From Occupational Therapist to Successful Recruiter with Wen Hung OT 061

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About Becoming a Recruiter

What does being a recruiter look like? Wen Hung, a former rehab professional, made a successful career shift to become logistics and supply chain recruiter. Her journey is a testament to the importance of prioritizing personal well-being and family, even if it means making significant changes in one’s professional life.

Wen’s career transition began with a realization that her current role in rehab was no longer aligning with her personal values and lifestyle needs. The challenges of limited maternity leave and the impact of COVID-19 on her work-life balance prompted her to reconsider her career path. Through a friend’s advice, she found an opportunity to be a recruiter, which allowed her to work from home and focus on her family while still making a meaningful impact by helping others find better job opportunities.

In this episode, you will learn the differences between the potential earnings and challenges of full-time and commission-based roles, the best platforms for finding job opportunities as a recruiter, the traits that make a successful recruiter, the income fluctuations that you can experience, and passive income sources such as rental properties.

Wen leveraged key traits of successful recruiters, such as organization, analytical skills, and resilience against rejection. She also utilized self-directed learning and minimal formal training to gain the necessary skills and knowledge and excel in her new role, demonstrating that with the right mindset and determination, anyone can successfully navigate a career transition.

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 From OT to Recruiter

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 Rebels episode. This episode is to showcase alternative careers, and this particular alternative career is in recruiting. Today, we’re going to interview Nguyen, who transitioned into a recruiting role. She is from Indonesia, attended Columbia University College of Physician and Surgeons, and then she’s currently recruiting in the logistics and supply chain sector. And a big takeaway from this interview is prioritizing personal well-being and family needs is essential, even if it means transitioning to a completely different career path. Recognizing when a profession doesn’t align with our values and lifestyle is crucial for long-term fulfillment. Moreover, embracing opportunities even in unfamiliar territories can lead to unexpected success and a better work-life balance. So with that Wen, welcome to the show. 

Wen Hung 01:20

Hi Tanner, Thanks for having me here. 

Tanner Welsch 01:23

Yeah, let’s go ahead and dive into the journey and the start to you. What would you say was maybe the first signs of awareness that the traditional rehab role and career wasn’t really a good fit or it wasn’t working out no longer for you? 

Wen Hung 01:42

That was when I had kids. So before I had kids, I was working overtime, sometimes seven days a week, because we were so patient-centered. But once I had children, I realized that I was needed more at home and I wanted to be at home a lot more. Healthcare just doesn’t provide that kind of flexibility, and that’s what I started thinking is this what I should be doing, full time right now and putting my family in the backseat? 

Tanner Welsch 02:08

Absolutely. Was there a decisive moment that you realized you know this rehab career is no longer for you or, you know, did something happen and because of that particular moment it was OK, yeah, I’m doing something different from here on out? 

Wen Hung 02:23

I think, two major incidents. First, of course, was the limited maternity leave that we were given and I wasn’t allowed to or able to take more time. And then COVID hit and, like everybody else, we had to scramble and I had to do child therapy and day care was close, we were multitasking a little bit. Some incidents happened, like my son, who was at the time eight months old. Day care was close, and we were multitasking a little bit. Some incidents happened, like my son, who was at the time eight months old, I think. He tried to climb up the stairs and fell. You know it was only two steps, but I was in the middle of a session so I had to lunge and grab him, make sure he was okay. So yeah, it was those. Two major incidents really just made me think. Maybe this is just not something that I can do right now while being the most present and available parent. 

Tanner Welsch 03:07

Yeah, I’m curious the backstory with how you landed the recruiting role. There are many different alternative career paths. Can you give us a little bit of backstory as to either why this particular one and or how did you actually land this particular one? 

