Transform Clinical Skills into MedTech Success with Yera Patel DPT 059

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About Entering into the MedTech Space

Have you ever wondered how to successfully transfer your skills as a rehab professional into the MedTech space? Growing up in Central Jersey, Yera’s family’s deep roots in healthcare initially guided her toward a career in physical therapy. However, struggling with the increasing demands of her job and witnessing issues within the healthcare system during her mother’s health crisis, she sought a path that better aligned with the flexibility she desired and her career aspirations.

As she transitioned into her role as a Senior Performance Manager at Exos, managing health and wellness programs for Google’s New York offices, the skills Yera developed as a physical therapist were seamlessly integrated into her new corporate setting in MedTech. However, Yera discusses the psychological aspects of career transitions, including overcoming imposter syndrome and the tendency to view failures as growth opportunities. Her proactive approach to job searching, including networking and cold outreach, was instrumental in securing her position in the MedTech space.

In this episode, you will learn what MedTech is, how your skills as a rehab professional can be transferred into this crowded space, and how Yera navigated this journey into the MedTech space. Transitioning into MedTech proved to be a complex process but Yera gives us practical strategies for tailoring your resume and enhancing your skills. Upskilling, embracing change, overcoming imposter syndrome, and leveraging transferable skills are key elements in navigating this career transition successfully.

Her insights offer valuable lessons for anyone looking to navigate a successful career pivot, particularly in the ever-evolving MedTech space. Listen to this episode as Yera shares how it is possible to find success and fulfillment in new, uncharted territories of the MedTech industry with the right mindset and strategy.

Resources

This show is supported by

  • This month’s sponsor is Engage Movement, the go-to solution for rehab professionals looking to increase their earnings without extending their work hours. Visit EngageMovement.com/rehabrebels and use the promo code REBELS to unlock your training for FREE!

Transcript of Transforming Clinical Skills into MedTech Success

Intro 00:01

Welcome to the Rehab Rebels podcast. Are you a rehab professional ready to transition to an alternative career? Hear inspiring stories from others just like you and learn the best ways to bridge your career gap. This podcast has you covered. Now here’s your host, doctor of physical therapy and podcaster, Tanner Welsh. 

Tanner Welsch 00:21

Welcome back to another Rehab Rebel episode. Welcome back to another Rehab Rebel episode. In this episode, we’re going to interview Yera about transitioning into the MedTech space and her journey and transition to this new MedTech, what it is, how she navigated it, and go a bit deeper into her journey. So a little bit about her. She’s from Central Jersey yes, it exists. So you’ve lived in New York City for 10 years now and then went to physical therapy school at NYU, and I’m currently working as a senior performance manager at Exos. That’s exciting. A summary of what we’re about to get into. The takeaway for this particular episode is that recognizing when something isn’t quite right in our careers is the first step towards positive change. It’s crucial to listen to our instincts and be open to exploring alternative paths that align better with our passions and goals. Embracing change, overcoming imposter syndrome and leveraging transferable skills are key elements in navigating career transition successfully. So, with all that, welcome to this show, Yera. 

Yera Patel 01:31

Thank you, thanks for having me. I’m really excited to be here. 

Tanner Welsch 01:35

Yeah, me too. I’m excited to dive into this with you, and let’s just go to the bio first and just get this knocked out. The Central Jersey yes, it exists. What’s this about? 

Yera Patel 01:44

Tell us and just get this knocked out. The Central Jersey, yes, it exists. What’s this about? Tell us, yeah, you know, we’re our own unique experience in Central Jersey, and people try to act like there’s only a North Jersey and a South Jersey. No, there’s a Central Jersey. We are real. It’s not just about cork rolls and Taylor hams, but Central Jersey, we’ve got our own little bubble. You know we go to New York sometimes, we. But Central Jersey, we’ve got our own little bubble. You know we go to New York sometimes. We also go to Philly. Some people support the Giants, some people support the Eagles, and so I like to rep Central Jersey because that’s where I grew up and I believe we’re real. 

Tanner Welsch 02:14

Get it straight guys. 

Yera Patel 02:16

Thank you. That’s really the purpose of this podcast. I think, now that we’ve established that, you know we’re good, we’re good that you know we’re good, we’re good, Perfect. 

