Guide to Successfully Working as a Consultant in the Healthcare IT Industry – Intro

As the Healthcare IT market has heated up, so has the demand for new jobs to be filled.  I have been in staffing (permanent placement and contract) for 19 years.  Fifteen of these years have been in the healthcare clinical application space.  In all of this time I have not seen the market go from such an extreme low to high demand for people in such a short period of time.

For our firm, most of the full time permanent positions we place require a candidate to relocate for the job.  What I think is exceptionally unique about the upswing in demand is that, although many people are open to looking or may even want to leave their current job, the housing market has made it very difficult for many to seriously consider relocation.  As a result, these people are considering getting into consulting or contracting (which really are two different things).

Unfortunately, many of the people I talk to that are considering consulting are, in my professional opinion, being misled with regards to:

What skills are required?

What am I worth?

Do I join a consulting firm?

Do I become an independent?  If so, how do I price myself?  How do I market myself?

Can I work remotely?

What can this lead to long term?

I know the questions above are common, and I also know the answers I give you will be unique.  With the lack of experience in the market, I hear a lot of misinformation and I spend a lot of time educating with facts.  I don’t claim to know more than those at some of the reputable firms; however my tenure in the industry has given me insight that outweighs that of the many new firms in the Healthcare IT world over the last year.

What I hope to do over the next couple of weeks is provide a multi-part guide that will encompass factors to be considered by anyone looking to enter this field.  As this field is changing, some aspects of what I discuss may be out of date or irrelevant six months from now.  But, I hope to give an accurate snapshot of what needs to be considered today, that is often being overlooked, as well as a strong foundation to move forward.

If you are going to be at HIMSS, feel free to email me to set up a time to meet with me or someone from our organization: David@HealthcareIS.com.

About the author

David Kushan

David Kushan is the President of Healthcare IS and has spent the last 18 years of his career working in the Healthcare Information Technology industry assisting over 120 healthcare organizations nationwide. Visit www.HealthcareIS.com for Dave’s company blog, articles, podcasts and more.

4 Comments

  • David – you have me very excited about your multi-part guide! Many job seekers reach out to me regularly for the same information you mention. I will e-mail you separately about connecting at HIMSS!

  • Thanks David, look forward to your information. I myself am and IT Staffing and Consulting sales 13 year veteran, and actively working towards moving in to Health IT.

    I’m wondering aloud about going to HIMSS to network for a business development role as I’m in LA, but not a HIMSS member yet.

    Thoughts from you or Joe on the value of someone like me with limited specific (calling on Dr offices) experience in going to the event? I am already up to speed fairly well on Health initiatives and the like.

    Best,

    Chris

  • Hi Chris

    I attend HIMSS to achieve the following Networking goals:

    1) recruiting new staff,
    2) selling/marketing to new and existing clients,
    3) stay in touch with existing relationships at vendors and other firms.

    There is no better forum in HC IT for me to network.

    With a good plan, I am confident that you would find attending HIMSS valuable as well!

    Good Luck, Joe

  • David
    This is all interesting and timely. I am a non-traditional pharmacist with ideas and concepts for this field but do not have the IT background. How I fit in to reinvent my career may well be addressed with your series.

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