Wen Hung 03:23

Sure, yeah. So I got really lucky. My friend has been a recruiter for 30 years in logistics and supply chain and he’s always said you know, you should try to be really good at it. And I had no idea what the supply chain was. I also didn’t really know what hooting involved. But we moved to San Diego. My family and I moved to San Diego two and a half years ago and I was in between jobs thinking, well, do I go back to OT or do I pursue something else? And so my friend said, well, you’re not doing anything right now, might as well try it out. There’s no commitment, it’s a 100% commission-based position. So I did. I didn’t even submit my resume. So I got really lucky. That way he worked with an agency. 

Tanner Welsch 04:19

The owner was really open to give me a chance. So, yeah, that’s where we got started. My friend mentored me, taught me everything. The whole process taught me about logistic. There was also a lot of self-teaching on my part, but yeah, that’s how I got you know, other than the opportunity was right in front of you. Was there something that was really interesting about it or that? Okay, yeah, this seems like it would be a good fit for me, kind of thing. 

Wen Hung 04:31

Well, it was still helping people in a way. So I like that because, again, most healthcare professionals we are by nature, we’re just, we like to help people out, we like to problem solve. So I like the fact that I would be helping people find better positions, better salaries maybe, and I’m also helping companies find ideal candidates to join their team. And then I also loved that I can work home. I can set my own hours. That was a huge draw for me. 

Tanner Welsch 05:00

For sure. Was there any additional training or coursework that you had to go through to be able to do your job or qualify for the position? 

Wen Hung 05:10

Not necessarily. I took, I think, one or two LinkedIn courses just, but it, you know it wouldn’t have affected my job performance either way. I just took it just just to get some background in recruiting and diversity and inclusion just to get some background in recruiting and diversity and inclusion. Most of the time that I just read articles on my own. I followed some recruiters on YouTube, on Instagram, you know, just to see what their process is. I had to learn about duality in searching, so there were a couple of technical things that I definitely had to YouTube and learn on my own and listen. Thank goodness for technology and social media right, because where where we would be? So yeah, so it was a lot of self-teaching and deep diving into Google. 

Tanner Welsch 05:49

Was that, both before applying to the role and getting accepted and also during actually being employed, like learning and refining your skills further too? 

Wen Hung 05:58

It was after I accepted the recruiting role and I just start deep diving into what do I need to learn? The technical stuff and also the processes, because I think every recruiter has a slightly different process, so I just had to come up with my own style. So that was interesting. 

Tanner Welsch 06:15

I love that. Yeah. What are some personal struggles, or maybe one that stands out to you, going through this transition, finding this alternative career that you were in now, and how did you overcome that? 

Wen Hung 06:29

Well, it was definitely going into a whole new sector. Like I said, I didn’t know what logistics and supply chain was, so I had to read up on it. There’s a lot of educational material out there that various companies provide. That was, I think, the most, and it’s still a challenging part for me. Learning how to speak corporate is also different, because at Health Care we’re so straightforward, right when we’re just, this is your diagnosis, this is the treatment plan. We just get right to the point. And in corporate, you know, I had to learn all that corporate lingo, so that was, that was also a learning curve for me. 

Tanner Welsch 07:05

What would you say was at risk if you didn’t pursue this alternative career and you didn’t take this opportunity? 

Wen Hung 07:10

I would say probably my mental health and also being available to my kids. Yeah, I was definitely noticing that I wasn’t as patient with them when I was working in healthcare full time, so that was definitely a change, just being able to be with them and setting my own hours. So I would do a chunk of my recruiting work at 9 pm, after I put them to bed, you know, and all the chores are done. That’s when I would start hunkering down and doing my sourcing and schedule sending emails. So, yeah, I think the mental health aspect of it and you know mental health but I also think that as a happiness and being present, I think that would have been a huge part that I sacrificed had I continued to go to be in healthcare full time. 

Tanner Welsch 07:51

Absolutely. Was there other alternative careers that you were looking into and or applying to? Did you like field test a couple other places before you actually landed this recruiting role? Or was it just you were solely focused on this recruiting role and that’s what you stuck to and that’s how you got where you’re at? 

