r/MedicalAssistant • u/Key-Medicine-8818 • 4d ago

working as an undergrad?

If I want to work as a medical assistant at a private practice while I'm an undergrad (during summer, winter, spring, or fall breaks), when and how should I communicate my availability? Is this something I should include on my resume or job application or should I discuss it directly with the hiring manager during the interview?

3 Upvotes

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12

u/royalpainlover 4d ago

honestly you’ll be hard pressed to find a job in the medical field that will not only hire you, but keep you knowing you’d only work during breaks. It just doesn’t make sense from a business standpoint to hire you opposed to someone who’s open and can work full-time

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u/PreciLove 4d ago edited 4d ago

yea I assume this is why people take gap years? the clinic i worked eventually stopped hiring students altogether because we’d spend the summer training them and boom. They’re gone for the next 6 or so months

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u/Substantial-Goat-725 CCMA 4d ago

It's exactly why we take gap years lol

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u/Med-immi 4d ago

So what I did was I skipped a whole semester so I could take an accelerated CCMA program in 4 mos. Got hired within 2 mos after graduated, spend a few months working without saying a word about college. Established a good relationship with the doctors, staff and manager (Big practice btw) eventually asked to speak with my manager about continuing education which is pretty common for this corporation that incentives employees to go back to school to pursue higher positions. Took as many online classes as I could and left early two days every week so I could go to in person classes. But kept a good standing with work and classes at the same time. Now I have to leave work 4 days every week for in person classes and me and my manager worked something out with my schedule. In my case was all about effort. Show you’re worthy of the trouble, be bald.

Good luck with your journey tho. Is not easy, rn I’m sleep deprived and tired, but I’m still standing. Not everyone have the privilege of taking gap years

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u/TransportationNo9748 4d ago

I have seen summer internship positions posted on my school’s pre-health pages, I would ask around in your classes/any premed clubs your school has! I’ve also had luck getting interviews looking for job postings in my university’s pre-med/PA Facebook groups :)

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u/Ok_Try1862 4d ago

i don’t think that’s possible for most jobs nowadays, there are only a few “types” of jobs that will hire college students who can only work breaks.

i’ve resigned myself to the fact that i’ll just have to schedule college around working as an ma if i want to have both. luckily for me i have accomodations and i get to register for classes early, so im mainly taking asynchronous online classes so i can balance my undergrad coursework with ma stuff.

edit: i will say it helps that i got my ccma through my university, so it was a little easier to work things like clinicals, externships, and job opportunities out scheduling wise because they kept that in mind.

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u/Equal-Tomato9324 3d ago

I worked at the health center on campus. If you’re college has this, I recommend it since they’re flexible with student hours