Tanner Welsch 02:27

So what made you? 

Yera Patel 02:28

decide to become a rehab professional in the first place. My mom is a nurse, as well as my sister, so we always grew up in a house where health care was was there. It was an industry we knew we wanted to explore Growing up. I love the security and, you know, the aspect of being able to help people and be there throughout their healing process. So I explored various routes, whether it be, you know, medicine or pharmacy, and everything that I dipped my foot into. 

02:54

With medicine, you know, I felt you weren’t really able to get to know the patient and that frustrated me. It was a lot of ins and outs and negotiating with insurance companies, which we do in PT as well. I’ve learned now, but I was looking for more of this connection with patients and when I did end up shadowing a physical therapist, it was really cool to see that you know PTs see patients two to three times a week for an hour and you really get to know the person on a deeper level, and I appreciated that about physical therapy. So once I started to really learn more about it, I knew that was the field that I wanted to get into. 

Tanner Welsch 03:32

That’s actually similar to what happened to me as well. I went out and tried some different professions and shouted them, and then one I actually didn’t think about was physical therapy. It was like one of the last ones and I went and checked it out and I was man. This seems really practical and I’m digging this. This is great. What were some of the first? Maybe a first sense of awareness that things weren’t quite right with the traditional you know, rehab career path that you were going down. 

Yera Patel 03:57

There was a certain change we were experiencing at one of the larger hospital systems in New York I was working at and things were getting a lot more saturated. Our schedules were, you know, maybe before there was a 30-minute block and you were able to cash up on documentation or talk to your co-workers, and, with the clinic being so backloaded, we were just getting patient after patient after patient and there was no more breaks in the day. It became really frustrating where, even if there was a sick day or, for instance, I had an emergency in my life where my mom was in the ICU for a couple of weeks and we found out that she needed this emergent surgery close to two weeks before. So I go to my supervisor, I need to clear out my schedule. I can’t be at work these two couple of weeks. I’m going to be in Philly with my mom at the hospital, and the protocol at that time was to be able to call every patient. You had to call each and every person and say, hey, I can’t come to work because of X reasons or whatever reasons or whatever. And so I start calling my patients and clearing my schedule for the week and literally there’s 12 people a day, right. So I’m calling a person and saying, hey, I can’t come. 

05:14

And people were frustrated rightfully so. They had waited for an appointment for months and now for me to cancel when one of the patients was dealing with a concussion and they were so eager to get in there. But it was also so disheartening for me as a clinician because at the same time I just knew I was trying to be there for my mom and I had people crying on the phone. I’m feeling guilt and I’m feeling this system has to work in a better way. This can’t be it. 

05:35

And it was just so challenging for me to navigate that. And then, you know, simultaneously, about a month and a half later, I’m in California with my sister who had transitioned into MedTech, the field that I’m in now, and I see her working from home, driving this impact. She was in sales and had learned so many new skills and I looked at that and I was like you know what? I think I got to make a change. I still cared a lot about health care I still do, you know but I needed to make an impact in a different realm and I didn’t think the hospital system and clinical care was really suiting me anymore. 

Tanner Welsch 06:10

For sure. Just want to clarify a couple of things. Were you in an inpatient hospital setting and they made you call all the patients in their rooms and tell them that you weren’t coming? 

Yera Pate l06:23

That would have been really insane. No, no, thankfully it wasn’t outpatient then. But, you know, affiliated with a really well-established hospital in New York and they had an intake vet who scheduled appointments. But in all honesty, they were just so overloaded. We had a team of 45 clinicians so intake staff couldn’t even take up this task anymore, so it was outpatient orthopedics. But I would call each and every patient and say, hey, we are canceling this appointment. Let me try to find another slot on somebody else’s schedule. But, mind you, you know, I think people who don’t work in health care don’t recognize that this is all extra time that clinicians stay after work to do right. You don’t have admin time blocked into your schedule. There’s no flexibility. So I’m coming in two hours early to work to be able to call patients and you’re still staying and working your shift, now being on the other side. I think these are realities that people don’t recognize. In healthcare there’s so much that you’re just doing outside of your shift to stay afloat. 

Tanner Welsch 07:23

Yeah, it’s something that isn’t right. People should get compensated for their time and we’re just getting taken advantage of most of the time. MedTech define MedTech in this MedTech space, or what is all that? 