Wen Hung 08:09

No, actually I did teletherapy for a little bit, just, you know, agency based with a school that I never worked with. That was a little challenging because I didn’t have any connections with the student or the school, so it was very impersonal and I did not enjoy that. So I did that for about eight months. And then I did a contract patient education role for a medical device company where I would go and teach patients how to wear the garment. It was almost doing an evaluation as OTs and PTs. It’s just a one stop and then you never see them again, you never know how they progress. That again was not very satisfying for me. I did a course on UX UI and decided that tech was not for me. So yeah, so I explored a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and then that’s when protruding fell into my lap and it just took off. 

Tanner Welsch 08:59

Nice, the courses that you’re referencing. Were they all on LinkedIn or where would somebody find some of these courses that you’re talking about? 

Wen Hung 09:07

Coursera has a lot of really useful courses and it’s just introduction to whatever it could be UX, UI, account managing, data analysis. I definitely recommend Udemy has a lot of intro courses as well for people who are thinking about looking at other options in career. 

Tanner Welsch 09:25

For sure. What were maybe some of the first signs of traction with this new recruiting role? That, oh man, this actually can work. I see myself doing this long-term and everything was coming together for you. 

Wen Hung 09:37

I think it was the speed that I made my first placement. So in recruiting they always say that you build up a network first, so don’t expect a placement until your third or fourth month. And I made my first placement within a month. I found my first candidate in two weeks and then, you know, started the interview process and salary negotiation. Well, actually I did my first two placements within a month of starting the position. So I was like, well, maybe I’m talented at this. So I think the immediate progress definitely was encouraging. And then it just went from there. I just had really good results that first year. 

Tanner Welsch 10:19

What would you say was the difference between, or maybe what have you learned from being outside of this particular recruiting role to actually being in it? Now you know what are some things that you can say about it that you know for sure from being in it, experiencing it and working in it that you didn’t know before. That would maybe be good to have known before. Or if there’s somebody else that’s thinking about going in the recruiting role, that they don’t know what it’s like because they haven’t worked in that role. But what would you share with them? That’s, man. I wish I would have known this before. 

Wen Hung 10:51

I think in healthcare we are always so on demand so we don’t really see the absence well, of the job market. That’s what I’m learning right now. A lot of companies had a hard time last year. 2023 was tough for everybody tech, furniture, logistics especially so I’m seeing now that when the market isn’t good and there are layoffs, then recruiters don’t really have anything to do, right, Nobody’s hiring. I’m having candidates come to me and say, well, I just got laid off, Can you find me something? And it’s a tough conversation I have with them and that the job market is just not looking very positive these days. That’s a hard lesson for me and it’s a big change from coming from healthcare when we’re always just sought after there’s always job in healthcare. 

Tanner Welsch 11:38

So with that, does your actual work have ebbs and flows where there’s some, you know, weeks or months maybe that there is no placement that you’re able to make, just because of how the economy is and things, and so you maybe have to budget differently for having some months that you don’t get as much income or compensation because of how the industry or economy is. 

Wen Hung 11:58

For sure. Yep In 2022, the job market for logistics and supply chain it was booming. So there were weeks when I was doing 40 hours and I made maybe three placements a month. And then we come to 2023 and I maybe did one placement every two months. It was just slower. Nobody was hiring. People are getting laid off. So, yeah, you definitely have to expect it and budget accordingly. It’s like we’re to be like a steady paycheck. 

Tanner Welsch 12:28

With that. Since we’re kind of on the topic, do you do anything else on the side? Do you have any other jobs, or is there any passive income that’s set up or properties or rental properties or something that keeps you afloat whenever you know you’re not having as many commissions or paycheck coming in? 

Wen Hung 12:44

Yeah, I have two rental properties, one in New York City, one in San Diego, although ironically I just put both on the market. Well, last week. If anybody wants to buy a condo in New York City, let me know. So I did have those two rental properties and I am actually flipping it to. Now I’m buying properties in Georgia. Just you know, I looked at the overhead taxes. So, yes, I definitely rely on rental income. I love property, I love real estate. In a different life I would have been a real estate broker. So I definitely love having that passive rental income, for sure. 

