Looking to Change Healthcare Jobs? VIP Is the Place for You.

Looking to change healthcare jobs? You’re not alone. Many healthcare providers are looking to make a change after the recent stressful years of the COVID-19 pandemic and its increased demand on healthcare workers.

If you’re looking to explore a different healthcare career path, ophthalmology is a natural choice. It’s a rewarding career path with the opportunity to help someone every day, plus the added benefit of a healthy work-life balance. Let’s take a look at an ophthalmology career path and your next steps for changing healthcare jobs.

Why Vision Health?

Vision health is a great field to build your career in. One of the largest benefits of vision health and healthcare fields, in general, is job stability. Healthcare jobs are always in demand, and as technology evolves, so do the different positions required.

Along with the rewarding benefit of making a difference in someone’s life every day, there will always be opportunities for growth and for employees to explore new career interests. The hours can be demanding in healthcare careers, but in vision health, the hours are closer to average work hours, enabling a healthier work-life balance. For example, employees may often have evenings, weekends, and holidays off.

Roles Available in Vision Health

There are several different roles available in ophthalmology, including, but not limited to:

• Registered nurse: A registered nurse (RN) prepares patients for their upcoming surgery.
• Ophthalmic technician: An ophthalmic tech ensures the clinical environment operates smoothly, documents patient history, and ensures the patient’s chart is updated.
• Surgical counselor: This role is vital to supporting patients and their families and providing information regarding financial counseling, financial obligations, and surgical care.
• Scrub/surgical technician: Individuals in this role assist in the nursing care preparation of surgical patients and assist with transporting and monitoring patients after surgical procedures.
• Clinical research coordinator: This role supports the research department and ensures tests, imagery, consent, and assessments are completed according to the research protocol.
• Optician: Individuals in this role adjust and repair glasses, educate patients on different lens styles, and take optical measurements.
  
  

A Personalized Experience with VIP

At Vision Integrated Partners (VIP), we encourage and support the professional growth of our employees. We sat down with Jessica Miller, an Operations Director at Discover Vision Centers, a VIP practice, to learn about her upward mobility in her career at VIP. Jessica started in the call center and was promoted multiple times up to her current role as Operations Director, thanks to her personal drive to succeed and the support of VIP.

Starting at Discover Vision Center in 2012, Jessica had a background in customer service and was a natural fit for the call center. Her desire to learn new roles and aptitude eventually led to her being offered new, exciting positions—including ones that were created for her due to her hardwork and commitment to learning new skills. 

Candy Simerson, Executive Vice President of Medical Operations for VIP, worked with the Discover Vision Center team to promote Jessica to her latest role. Candy said, “Jessica Miller has developed a remarkable list of accomplishments in her time with Discover Vision Centers. She started her eye-care journey at the call center several years ago and was recently promoted to Director of Clinical Operations. Jessica has strong operational skills, including data analytics and project management. I expect Jessica’s career pathway will continue and could eventually lead her to become a Chief Operating Officer.”

Jessica also said, “The team at VIP is very supportive of growth, and they want to give you all the opportunities you can to succeed in your role.”

Why Is VIP the Place for You?

Technology has the power to transform the way we work and how we help patients. As such, we make sure to stay up-to-date on the latest technologies. 

For example, some of the VIP surgeons offer Light Adjustable Lens as an option for patients needing cataract surgery or refractive lens exchange. These lenses can be customized after cataract surgery based on the patient’s lifestyle and goals, resulting in a more precise visual outcome.

We also recognize that in a post-pandemic world, many healthcare workers are experiencing burnout. To combat burnout, we ensure our employees are provided with a suite of benefits so they have what they need to stay happy and healthy. The benefits we offer our employees include:

• Excellent health insurance 
• Generous 401k matching program with immediate 100 percent vesting
• Paid time off with immediate accrual
• Paid holidays, available on day one
• Free counseling and support services
• Employee Perk Package
  
  

How to Get Started 

Once you’ve explored the various ophthalmology jobs available and decided on one that aligns with your interests, it’s time to send out your application. The first step is putting together a stellar resume and cover letter that highlights your skills and accomplishments and makes you stand out from the other applications. 

Once you’ve completed and sent your application, the next step is the interview process. To stand out in your interviews, we recommend:

• Showing empathy and compassion: These two important soft skills are a must-have for healthcare employees. Demonstrating that you have these qualities will help you stand out during an interview with VIP.
• Using the STAR method: Provide focused answers to interview questions by describing the situation, task, action, and result (STAR) that the interviewer has asked about.
• Showing your skills: Detail past experiences that showcase effective stress management, communication, teamwork, and your work ethic.
• Asking thoughtful questions: Come to your interview prepared with plenty of thoughtful questions to make sure that VIP is a good fit for you.

Find a Career You Love

Ready to change healthcare jobs to something with a better work-life balance and opportunities for growth? VIP is actively hiring across our medical practices and ambulatory surgery centers. Apply today to join our team!