Medical assistant is one of the fastest-growing jobs for new grads. Here's why

When Hannah Hayes graduated with an art history degree in 2020, during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, she didn’t have a clear idea of what she wanted to do with her career.

She tried a string of jobs in the arts, before eventually deciding to become a medical assistant. The transition was easy, and the pay, benefits and work/life balance have been “unmatched,” she told me in a comment on LinkedIn. Now she works in the beautiful mountain region of Lake Tahoe, Calif., where she’s also a part-time ski coach.??

“Being a medical assistant allows a great inside perspective into the field of medicine without requiring additional formal education,” she wrote. “You’re typically trained on the job and are exposed to the healthcare environment in a hands-on capacity.”

Medical assistant is one of the fastest growing jobs for early-career professionals with a bachelor’s degree, according to new LinkedIn data looking at where career starters are entering the workforce. While a BA isn’t a requirement — and medical assistant is also one of the fastest growing jobs for people without a four-year degree — the field is gaining attention because of the opportunities and path to growth it provides.?

Take Jennifer Smith , who originally dreamt of becoming a nurse, but had to rethink those plans after having a child at a young age. She said she chose to become a medical assistant because it was more affordable — and faster — than getting a nursing degree. That was 25 years ago, and since then she’s worked her way up to positions including lab supervisor and biologic coordinator.?

“I get to perform all skills RNs do and I have had the opportunity to train in multiple specialities,” she wrote on LinkedIn. “Today I work with chronically ill children and make a difference in lives everyday. I have no regrets.”

The growing interest in being a medical assistant may be one of the side effects of the nursing shortage. A lack of faculty and clinical sites has meant nursing schools are turning away tens of thousands qualified applicants each year, said Christin Stanford , vice president, client solutions at staffing firm AMN Healthcare , in an interview. Allied health programs could be welcoming some of those candidates into their classes instead.

But it’s more than that too. The persistent clinician shortage has led to an all-hands-on-deck approach — which has often meant that medical tasks are increasingly being shared down the line.?

The idea is to free up each specialty to work at the top of their license, focusing on tasks that only they are trained to perform. A parallel shift is going on in behavioral health, where I’ve heard time and again about the growing role of peer counselors who are helping to fill the gap. (Behavioral health technician is also one of the fastest-growing roles for career starters with a bachelor’s degree, LinkedIn data found.)

When asked about what attracted them to the field, a number of medical assistants pointed to the variety of tasks they perform and the opportunities available to them.

Rachel Patterson has held a number of different roles since being certified as a medical assistant in 2010. The program took just 224 hours, including an externship. But within six years, she was director of operations for an independent physician practice. And when she wanted to start a family, she was able to transition to remote positions, working as a virtual medical transcriptionist, virtual medical assistant, and virtual scribe.

States also are increasingly embracing the shift, expanding scope of practice for non-physician roles ranging from pharmacists to advanced-practice nurses — a move that isn’t without controversy, of course.

Some of the responsibilities that have expanded for medical assistants include Covid testing, scribing, health coaching, and in some states, even vaccine administration.?

“The majority of healthcare companies substitute medical assistants as nurses, if possible, to save funds,” wrote Charquese Keller , a hospital-based senior medical assistant, in a comment on LinkedIn. “If an MA can do the job, they would prefer to train an MA to do it. … An MA can be pulled to do rooming, front desk, check out, or anything that the office needs that day.”

Medical assistants aren’t immune from the burnout that clinicians are facing, and turnover rates are high. As many as 44% of medical practices said medical assistants are the hardest role to recruit, compared to the 27% that said nurses, according to a 2022 survey from the MGMA and STAT .

But the demand is also pushing up compensation and benefits in a notoriously low-paying field. The median salary for medical assistants in 2023 was $42,000, an increase of 9.7% over the previous year and 13.7% over 2020, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.?

Medical assistants, however, point out that the role is just a starting point in their careers and has a lot of versatility.?

“As medical assistants, we have diverse responsibilities, including administrative tasks such as scheduling appointments and managing patients records, as well as clinical duties and assisting physicians during exams,” said Uriel Cruz , who has been a medical assistant since 2013.

As for Hayes, the medical assistant in Lake Tahoe, her next stop is a master’s degree at Harvard Medical School’s Center for Bioethics.?

“Working as a medical assistant can be a career trajectory in and of itself,” she wrote, “or it can be a diving board into greater depths of medicine.”