self-investment or delaying making choices that make finances a top consideration.

How can you mitigate the impact of the pre-full employment phase?

• limiting the amount of student loans withdrawn to necessities, investigating ways to decrease major expenses (rent, transportation) by living with roommates/relatives,
• Finding ways to utilize public transportation or living close to campus
• Coming up with a financial plan prior to graduation – knowing your loan amount and monthly payments and proactively coming up with plan

Money

Money is the initial career priority for a great many pharmacists. For many whom are first generation pharmacists, the big carrot that allowed you to make it through so many years of “stick” was the 6 figure paycheck waiting at the end of the tunnel. The PFE phase created (for many) a situation that demands pharmacists are able to make a certain base level of income in order to afford the costs of education. This pressure has been ameliorated in many instances because of new student loan guidelines that allow students to repay student loans as a percentage of income (i.e. IBR, PAYE program).

The main priority during this phase of your career: Income. Many people in this phase of their working career are concerned maximizing the amount of income that they can create or acquire in their new position. This is not intrinsically a bad priority however, its hidden danger lies in the fact that it can lead to decisions with very high opportunity costs.

Situations where money is valued at the expense of long-term opportunities can be detrimental if people later become trapped due to lifestyle inflation or increased responsibilities. This priority can be dangerous because it can create situations where there is no real competition in the marketplace between, for example, a lower paying job at a start up that may have a longer-time horizon but higher long-term benefits or an established company with higher salary. These situations blind young workers by making immediate return on investment the more attractive option when pharmacists are actually at the (most) ideal point in their career to embrace risk. Depending on your interests avoiding strictly (financial) bottom line thinking may be a good option.

Another factor that plays a part in the Money phase is that of the job market/opportunity. The days when a pharmacist could stroll into a retail store in the morning and be working that afternoon are largely behind us. The reality can be that finding an opportunity within a certain time frame, in a certain locale (especially densely populated areas) can be fickle. Oftentimes the choice can be take a less than ideal position now (certain hours, commute, etc), in order to lock in other desired traits (within your city, doing the work you enjoy or avoiding the work you hate). However, for young pharmacists, although you may have to take a position in order to tackle urgent financial concerns, it can be beneficial to be vigilant for opportunities that will line up with the more important later career priorities.

How can you avoid or address the trap of the Money Phase?

• Organizing finances and other responsibilities as soon as possible can help to decrease the perceived stress of financial decisions.
• Things like formulating plans for long term debt repayment, understanding financial options available via your employer (401k plans, pensions, student loan debt repayment), coming to terms (emotionally) with the fact that you have enough income to provide for your financial liabilities and debt burden, limiting significant unnecessary purchases until financial equilibrium and plans are in place can help you from falling victim to the pressure of the money phase.
• Understanding the realities of the job market and making sure that the job you do take addresses certain financial realities and will not prohibit you from seeking other opportunities. Being clear about your long-term career goals can also help you to avoid the trap of the Money phase.

Time

For many pharmacists after the initial concerns of the money phase have worn off the next career priority (Time) usually emerges as a career concern. This shift usually involves moving from that of a bottom-line focus to placing a higher priority on the ability of their job to accommodate their wider life experiences. This shift can occur for any number of reasons, but especially as people establish families and notice that certain positions are not conducive to allowing them to spend quality time with young children. However, a growing family is not the only impetus for the initiation of this phase. An interest in travel or a desire to invest more time in other opportunities may stimulate this phase. Aging parents or increased responsibilities may also be a reason for this phase in your career.

Typically transitioning into this phase happens after the initial panic of figuring out how you’re going to pay bills, student loans, and perhaps mortgage wears off. Creating financial stability in other areas of your life may create the desire to explore areas of life that school and income previously made impossible.

This career priority can be hastened by financial discipline. Once you realize that you need less than you make, you are in a position to take stock of the things that would make you happier in the day-to-day.

A time focus requires a longer-term mindset than that found in the money phase of your career. During this phase pharmacists may look for employment opportunities that allow more autonomy or whose hours don’t interfere with their new interests. Examples include finding a retail position that allows more time with family during the day, while overnight positions may become more attractive to pharmacists who want to be home for young children during the day. Pharmacists who want to be able to travel may seek week-on-week-off positions that allow long stretches away from work.