Yera Patel 07:36

I’m in the corporate wellness tech space right now, but there’s a lot going on in MedTech. So COVID, I think, was a huge catalyst for us in healthcare, where a lot of hospital systems, including the one that I was at, shifted to telehealth very quickly. And it was really interesting because we recognized in COVID that, though we probably had the technology and the infrastructure to make these changes, it hadn’t happened right Until we had this massive catalyst to do so. It hadn’t happened right until we had this massive catalyst to do so. So during that time, I think we saw a lot of health tech and MedTech companies opening up as these point solutions to plug and play these issues that we were having in health care, whether it was patient access or socioeconomic barriers to health or specific issues like dealing with women’s fertility, and all of these really point solutions within health care. And so what’s exciting with that is, I think, that there’s a lot of room for health care practitioners to transition into these roles and perhaps learn new skills and contribute to health care innovation in unique ways. But it’s tricky because a lot opened up and not everything is effective. You know you can’t always plug and play point solutions without the evidence to back up that they’re working and they’re effective. 

08:53

I personally work at Google, actually through the company I’m at Exos, which has a vendor relationship with various corporate entities, and we manage their health and wellness offerings at those companies. So I’m on the Google account in New York City. Specifically, there’s fitness venues in each and every Google office. We plan larger community offering like 5Ks for the Google community. We have personal training that we offer. There’s a lot of really cool stuff, especially in tech. You know, I think they try to invest in employee health and so my company, exos, we navigate those program offerings. 

Tanner Welsch 09:31

And since we’re diving into that, is a lot of what you do virtual information or do you guys within your company also do personal training? So do you have personal trainers that are actually on site helping people with their fitness? 

Yera Patel 09:44

Yeah, so it’s actually fully on site. Google has close to maybe eight buildings in New York and at least three of them have staffed fitness sites within the building. We’ve got on-site coaches and practitioners that are there delivering personal training classes, practitioners that are there delivering personal training classes, and they are also involved in the larger wellness programs that we offer, whether it be global events like 5Ks and push-up and squat challenges and all of these things. But it’s fully on site and there’s an option to do so virtually, but a lot of people really interact with the practitioners and the fitness venues right there at work, which is really cool. 

Tanner Welsch 10:30

That is cool. Did you start in the senior performance manager role, or what was your initial step into? 

Yera Patel 10:32

EXOS. I did start in the management role. I was working as a physical therapist before but there was a lot I was involved in with our sports performance center at the hospital, involved in organization of that, and being able to be involved in with our sports performance center at the hospital, involved in organization of that, and being able to be involved in clinical education, was really helpful. So I think there were so many translatable skills that when I was interviewing for this position I was able to really leverage that as well to be able to make the transition and that’s huge. 

11:00

I think a lot of times when we I’m sure you see this speaking to so many clinicians, we don’t realize how much diverse skills that we have in clinical care and that’s translatable to other fields. And I think all of the verbiage when we look at job roles are so overwhelming. It’s like stakeholder management and customer success and what are all these words mean. But we’re doing a lot of that on a day to day. So a lot of what I was doing was so translatable. It was just being able to really understand that language and the vocabulary to speak to it. 

Tanner Welsch 11:33

For sure. What would you say are the skills that we learn in the rehab profession that you’re actually using? I mean, they just transfer over directly in this senior performance manager role. 

Yera Patel 11:46

Oh, wow. There’s just so many Working with patients on a daily basis. When we’re seeing 12 patients a day with so many diverse backgrounds and experiences and connecting with those people, that’s, in many ways, stakeholder management, right? Your patients are your stakeholders and you’re having to adapt and learn where they’re coming from and be able to create programs that resonate with them. And that’s customer success as well, right? Who knows customer success better than clinicians when we have to work under constraints and still deliver this optimal experience to every patient? 

12:23

So that was so easy to translate into this role. You know, it just felt intuitive because we were doing it all the time. For project management skills, I mean juggling 12 patients and then 30 minutes of doc time writing notes for 12 patients while filling out documentation forms, calling a patient if you need additional information, all of these things documentation forms, calling a patient if you need additional information, all of these things, juggling those tasks and the level of organization that you need. We do that on a daily basis, and so that was really easily translatable as well. Just learning the verbiage. Of course, learning how to create Gantt charts and learning the you know, vocabulary was important, but it was easily translatable in terms of you know what we were doing really is a lot of what you’re doing in those project management roles as well. 