Tanner Welsch 13:18

I wasn’t intending to get on this topic but since we’re on it, I’m interested myself in rental properties. I don’t have any experience in it, I haven’t taken the plunge, but is there a resource or how would you recommend getting started and learning and growing within that particular income stream? 

Wen Hung 13:36

There is a podcast that’s very interesting. It’s all about real estate and it covers passive income and what states to buy. I just listened to an episode where they say that big college football states are very good for rental properties. Let’s say Michigan. There’s Alabama, so there’s that, and then I just always tune up on real estate. Landlord-tenant laws are very important. Like in California, it’s very tenant-friendly. So as a landlord, it’s very hard to be a landlord here, so that’s why I’m selling my San Diego property. But yeah, I think it’s just a lot of just reading and listening to podcasts and I’ll send you the one that I’m listening to Tanner. It’s very interesting. It goes over a lot of e-lock and should you buy a rental property? Should you pay for it by cash or things like that. Definitely interesting topic. Yeah, Wonderful. 

Tanner Welsch 14:27

Yeah, I’m looking forward to getting the link there and we’ll include that in the show notes too. What are maybe some practical not obvious skills that make you a great fit for the work you do now? 

Wen Hung 14:40

So I’ve always been told early on by candidates and clients. They always say, wow, you listed a lot more than other recruiters. And I do find that because I have now worked with other recruiters. Either we’re called jointly or we’re working on the same team and they talk a lot, because I feel like recruiters are kind of like sales we’re selling a candidate a job and we’re selling companies our candidates so they tend to talk more and they listen. And my calls are 80% consists of me listening, 20% consists of me telling the candidate this is what the company is looking for and this is why I think you’d be good at this position or you’d be good to sit for this team. I think listening is one of my superpowers and that definitely comes from being in the healthcare world for 20 something years, where we’re just really, really listening, not just verbal but also nonverbal. Right the pauses. If you’re in person, you’re looking at posture, facial expressions. That’s what we’re good at. But, yeah, listening is really important. 

Tanner Welsch 15:41

For sure. Let’s say somebody wants to research some job opportunities that are related to recruiting, where would they go to look for, like, a list of potential openings or jobs that are in their recruiting realm? Is there a certain platform that they’re on or certain keywords that they should be using to try to find these opportunities? 

Wen Hung 16:00

That’s a great question. A lot of people have asked me that I like LinkedIn because there’s a lot of jobs posted on LinkedIn and LinkedIn is a social media platform at this point. So I always tell people to connect with as many recruiters as possible, as many recruiting firms as possible, because you never know if somebody will give you an opportunity with no experience. So LinkedIn is a big one and actually I just did a search yesterday because my friend asked me, and there’s a few entry-level recruiting positions posted right now for various it’s usually 1099 commission-based positions, so you have to be ready for that. That is only commission-based. You’re not going to get any hourly salary or benefits, so you have to be ready for that. 

16:41

Another website is Reload and it gives you a taste of recruiting, but it’s almost. They’ll pay you just to refer a candidate. So that’s always an interesting starting point. There’s no investment in it. You sign up for it and then you’ll see a list of jobs that are open and then there’s an icon to refer a candidate to apply for the job yourself, and then it gives you the monetary value of referring a candidate. So I think that’s an interesting website if you just want to dabble a little bit in recruiting and see if you have a knack for it. 

Tanner Welsch 17:12

For sure I love that source. Thanks for sharing that. What do you love most about your new reality as a recruiter? 

Wen Hung 17:19

The flexibility hands down Working from home whatever hours I want to. Like I said, I do a lot of my work at night that allows me to pick up my kids, drop off my kids, take them to all their after school activities and be the flexibility Love that. 

