#hiringfriday 08.11.23 - wacky job market edition
Happy #hiringfriday, and welcome to the many new subscribers. If this is your first email from me, I’m Julia, a health tech operator, advisor, and investor. I started #hiringfriday as an google form in 2020, and it has grown into a weekly LinkedIn post, monthly(ish) newsletter, and a Pallet job board. I hope that these resources are helpful to you, and don’t hesitate to reach out with feedback or asks!
The last few months have been an interesting time to be running #hiringfriday, as I actually have been doing my own job search. I started looking at the end of Q1, transitioned out of my last role in May, accepted a role in mid-July, and am now enjoying an actual vacation before I start next week. More to come on my new adventure soon, but I wanted to share three of my lessons learned from this job search today. I’ll caveat all of these by saying that I was doing a senior-level job search with some flexibility to find the right thing. I realize that these circumstances are a privilege.
Don’t take the macro environment personally
It is wacky out there. While I do think things have picked up a little bit for funded start-ups, this is not the job market of 2020 or 2021. There are many more qualified candidates, and employers are taking their time. Unfortunately, this results in longer searches and what I would characterize as bad behavior towards candidates - auto rejections, ghost job posting, disappearing recruiters. You cannot take it personally - it is not about you, and it is happening to anyone on the job market right now. The silver lining to some extent (I hope) is that there is far less stigma about being out of work right now.
But do make your job search personal
One side effect of this saturated market is amplifying the reliance on connection when it comes to hiring. If you do have connections into the digital health world, use them. Warm intros are still, for better or for worse, driving many hiring decisions. And if you don’t have connections, take the initiative to find ways in. Joining a group like HTN’s slack channel, reading other newsletters like Going Digital, Out of Pocket or Halle Tecco’s, and following digital health influencers can help. And don’t discount sending cold messages - but if you do, don’t use LinkedIn’s canned suggestions or ChatGPT. Any outreach should make it clear why they should talk to you - otherwise it can backfire.
And find the right ways to support yourself
Six weeks into my job search, both my supportive husband and no-BS therapist read me the riot act. I was keeping myself too busy, and in danger of burnout before I started something new. I had to start prioritizing what I was doing, and make time for things that kept me balanced. For me, that meant exercise, going to the pool with my kids, and reading (highly recommend Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow and Ink Blood Sister Scribe). It also meant finding other people in the same situation. One of my best friends who was also job seeking became a de facto coworker. We called each other every day to chat about everything from the news to our kids to our searches. Supporting yourself is going to look different for everyone, and depend on your other obligations. But work is only one part of who we are, and this process is long, so make time for other things that matter.
And a bonus lesson for folks with more experience or specific skills
It’s hard to search for full time and consulting roles at the same time
I was able to pick up some part-time consulting during this period. I did consider doing consulting for a longer period of time, especially as I waited for the market to stabilize. One of things I observed is that it’s a different process and pitch for a full time role versus fractional or consulting. If the latter is something you are thinking about, it’s worth considering it a separate search.
If you are searching, good luck and feel free to share your thoughts. Here’s getting more great people into health tech!
-Julia
Who’s Hiring.
An eclectic selection of companies I know and companies who let me know they’re hiring. Check out our pallet for more featured roles.
Affect Therapeutics - digital meth and cocaine treatment
Alivecor - AI powered heart health care
Ash - remote diagnostic testing
Arise - eating disorder and mental health care on your terms
Autism Cares Partners - empowering children and their families
Better Health - transforming DME through connection
Brightline - behavioral therapy for kids and teens
Brightside Health - evidenced-based care for behavioral health
Candid Health* - easy, automated medical billing
Care+Wear* - healthware to support patients and providers
CareMessage - helping safety net orgs fulfill the needs of the underserved
CertifyOS - provider licensing, network management, and credentialing
Coral Care - helping families find the pedatric development support they need
Charlie Health - healing for teens and young adults
Elephant Island Labs - venture lab building healthcare and fintech companies
Equip* - virtual family-based care for eating disorders
Firefly - virtual, full-service primary care
firsthand - transforming how people with SMI engage with care
Flourish - combatting burnout
Galileo - virtual and in-person primary care
Ginger/Headspace* - on-demand mental health support
Happify - Dtx and care delivery solutions to improve mental and physical health
Healthie - HIPAA compliant EHR and engagement software
Hopelab - non profit at the forefront of digital mental health interventions
ICANotes - behavioral health EHR
InStride Health - evidence-based Anxiety and OCD treatment for families
Kela Health - predictive insight software to help improve surgical quality
Little Otter - pediatric mental health
Lyra Health - a smarter approach to emotional health
Lucet (formerly New Directions) - managed behavioral health services
Mantra Health - Providing high-quality digital mental health care to higher ed
Manatee Health - digital mental health for children and families
Miro Health* - clinically validated brain health tools, research and care
Nema Health - trauma-informed PTSD care
NOCD - virtual OCD care
Osmind - platform designed for treatment-resistant mental health practices
Parsley Health - root cause resolution medicine
PatientPing (Bamboo) - connecting care facilities
Pearl Health - direct contracting for primary care
Plume - gender-affirming hormone therapy from your phone.
Pomelo Care - virtual maternity care program
Ribbon Health - API layer for accurate data on doctors, plans, and costs
RubiconMD - democratizing medical expertise.
Two Chairs - personalized mental health care in therapy clinics
Sesh - online group support
Spring Health - Personalized mental healthcare for your whole team
Third Way Health - revolutionizing the front office for medical practices
Thirty Madison* - transforming specialty care
Visana - virtual women’s health clinic
Virta Health - reversing type 2 diabetes
VivorCare* - survivorship programs, starting with cancer
Uno - connecting low-income individuals to the financial assistance they need
Uplift* - therapy arranged around you
Zus Health* - accelerating digital health builders with API-first services
*I have an advisory or equity relationship with this company
Disclaimer: If you are receiving this newsletter, you signed up or provided your information via a LI form, and can unsubscribe or remove your information at any time. #hiringfriday is not a job board and is not affiliated with any company. Please do not reach out to me for updates on any applications.