Tanner Welsch 13:07

For sure. I want to dive in more into this, definitely around how you landed this role and found this role. But let’s back up first and get back into was there a specific moment that you realized that you know this traditional rehab path wasn’t for you, or a decisive moment? Ok, this happened. Now I’m going to go do something different. 

Yera Patel 13:28

I don’t know if it was a decisive moment. I wish I had that because I feel like it would make for a much better story, you know. But I think it was more of a slow burn of moments of stress, with taking care of my family and feeling my job wasn’t able to fully support that, or not having the flexibility to make my own schedule, and there were so many little things that I think caught up with me. It was more just slow frustration, you know, of wanting to be able to learn new skills and try new things, and I felt I was stuck in my role and I think that’s important to note because oftentimes, now that I’ve left, people assume that I experienced burnout right, everyone’s. 

14:12

Oh, you were burnt out. That’s why you left health care. It’s such an awful field right now. It’s not taking care of its clinicians and I wouldn’t even say it was burnout till the last day. I did enjoy what I was doing and I loved health care. I think I was more frustrated by the lack of lateral mobility and diverse experiences. Clinical care was great, but I wanted to be able to learn new things and try new things and I felt I wasn’t suited to do that in my role anymore, Absolutely. 

Tanner Welsch 14:41

How did you land on this MedTech space the tech side of health? Did you explore other alternative categories of where you could take your career? Why this specific MedTech thing? 

Yera Patel15:05

that were coming out during COVID. So I always had a pulse on that when I was in the hospital system of hey, you know what are people doing to innovate in the healthcare space, and so I don’t know if I really considered anything outside of that. You know, I think I looked at job postings and was curious, but I really was always channeled in the MedTech world. There was a couple of people I was following on LinkedIn that would post new jobs that had opened up weekly, and this one came up in corporate wellness with Exos, and I had heard of Exos before because they actually have physical therapy offerings and on-site clinics. 

15:36

The job role no information. It didn’t say Google, it didn’t say anything regarding the specifics of what I was doing, but I was like, hey, let me just interview you Diversely, I’ll get experience. Interviewing is hard. And then, once I learned more about the job, I thought, hey, this is actually pretty cool and I’ll be able to learn new things, which I am. We’re opening a new site, new Google building, in about a month, and I’ve been involved in managing the success of that, which is a totally new experience. It wasn’t very deliberate. I do feel like I just landed on something. So it was a mix of luck and consistent job searching, and here we are. 

Tanner Welsch 16:12

That’s cool, the finding the MedTech jobs. So let’s say somebody’s interested in exploring other MedTech possible career opportunities or job openings. What are some helpful websites? What are maybe some keywords that can help them navigate that specific niche of alternative careers? 

Yera Patel 16:32

LinkedIn is a great resource and you have to use it properly. Really, being able to network through LinkedIn is huge because, when it comes time to search for these jobs, having those connections and having referrals is really, really beneficial to actually talk to someone and interview so LinkedIn jobs. You know they’re always posting things up there, which is great, but even I think expanding beyond that is also important, because a lot of that content can be promoted. 

17:00

So you’ll see a job that’s been posted there a month ago but it’s still on the top of your list, right. So, those people that are interested in MedTech, there’s also a lot of really cool websites built in. You know NYC, for instance, has health tech postings that they post new roles that opened up within the day or within the last week and you can learn more about those companies and channel it according to what your interests are, whether it be customer success or analytics or DevOps. That’s a really great resource as well that I found that I’ve always kept an eye on, but I would say time is of the essence with it. It’s a tough job market. So if you see something you’re excited about, take a chance, apply, maybe network and message someone that you know is at the company and try to learn more or get a referral in there. But networking goes a really, really long way when you’re trying to make a pivot. 

Tanner Welsch 17:50

Would you say it’s fair to say that was actually pivotal or necessary in you landing this role Was the networking that you did and the connections that you made and all that. 

