When white is not the color of your parachute

Once upon a time , people kept a job for 40 years and then retired with a defined benefit pension. They worked for corporations or rode up the promotion and tenure ladder at universities.

Doctors did the opposite. They had their own private practices and worked for themselves. Now, the people who used to work for corporations are, in many instances by necessity, working for themselves or as part of the gig economy, while doctors are more and more employed by large, corporate health systems.

Many employed doctors, however, have discovered that the grass is not greener in the corporate health world and so, have come full circle back to looking for an alternative non-clinical career opportunity that gives them independence and the ability to follow their passion and exercise the mastery of their profession.

Now the sick care heroes are getting the ax. More and more white coats are getting the pink slip. Here's what to do if it happens to you.

What Color Is Your Parachute? is the world’s most popular job-hunting guide, revised and updated annually with more than ten million copies sold. This newly streamlined edition features the latest resources, case studies, and perspectives on today’s job market, revealing surprising advice on what works—and what doesn’t—so you can focus your efforts on tactics that yield results.

At its core is Richard N. Bolles’s famed Flower Exercise, a unique self-inventory that helps you design your career—and your life—around your key passions, transferable skills, traits, and more.

This practical manual also provides essential tips for writing impressive resumes and cover letters, networking effectively, interviewing with confidence, and negotiating the best salary possible.

Whether you’re searching for your first job, were recently laid off, or are dreaming of a career change, What Color Is Your Parachute? will guide you toward a fulfilling and prosperous life’s work.

If you get fired or furloughed, or that job you took just got revoked, prepare yourself for some workplace culture shock and adjustment:

1. Generational workplace and lifestyle differences
2. An average job tenure that is less than 2 years
3. Salary and benefits packages that shift the risk to the employee
4. The death of corporate loyalty
5. The challenges and opportunities for technology-enabled work habits
6. The challenges of winning the 4th industrial revolution
7. Technological job displacement and redundancy
8. Innovation fatigue
9. Rising opportunity inequality
10. Unaffordable housing in places with fewer and fewer parking spaces

Career change and advancement is a process of rewiring, not retiring. What color is your parachute? For many doctors, it won't be white any longer.

Some things don't change, though, even for ministers, who had to retire the white-collar.

Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA is the President and CEO of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs on Twitter@ArlenMD and Facebook