Tanner Welsch 17:34

What would you say comparing, maybe income-wise or salary-wise, on average, what a recruiter makes to what you were making in the rehab field? Tell us what people can expect in those different income streams. 

Wen Hung 17:48

I’m going to compare this to healthcare work in contract as a 1099, because, again, benefits are just a whole different income that we can compare it to. So my husband and I actually sat down and calculated and I may shoot it three times more per hour doing recruiting than doing home care right now in OT and we’re taking the California rate, which is about anywhere from I’m going to say 45 to 60 an hour per visit. So we actually sat down because I was, or should I go back into OT? You know, I’m still keeping my license active, I’m still doing the CEUs. 

18:22

He’s a business owner, so he’s very good with these numbers. So he sat down and he’s like okay, let’s take your income based from last year, which was a slow year for recruiting, and he said give me the best case scenario for home care in San Diego. So he did and he said yep, you’re going to have to work for every one hour that you do in recruiting. You’re going to have to work for every one hour that you do recruiting, you’re going to have to do three home care visits, including driving right, including lifting, transferring, reading and investing all those equipment right. There are bands and all that. 

Tanner Welsch 18:55

Who do you feel would be a good fit to be a recruiter? Maybe personality type or daily tasks that you have to do? If you’re going to hire somebody to work under you in this role, what would you be looking for? Who would be a good match? 

Wen Hung 19:09

Somebody who is really organized, analytical even, who can handle rejection, because you will get rejected a lot as a recruiter and you can’t take it personally. And I say organization because you’re going to have to remember which client needs, what position sells and what candidate has what background story and talent and stuff like that. I don’t have the best memory. I call it mom brain and so I’m constantly taking those. I have pages and pages of Word documents on my laptop just to keep everything organized. So I think somebody who’s definitely those are the main traits I think that would make you good at this job. 

Tanner Welsch 19:47

I’m imagining myself in a recruiting role and I see myself having a mental struggle with if I put quite a bit of effort and time into somebody but then nothing actually comes of it. Was that time wasted? 

Wen Hung 20:11

You know, and if that keeps happening over and over and over again, it seems discouraging. Can you talk to us a little, maybe a little bit about that or how you manage? That Took me about, I’m going to say, eight months. It was for a senior accounting role and the company just had very specific demand. I won’t say I’m on the verge of quitting. Even my boss said maybe you should step away from this and I was like no, because that’s just my personality, I’m just. You know, the more challenging it is, the more I’m going to go at it. But yeah, even he offered me you should step away. You know, maybe you’re wasting your time and I said no, no, no, I’m going to find somebody for this position. I know I can do it. 

20:45

And then we did at the end, but it took a solid eight months. However, within those eight months, I am working on 10 other places. So that’s the beauty of recruiting too. You’re not just working on one project, I’m going to say replacement You’re. You might be working on 10 different things. That’s part of the job really, and things that’s part of the job really, and some go quick. I’ve done places. In two weeks I found another accountant position, you know, within the same day I found the person and then it was just the interview process, salary negotiation. That took two weeks, but within a day, you know, the first interview, the guy was like you know, she’s the one for us and that was it. And some just take for a runner, yeah. 

Tanner Welsch 21:21

Do you get to choose these positions that need filling, or are they just given to you and then you’re expected to find somebody? 

Wen Hung 21:28

I can because it’s a contract position. So I work for an agency and also I’m an external recruiter, which means that I don’t work for a specific company. I work with an agency, right? Contract therapist you can pick what patient you want to see, for how long you know. Let’s say I want to work on this position. I’ll tell the agency owner, can I take a crack at this? And he’ll usually say yes, he’s really good about giving us options. And then let’s say I’ve been working on this position for six months and I’m just having no luck at it. I’ll ask my team does anyone want to take over? I’m just not having any luck with this position? And usually somebody will say, yeah, sure, I’ll take over. So there’s definitely a lot of flexibility with this agency that I’m working with. 

