Career Planning: The No-Plan Methodology

I never planned a "career". I knew I would work, but I never had a real plan in place. I always marveled at those who "wanted to be a doctor since they were eight years old" or who knew they were "born to be on the stage." I never had any of those epiphanies, and I don't recall being bothered by that fact.

I had a great high school education that pointed me decidedly toward a college education, but I didn't have any particular degree in mind when I arrived. I attended a small liberal arts school and played varsity volleyball. I loved the Human Sciences, I loved being on and being part of a team, and I enjoyed people in general. Only in retrospect have I realized it was these interests that laid the groundwork for the "career" I wasn't planning.

I finished college with a major in Physical Education, an almost-major in Biology, and a teaching certificate. Still without a "plan", I moved to a community in hopes a teaching position would surface, and at the very last possible minute, one did.

My first day was the students' first day . . . I had missed the entire teachers' preparation week. In my desperation for this teaching job, I also had agreed to coach every girls' sport offered. So in a chaotic flurry of opportunities and decisions, I now had a "career" as a high school teacher/coach - one that allowed me to enjoy what I had always enjoyed . . . science, team building, teamwork, and a lot of people.

Not having planned the first career, I never dreamed I would need to consider a second career, but the five-year itch brought about a move. Admittedly, more planning went into this next phase.

I applied to a Master's program in Education and for an accompanying teaching assistantship in preparation for a higher education teaching career. I completed the degree, but upon finishing was not particularly excited about moving on. So I abandoned the one career that actually was planned and considered another one: stay in school and complete another degree . . . a Ph.D. in Education. Surely I would be an even better educator at the completion of this new "plan."

Frankly, though, it really wasn't a plan as much as it was a way to avoid moving again and starting a new life. I had begun to enjoy the penniless waywardness of being a graduate student, or at least had become comfortable with it.

By happenstance a colleague gave me a job opening to pass on to any of my students who might be interested in some extra money. An orthopedic group was opening a new clinical and therapy office that included a pool for hydrotherapy exercises and needed a part-time person to oversee patient exercise sessions. I started to pass the notification on when it dawned on me that I could use the extra money, and I was certainly qualified as I had been "overseeing" exercise for about six years.

I carried the phone number around for a couple of days, mulling it over. I was sort of interested, sort of not; did not have any definitive thoughts one way or the other, and any thoughts at all revolved only around the opportunity to have a little spending money. Finally, one phone call and an interview later, in addition to being a student and a teacher, I was a "pool lady" . . . definitely not the result of any "plan." And the rest, as they say, is history.

I parlayed the pool position into a part-time technician position, working under the direction of the physical therapists. I became familiar with orthopedic injuries, subsequent surgeries, and post-operative rehabilitation. The post-operative population proved to be a goldmine of research data that became my dissertation. The data collection and dissertation spawned the idea of a research position within the orthopedic practice, and when I graduated I proposed this and was offered the job.

This position allowed me to demonstrate my abilities to interpret the science of orthopedics, to coordinate a research effort that involved people from the bottom up, and to see things through to completion. When some management opportunities became available, I was a consideration and a choice.

I look back on that chance encounter with a one-time colleague and my rather indifferent consideration of whether or not to make that phone call. I realize that those were the two most pivotal moments when it comes to describing "how I became a healthcare administrator."

So while I would prefer to describe a more linear, more thoughtful approach to my current and now 15-year career, I cannot. It seems that to "plan" means to create opportunities. The "no-plan" process capitalizes on the recognition of opportunities and the ability to take advantage of them.

Years later it is evident my "plan" was more an evolution of purpose, influenced by things I have always enjoyed and are now at the root of what I do everyday . . . the Human Sciences, team building, team work, and an assembly of colorful people and personalities to keep it interesting