Yera Patel 18:02

I would say so 100%. I learned really quickly when I was pivoting that it was a saturated market this podcast is evidence of that that there are a lot of clinicians out there that we are excited and looking to do and try new things as well. So it was hard. I was applying to a lot of things really broadly and not hearing back for a very long time, and what I learned is that networking was really the key, you know. So I started inbox messaging people on LinkedIn. You know I would apply to a job and then I would find a counterpart role and connect and sometimes people don’t respond. Other times people are really generous and offer to speak with you on the phone, you know, and then would put a referral for you. I will say, every interview that I actually had without fail was because I got a referral or had connected with someone personally that was able to put in a good word or talk to their hiring manager. 

18:59

But just broadly applying through these websites and getting filtered through the ATS, it was tricky. I didn’t really have luck that way and landing my current role actually is funny. I ended up finding a counterpart position, another performance manager on the team at Exos and I guessed his corporate email about why I’d be a good fit and attached my resume and it landed on his inbox. He forwarded it to who is now my current manager and they interviewed me and that’s how I landed here. But if I was just sitting in a recruiter’s inbox with 200 other applicants, would I have been here? I don’t know, you know. So I do think networking is huge and getting really scrappy about it. You know cold email people, but it’s effective to really be able to connect and land the interviews that you want. 

Tanner Welsch 19:56

I was thinking about the same thing. You know sending out these cold emails and we actually talk and touch on this in episode 25 with Adam and talk about coffee chats is, I think, what we call them in that episode where you reach out to people on LinkedIn or you know social networks and really just try to drum up conversation about you, the role that you’re interested in and, again, like you mentioned, why you’d be a good fit, or just talk more about the company show you’re interested and yeah it seems to really move the needle to landing positions like this. 

Yera Patel 20:29

Yeah, and it just motivates you. Every conversation I had with someone in that space it was so great to understand why they had moved into that sphere and why they wanted to drive innovation in health care, and it’s really motivating in a job search to be able to talk to people like that and learn about what inspires them, because searching for a new job can be soul crushing in all honesty. You know so. People will try so hard to pivot and they get discouraged when they’ve applied to a couple of things and don’t hear back. But those connections can really go a long way and it’s great to hear people’s stories. 

Tanner Welsch 21:06

How many applications did you put out, would you say, or how many jobs did you apply for within this MedTech space before you actually were getting interviews back, and then you landed this job that you have now? 

Yera Patel 21:19

Oh, Tanner, I don’t even know how to answer that question. I mean, we’re probably talking hundreds. At first, I had such a beautiful little spreadsheet of this is the company I applied to. This is the pros and the cons, and I was doing such deep research into companies that I was interested in, and then I just gave up on that process because I was well, this is taking up a lot of time and I’m not always hearing back. I would say once I really started being able to network better, it was a much higher success rate of getting interviews and even figuring out if I wanted the job, but it was. It was a journey, though I would say we’re probably talking hundreds of applications, but it landed. You know, I think that’s the way the job market is right now, which is tough. 

Tanner Welsch 22:03

For sure. I had to ask because I remember in episode 25, where we talk about an alternative tech career path, Adam was saying he applied to hundreds also, and this is common within this particular space. That’s just what applicants do and what you have to do and do this networking if you’re actually going to get an interview and have a real shot at landing one of these jobs. So that’s wild. What was the time frame between starting to apply to these jobs to actually landing the current role that you’re in? 

Yera Patel 22:34

Close to a year I mentioned going out to Talley and being with my sister and watching her work remote. That was September, I remember, of that year, and then it was close till August of the next year, at which I had transitioned into the new position here at XO. So it took a long time, and I feel like I created a playbook that I haven’t put on paper yet, except, you know, emails to people that asked. But a couple of months was just applying and not even tweaking my resume right, just applying with the resume I had for clinical jobs, which got me nowhere. So at first it just made no sense. 

23:10

Looking back then you learn how to really fine tune your resume, which is also huge. All of that clinical experience, though it’s great and you’re so proud of it, maybe it’s not as relevant when you’re translating into different job roles. So it took close to a year, but it was worth it, because I think now, even when people reach out and ask for advice, I’m able to give them a breakdown of. This is how you can tailor your resume. This is how you start networking efficiently. That journey was really helpful. 

Tanner Welsch 23:38

There’s a couple of things that you mentioned. I think that really helped you. It was the interviewing that’s come up several times, and then catering your resume. Let’s say somebody is wanting to go down the path that you did, this MedTech path, and they want to improve. We’ll start with the resume. They want to improve their resume to cater towards the MedTech role or job that they’re wanting to do. What would you recommend and or is there any resources that you found super helpful to be able to accomplish this goal? 

Yera Patel 24:08

I did upskilling a lot initially and I think that was the first step. I took project management courses. I took one through Villanova which was close to six months long, but it was helpful because, in all honesty, I was also able to understand the job roles a lot more Initially in the search. You know, I’m looking online and I’m what do these positions even mean? I think learning the verbiage was really helpful and learning to how to be able to organize things in a better way. So I did, you know, upscaling on my own with that. I took a couple of UX courses to learn the user experience and help tech, because a lot of companies you know are in the product space. So I wanted to be able to understand that mentality of how they’re navigating those changes. 

24:53

But initially, I would say, with the resume, it was really important to be able to translate clinical skills into skills that make sense when you’re applying to these roles. So again, if you’re treating 12 patients a day, that’s great, but how are you really being able to engage with customers? How are you connecting with customers in a way that makes sense and don’t lie? But definitely translate language-wise is important because, just like we don’t understand, perhaps, project management language initially. Similarly, when we’re talking about healthcare and EMR and documentation that doesn’t land to somebody in health tech that’s not a clinician, and wherever you can to make it quantifiable with metrics of this is the impact I made you know, and it’s so clear on paper to see why you would be a good fit for that role. 

25:44

So changing that language is important, making it quantifiable and changing the order of things. You know the amount of times people have shown me a resume and their education is the first thing at the top. But they graduated 10 years ago and they’ve got such awesome experience after. Put that at the top, reorder things because, honestly, most often a recruiter is looking at your resume or hiring manager and in 10 seconds maybe less, maybe three seconds, right they’re deciding if they should even email and interview you. Those things, I think, are really important. 

Tanner Welsch 26:18

For sure and I love hearing about you really learned new skills and took new coursework to be a better fit for this particular the MedTech space, with project management courses and then the UX courses. I think that’s awesome. Were there any other courses that you know you took or you felt that you really needed to take to be able to, you know, maybe up to speed or qualify for some of these MedTech roles? 

Yera Patel 26:41

Yeah, definitely. I like learning a lot and to the point that I could enjoy just spending an evening on Coursera hours just learning new things, and it’s something I enjoy. So sometimes I have to actually put a block on myself to say, ok, this is enough for today. Now I have the luxury of $5,000 Con Ed through ATSOS yearly, which is huge, you know, and that’s a big blessing because in healthcare oftentimes we don’t have a budget that large. So since then, you know, I’ve taken product management courses to really understand product roadmaps better and how to successfully launch new products. That’s been really helpful. I’ve taken coursework on Coursera, which has been really helpful, about healthcare analytics and now AI in healthcare to see what that impact is like and how those initiatives are made, and it’s really interesting. 

27:33

So I would say when I was looking for a job, it was tricky because upskilling is expensive. So I had to be really particular about what I wanted to put my money towards and that’s why I chose that Villanova course. But there’s a lot out there. It doesn’t always have to be a course that you spend a lot of money on and put on your resume, even if you’re just taking a free YouTube course and learning language and learning the concepts to be able to really speak to it and apply it. That’s powerful as well. 

Tanner Welsch 28:02

For sure, upscaling. You keep saying upscaling. 

Yera Patel 28:26

I am not familiar with what upscaling is. Can you tell us to upskill in the position to be able to take coursework or to learn, you know, new things, to then deliver in that new capacity? So we’re doing it all the time, and I remember one day I came to work and I had a TMJ patient on my schedule. I never treated TMJ before and all I remembered from preschool was a little bit about a disc and oh, I don’t really know how to diagnose this though. So even that week I remember upskilling, but it’s just really a term of just learning new, new thing that you need for your position. 

Tanner Welsch 29:00

Thanks for explaining that. The interviewing part we you know, mentioned the resume and then this additional coursework. What were some things that were really helpful for improving your interview skills? And maybe even falls into the same category as networking with some of these employees or the companies you’re applying to, or is there any courses you did on that, or mock interviews, or how did you improve your skills there? 

