Ready For the Job But Not Enough Experience?

You have achieved your goal and successfully completed your medical assistant training program; but now that you are going through the job search and application process, you realize that most medical assistant positions offered require at least 1-2 years of experiece. Now what? How can you land a job to gain experience if no one wants to hire you?

You Might Not Think So, But YES - You Have Experience!

Remember, as a medical assistant student you did spend a considerable amount of time in the clinical lab practicing important patient care skills under the supervision of your MA instructor. Lexi, a successful Certified Medical Assistant told us:

"Did you do an externship? If you did an externship, put every bit down on your resume, and applications. Make it look awesome, e.g. I live in a very rural area and traveled an hour and a half each way to school! I used this on my resume when I first got out to show how motivated I was to future employers."

 For example:

• Basic concepts of EKG, ESR, hematocrit
• Urinalysis, stool samples, throat cultures
• Drawing up exact amounts of medications from vials
• Injections: intradermal, subcutaneous, deltoid, and Z-track
• Basic wound care
• Vision screening, Snellen eye chart
• Venipuncture/Phlebotomy
• Collecting and organizing data for research and patient care
• Data entry and safe keeping of records

Prior experience in the healthcare field, such as a nurse's assistant, or home health aide is very helpful and should not be forgotten either, as well as other work experience that will now be applied in a medical office.

Or, as a medical assistant without experience, but other related experience, you can write your cover letter along these lines:

Dear Ms. Jones: I am responding to your ad in The Sun Herald for the Medical Assistant Position. Attached is a copy of my resume that outlines my qualifications and career experience. I have successfully completed a 2 year degree in Medical Assisting (Associate of Applied Sciences), and completed my externship in a busy multi-physician practice. I also have 2 years prior experience as a hotel receptionist where I applied and solidified my customer service and interpersonal communication skills required for your position. I would appreciate the opportunity to speak with you to discuss my qualifications and how they could benefit your organization.

Determination Wins the Job

We recently came across a very creative way where a new medical assistant puts the word out that she is looking for work on Craigs List. This medical assistant school graduate showed that she is determined, confident, energized and eager to get to work. Her ad also showed, very discretely, that she is looking for work to gain experience and is willing to start low, at the front desk, or as a receptionist, which not every medical assistant is willing to do. Great move.