Tanner Welsch 22:12

Are you employed by the agency or you just have the contract between you and the agency? 

Wen Hung 22:18

It’s a contract. A lot of us have side gigs. I think one of the people working in the agency has their dog toy business or something. So a lot of us have different side gigs and then we do this as well. 

Tanner Welsch 22:31

Okay, I’m curious about the contract. I would have no idea where to start when trying to set up a contract in this particular job. How did you manage that and how did you end up setting up the contract? Or what resources did you use? How did all that come together? 

Wen Hung 22:46

Oh, the owner gave me the contract to sign. So he’s been doing recruiting for 35 years as well, so he obviously knows what to write in the contract and whatnot. I think there’s one section where it was a non-compete section. That was the only thing that stood out to me. Everything was pretty standard. Standard contract that you sign with any healthcare agency if you decide to work contract with them. 

Tanner Welsch 23:06

Since we’re on the topic, something else that I keep an eye out on when signing contracts or working for a company and signing all the documents, is intellectual property clauses, which often state that whatever you own or you do create on your own or whatever, that the company you’re choosing to work for will actually acquire that and own it. I’ve seen some clauses like that that are just I can’t sign this because I have rehab rebels or I have something on the side or I have a business, and how it’s worded is really sketchy. So just a little heads up there. What is obvious to you now that you struggled to see in the past, in the moment when you were working in the rehab traditional rehab space. 

Wen Hung 23:49

You know, I question why I didn’t walk away sooner. My kids are five and six now, so if I had walked away sooner, maybe I would have been able to spend more time with them. I think when you’re in healthcare, especially when you’re in a school setting or a hospital setting, that commitment, that loyalty that we have to our patient and our team is so strong. That was definitely a struggle. I’ve been wanting to leave my job my previous job for a while and it was that loyalty that kept me going. 

Tanner Welsch 24:16

Do you feel that this recruiting role is actually something that you’d be able to do, or anybody you know generally would be able to do on their own and support themselves without any sort of other sources of income, even though there’s ebbs and flows in the work? 

Wen Hung 24:34

income, even though there’s ebbs and flows in the work. I’ve been talking to this with people who reach out to me about wanting to transition from healthcare to recruiting and I always firstly explain the difference between internal recruiting and external recruiting. Also, for 1099 commission-based physician versus a W-2. 

Tanner Welsch 24:47

Can you sum up those things for us? 

Wen Hung 24:50

Sure, an internal recruiter is. Mostly you’re hired by a company. So let’s say, prohealthcare hires you as their internal recruiter. You only work for them, so you have to do whatever assignments they ask you, whatever placements they ask you to do. If they ask you to find 10 PTs in Michigan, you have to complete that assignment. There’s really no picking and choosing. But with that comes benefits. If you’re full-time, usually it’s 40 hours or so and then there’s usually a base salary. There’s sometimes a bonus and maybe even a commission, depending on the company. But it’s definitely not. It’s a much smaller bonus and commission. You can have a base salary, you can have a smaller commission or you can be like me, where we’re 100% commission-based. The commission is larger but I don’t get benefits or an hourly base salary. But as an external recruiter working for an agency, you work for many different companies. You can work for 20 different hospitals, helping them staff, various locations and various positions. So there’s definitely more things to work on. Keeps it more exciting, for me at least. 

25:57

And W-2 and 1099, I think a lot of health professionals know this because everybody has a side gig at some point. Right, everybody had a 1099 side gig at some point. So again 1099 and you don’t get taxes taken out of your paycheck. You’re responsible for it at the end of the year. Most of us pay an estimated quarterly tax to help us budget. Yeah, and W-2 is just a straight up. You get social security taken out, you normally get benefits and you are in a salaried position. So if you call out sick you’re still getting paid. You normally have standard PTOs, sick days and whatnot. I think that summarizes it. Jump in Tanner if I miss anything. 