Yera Patel 29:25

Interviewing itself was huge practice, even roles that maybe I wasn’t super keen on. If I got an interview, I would take it always, because you never know what questions are going to be asked and any opportunity you have to interview is practice, even if you’re not in love with the job. So I remember one time I went on an interview, which is just funny. So I remember one time I went on an interview which is just funny I was asked to explain 10 different ways to make the process of making a pizza and then getting it delivered to the customer faster, so making it more efficient On the spot. I’m sitting there, more delivery drivers, you know, more ovens, whatever, but it’s funny. You never know what they’re going to ask you right, but being prepared and interviewing itself is a huge skill. You never know what they’re going to ask you right, but being prepared and interviewing itself is a huge skill. Beyond that, it was helpful to just take courses and learn. 

30:17

A little hack that I really liked was you often get situational questions of describe a time that you were involved in process improvement, for instance, and a framework that I really loved was the STAR framework. So when you’re answering an interview question, you start by describing the situation or the scenario in detail of what you were involved in. Hey, this is the problem at hand. We needed to improve our EMR system and people were documenting for way too long for an initial eval. And then you move into the T of STAR of the task. 

30:45

You know, what did you do? What were the actual things that you were able to outline to address? A is action how did you act upon it? And then R is the result. So what was the result? But it was really interesting to learn those things because I think before I was going in blind, didn’t know what would be asked and I was often just babbling. One guy I really liked was Andrew DeCevita. I think he’s got a YouTube channel that I really liked and talked a lot about interview skills. But it was helpful to learn those frameworks. 

Tanner Welsch 31:14

Yeah, like a structure, a template, to be prepared for the actual interview. For sure, we’ve talked about, I think, some struggles and transitions throughout our conversation, but I just wanted to open it up and ask what was a personal struggle that you went through going through this transition into this alternative career space, and how did you overcome it? Because I imagine there’s probably a few different barriers that you had to get through to be able to actually go from treating in a clinic, one-on-one with patients, to getting to where you are now. So what’s something that really comes to mind and you feel would really resonate with others that are trying to do what you have done? 

Yera Patel 31:52

It’s not much of a practical thing, but fear was just huge for me, and I know we touched upon discussing imposter syndrome, but for me that was a huge barrier of just feeling I was applying to positions or interviewing and not feeling I was up to par or, as a clinician, I had the experiences that would make sense for it. And sometimes it feels the job search process itself reaffirmed that for you, because you get so many denials or sometimes rejections literally hours after you applied and you’re like, oh my gosh, I just sent this application in, how could you reject me this quickly? So it’s a tough process and I think at times it just starts to be something you internalize of OK, you know, I’m just not equipped. There’s so many people out there that are more equipped for this position than I am, that have MBAs and advanced degrees. Why am I even trying? And so I think the fear of failure and imposter syndrome was really difficult. 

32:55

But getting over that and framing everything as a growth opportunity was so much better for my success in landing the role that I wanted, but also just being able to persevere and have the energy to. So when I failed at an interview and when I got a rejection letter, sometimes after five, six rounds of interviews. There was one position that I really cared about six rounds of interviews and prep and time and I got a rejection afterwards for that role. I allowed myself to wallow. You know you’re allowed to feel OK, maybe it’s not going to happen. And then a couple of days later it was just OK. What did I learn? What questions from that interview were things that I tripped up on a little bit. You know that I could improve the answer for next time. What is the growth that comes from this? And you get better. Every interview, practical thing that helped me in the journey. But really just tackling that fear and maybe when you feel uncomfortable, do it. You know that probably means that you’re going to grow from that experience. 

Tanner Welsch 33:55

What do you think helped you get over that fear and overcome that imposter syndrome? 

Yera Patel 34:00

Just continuing to run towards that feeling of discomfort. It’s so counterintuitive and we don’t want to do that, but anytime I felt that feeling of those butterflies or that discomfort, I’m okay, I have to do this, and it went to the extreme. You know it’s funny. Last year, after I got the job I really want to just tackle this in multiple realms I did an open mic. You know, I grew up singing, I was in choir for years and years but I hadn’t sang publicly in so long. And I got to do an open mic, I got to challenge this. I don’t want to feel fear and so probably to this ridiculous level, but it helps, right. Anytime you feel really, really scared to do something, you do it and then the next time it feels a little less scary. So I think it was just exposure and continuing to reflect afterwards, if there was failure, of what could have been done better, and not taking it personally. 