Purpose/Control

Purpose/Control: This purpose and control phase is usually achieved after financial pressures have been appropriately addressed, family and time demands are stable or manageable, and/or when a person has made a conscious choice to pursue work that satisfies some intrinsic need over external concerns. This phase is not constrained to pharmacists who are later in their career – but for pharmacists who faced significant financial or familial obligations, more time may be required for pharmacists to sufficiently tackle these challenges.

The number one priority of this phase is finding or creating work that feeds certain intrinsic rewards specific to each pharmacist. This may mean moving into management, or moving out of management in order to be more focused on patient interactions.

This also may mean taking positions that pay less or are in traditionally less desirable/rural areas in order to have a greater impact. This may also mean taking positions that involve greater risk than a traditional staff pharmacist role. Pharmacists who are seeking purpose may also feel led to seek ownership opportunities in independent pharmacies that allow direct community impact and less corporate-regulated patient care, or becoming a professor in order to impact the next generation of pharmacy students.

The control aspect of this career priority is actually a concept injected into the popular consciousness as a major driver of career satisfaction by Cal Newport, author of “So Good They Can’t Ignore You: why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love”. According to Dr. Newport and a large (and growing) body of research (Herman Miller), control is related to higher levels of job satisfaction and psychological comfort. This could mean control over the worker’s immediate physical environment, or controlling aspects of how the job done. (Sparks, Faragher, & Cooper, 2001) (Newport, 2012)

Control is one of the factors that most impact whether you will enjoy the work you do. Being able to choose what you do and by what method is a highly desired characteristic of employment. This is seen in the admiration that we hold for people who are able to “design their lifestyle” and work from anywhere. This priority is typified by people who are able to model and create work that allows them to design their working lives in ways that maximize their holistic life experience. Timothy Ferriss, author of the 4-hour Workweek, is an example of a person who is able to mold their work to serve their life and typify this type of purpose/control dynamic.

The notion that control is a valuable part of the equation for work happiness is pretty intuitive. Being able to decide what hours or how to accomplish the goals set forth by an organization in the manner you prefer can feel empowering and lead to greater work satisfaction. Contrasting that with highly regulated processes and prescribed workflows which are typically found at the beginning of one’s career path can be helpful in planning your career so that decisions can be made preemptively to ensure maximum career satisfaction. However, creating a career that allows you more control will require planning and calculated risks.

How can information about the different phases of career planning help you? By becoming familiar with the different phases of career priorities early on in your career you are given (in effect) a looking glass into the future. Being able to look past your current burning desire for a high-paying position may allow you to think longer-term and create a career plan that will satisfy more than a singular career priority. For student pharmacists at the beginning of their career, knowing that at some point they will be more concerned with creating a schedule to fit their familial needs may help them to prioritize a position where they’ll have options regarding their schedule along their career. Along the same lines, knowing that you have a burning desire (and ability) to be deeply involved in the care of critical care patients can help you to avoid stopping your education until you’ve achieved the level of control/purpose that you seek.

This can help you to avoid one of the control traps that can occur as you get better and better at your job. Cal Newport terms this trap “Control Trap #2” – which is where as you become better at your job (acquiring more and more career capital) you may seek things that benefit you (better position, more convenient hours, etc) but don’t necessarily benefit your current employer. This may prompt your employer to offer you more incentives to benefit them (better pay, more prestige, company car, etc). However, if you are in touch with what career priorities/phase are most important to you, you can make the choice that benefits you the most.

At the same time, these values do not exist in a vacuum. They are also seated in a world with only a certain number of FTE’s, and where opportunities do not appear just because you desire them. So there is a certain level of pragmatism and persistence (in addition to soft skills) required in order to make sure that you extract the most value from your career path. Balancing your knowledge with your career priorities and what phase you want to end up in, can help you to make decisions that are not bounded by your present circumstances and may help you navigate those times in life where it can be seemingly hard to make a choice because of all the noise and pressure around it. Keeping your career priorities at the top of mind can help you to cut through the clutter.

Love to hear you thoughts!

P.s. For pharmacists interested in a non-technical but great read about building a great career – check out Cal Newport’s Book: So Good They Can’t Ignore You

Works Cited

Herman Miller. (n.d.). Research Summaries. Retrieved 2016 йил 4-May from Herman Miller: http://www.hermanmiller.com/research/research-summaries/home-sweet-office-comfort-in-the-workplace.html#source20

Newport, C. (2012). So good they cant Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love. Grand Central Publishing.

Sparks, K., Faragher, B., & Cooper, C. L. (2001). Well-being and occupational health in the 21st century workplace. Journal of Occuaptional and Organizational Psychology .