Tanner Welsch 26:36

It sounds great. That was perfect. I really enjoy the different clarifications with the subgroups and then the tax classifications there as well. Follow-up question Do you feel that the external recruiter solo commission base what you’re in now is the most lucrative position to be in out of the ones that you listed? 

Wen Hung 26:56

I think so. The commission is just so much higher. It could be double or triple what you meet versus being on a W-2, let’s say recruiter or somebody who gets a base salary the base salary if you go to LinkedIn, the base salary is usually about $20 an hour or so, maybe $25. But then the commission is just significantly lower, and I’m talking about commission per placement, right? So yeah, I think it’s definitely the most lucrative 100% commission-based recruiter. 

Tanner Welsch 27:25

For sure. What did you learn, or what are some things that you learned in the rehab space that are transferable and that you apply to this new role as a recruiter now? 

Wen Hung 27:36

Well, the listening, as I mentioned before, is definitely important. We have a lot of empathy, so I do listen very close to somebody’s tone of voice, like if they’re in a very toxic work environment. I do try to work harder for them. And the ironic thing is and maybe I shouldn’t say this, but most recruiters tend to cater to the clients more to the companies looking for candidates, because they issue us the paycheck. I, on the other hand, I sympathize more with the candidate, so I tend to work more from what do the candidates need? Let me see where I can place them versus you know, looking at these big companies and going, okay, well, what can I put you know at your team and I definitely got that from the healthcare I’m going through it on a person-based level versus an organization. 

Tanner Welsch 28:22

For sure. You made me think that focusing on the individuals that are looking for employment and to get placed, focusing on them first, makes sense to really finding a good fit for them, which I would assume naturally would be a really good fit for the employer as well. It’s more of a mutual position and on top of that it sounds like it would be a great opportunity, a natural marketing thing that would evolve, which is hey, Wen got me placed at this great position. She listened to me. I really like my job. If you’re looking to get placed somewhere else, go check her out. Like it seems like it would be a really good customer relationship and marketing on its own. So does that happen? Or is there any marketing or how to get your clients? Is it, you know, word of mouth or is it solely through the agency? Like, how is all that? 

Wen Hung 29:08

So getting our clients and by clients we mean the companies who hire us that I leave to the agency Because, again, I’m not from the logistics background, so I don’t have any connections and I wish I did, because then I would be able to go out and get more clients and companies to sign on with us, so that I leave to the owners of the agency and they do a great job doing it. The candidates, the people who are looking for jobs they reach out to me through word of mouth, through LinkedIn posts or just through referrals. You know, the challenge with that is sometimes I just don’t have any openings for them. 

Tanner Welsch 29:49

Makes sense out. You know, maybe they’re interested in doing some sort of recruiting or anything from the episode today that you feel should be emphasized, or maybe there’s something that you haven’t been able to express or talk about yet. 

Wen Hung 30:02

I say just overcome that fear of the unknown, having to learn something new, and just go for it. And I tell a lot of people this healthcare will be there. There will always be a demand for OTPT speech nurses, so don’t fear that if you step out of health care that you can never go back into it, because you can. I mean, I still get recruited by headhunters, you know, from agencies all the time right. So we know that the job market is there. So I think this year is what’s stopping a lot of people. I also think, on the more common sense side, budget for this transition. If you decide to leave your healthcare position and then focus on transitioning to a non-clinical or non-healthcare role, you might go without an income for a couple of months. So budget for it. 

Tanner Welsch 30:49

Nice caveat. Thanks for sharing. Thank you so much for taking the time to come on the show and share your story with us and your pointers. All the stuff we talked about will be in the show notes, including your LinkedIn profile, so if anybody wants to reach out to you, maybe have some follow up questions for you. And yeah, thank you so much. I really appreciate you. 

Wen Hung 31:07

Thanks for having me. It was really fun. Tanner, Nice chatting with you. 

Tanner Welsch 31:11

Anytime. 

Outro 31:12

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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