Tanner Welsch 34:52

I love that. You’re definitely talking about a growth mindset versus a fixed mindset, so I love all this growth mindset stuff. That’s great. What do you love most about your new reality? 

Yera Patel 35:02

That’s a great question. There’s a lot I love about it. I would say the flexibility coming from healthcare is really huge to be able to make my own schedule. My current role is hybrid, so I can work two days from home and then three days in the office. And the flexibility to say, okay, you know, even if it’s a day full of meetings, if I can schedule it in a way of I’ve got a 15 minute break here because I want one, or I want to take a walk, and so I’m going to ask this person to shift the meeting and they’re okay doing so and whatever it might be. 

35:38

You don’t have that in healthcare because it’s just back to back, patient after patient, and oftentimes to the point that you’re not even able to take a sip of water. Right, it’s tough. So it’s been huge to just be able to actually make my own schedule and have that flexibility. Not always, you know, busy times like right now, it’s a really busy season. It’s tougher, but it’s still huge to be able to just pencil in little slots when you need it for yourself. 

Tanner Welsch 36:03

I love that flexibility and it sounds like it’s a lot easier to really have more of self-care within your daily schedule, which definitely we don’t get in health care. I have to ask did you still keep your license or did you just, nope, let it go? 

Yera Patel 36:19

No, I did. I think it would break my heart if I let my license expire. So I kept it and I still treat. Actually, I am working through this health tech company, kins, that uses this multi-modal model of care, as they say, so you can treat either virtually or in person at the patient’s home. So a couple of times a week, sometimes two, three times a week, I’ll go see a patient in the evening. It’s still something that gives me a lot of joy, but being able to do it again in a more flexible way and it’s not the only role that I that I’m doing in a day I’ve been really enjoying that. So I still have my license and no plans to get rid of it anytime soon. 

Tanner Welsch 36:59

Awesome. Last question here to wrap up what is obvious to you now? That maybe you struggled to see in the moment, back when you were working in the traditional rehab field and you know, to getting to where you are now. 

Yera Patel 37:13

When I was working in health care, it just felt this crazy impossible task to pivot Again. It was confirmed when I tried. But I think, understanding that anything can be learned and oftentimes people don’t know what they’re doing in their role and not in a way that they’re incompetent I don’t mean that at all. I just mean we don’t always have answers Right. And so I think when I was in health care I would look at these positions and roles and I’m well, how will I ever learn how to do this successfully? 

37:42

And even when you enter the corporate space which I’m in now, I realize that people are winging things. You know we’re learning as we go and even if you’ve come to the role with a certain background, it’s still challenging to be decisive in that position, and especially when you’re working in tech and things move quickly and you’ve got to be agile. It’s helpful now to have that hindsight of again how much you can grow and learn and adapt from your peers as well and to learn new things, because I think in health care it just seemed impossible when everything was foreign. The language is foreign, industry felt foreign. So it all can be learned and we can all grow and achieve what we need to, you know, but it’s helpful to know that now. 

Tanner Welsch 38:23

Absolutely, it is possible. You’re proof. 

Yera Patel 38:26

I’m happy to be proof and anytime anybody needs advice or is struggling to make that pivot, I’m happy to be a resource or to even share in the misery of job searching sometimes. 

Tanner Welsch 38:38

For sure. We’ll include everything we talked about in the show notes and then your LinkedIn contact and all that so people can reach out to you. Ira, thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to share your story and give us some insights on your alternative transition, and thank you so much for joining me. 

Yera Patel 38:53

Thanks, tanner. This was great Loved being on here and, yeah, happy to connect with anyone that wants to chat. 

Outro 39:00

Thank you for listening to the Rehab Rebels podcast. If this podcast was useful, make sure to hit that subscribe button and leave a review. For more information about transitioning to alternative careers, head to rehabrebels.org or follow us on Instagram at Rehab Rebels podcast. We’ll see you next time. 

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