So, tell me about yourself, doctor?

Are you a physician looking for an alternative clinical or non-clinical job? You are not alone.

There are many steps to creating or re-creating your physician career strategy.

One part of the journey is doing an inventory of desirable transferable skills. These transferable skills are desirable because if you already have them, your employer or client doesn’t have to worry about training you on them. You can hit the ground running in any career field and start making positive contributions right away.

You already have deep domain medical expertise. But how would you apply your transferable skills to another industry, for example?

The list of physician transferable skills is lengthy. For example, that's why doctors can make great entrepreneurs, and are not lousy business people, despite the conventional wisdom. The myth gets perpetuated because if you tell someone something often enough, they believe it.

Here is a list of in demand transferable skills.

Here is a list of entrepreneurial virtues and competencies.

Here are similarities and differences between the clinical mindset and the entrepreneurial mindset

Here are the differences between advising and doctoring

Here is another list of transferable skills to put on your Linkedin page or resume

Here are 7 things you might bring to the table

Unfortunately, for most doctors, what got you to where you are now won't get you to where you want to go so you will have to fill some gaps.

Given this awareness and further personal and professional development, now you will know what to say when you are asked, "Tell me about yourself"

Success. Strengths. Situation?

Here's how to answer the inevitable "tell me about your strengths and weaknesses" question.

I would include your failure resume and how that made you a better candidate. Plus, since research shows that there is little correlation between interview performance and subsequent job performance, most of this seems like interview theater. Here's how the new medical school interview goes these days and how not to answer 10 medical school or residency interview questions. If interviewers wanted really know how you would add value to the company or program from day 1, why don't they just ask you? What's more, they should be more concerned about your future teachability and coachability getting new skills, since what they are looking for now will probably be obsolete in a few years anyway. That's another reason why they won't be in business much longer so, if you do get hired, be sure you have Plan B.

Are you a successful startup entrepreneur? Be careful what you tell people. As constant change and uncertainty become the norm, many leaders are increasingly driven to hire entrepreneurial, innovative employees. And yet, when these authors conducted a field study in which they sent out 2,400 applications to employers across the U.S., they found that former startup founders — i.e., people who have exactly the kind of experience that should ostensibly appeal to recruiters looking for innovative talent — were 43% less likely to receive an interview. Furthermore, they found that founders whose ventures had succeeded were 33% less likely to receive an interview than those who had failed, suggesting that recruiters may be more concerned with candidates’ fit and commitment than with their capabilities (since a successful founder has a track record demonstrating their entrepreneurial capabilities, but might be considered likely to be a poorer culture fit and a greater flight risk than a failed founder). In light of these findings, the authors argue that former founders looking for traditional employment should proactively address recruiters’ concerns regarding fit and commitment, and that hiring firms should work to ensure recruiters’ incentives are aligned with high-level goals to attract innovative talent.

But why would the VC firm risk supporting an entrepreneur with a questionable track record? A recent paper might contain the answer. Entrepreneurs coming off an initial VC-backed failure often see their careers accelerate in their follow-on job, as highlighted in?“Failing Just Fine: Assessing Careers of Venture Capital-Backed Entrepreneurs Via a Non-Wage Measure.”

After exiting their startups, these entrepreneurs obtain jobs about three years more senior than their peers, according to the research. The findings suggest that companies value the experience of entrepreneurs, who often have their hands in most aspects of the firm: operations, marketing, finance, communications, and product development. Clearly, general management skills win the day, says one of the paper’s coauthors, Paul A. Gompers, who is the Eugene Holman Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.

Unfortunately, you will have to do most of the hard work on your own since your professors and attendings didn't and still won't teach you this in medical school. Neither is there a CMO school.

The good news is that while you are stuck at home waiting for your PCR test to become negative, you can improve your education, resources, networks, mentors, peer support and career guidance to get the experience using your transferable skills. At least, that is, until it's time for the next gig.

Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA is the President and CEO of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs