Could I change industries? I'm a PA

[BlueIsYou]

I have been a PA within the medical field since 2014.

First for a Dentist, and now for two Drs (my official title is Medical Secretary/PA).

Could I transfer to a Business in anything from finance to whatever else?

Do I have to stay in medical or could I (fairly) easily change industries?

I'm just fed up of the lack of pay progression through the NHS at current, and would like to have a professional PA role instead of working in a hospital 24/7.

I'm scared no one elsewhere would want me/find my CV desirable because I only have medical background.

Is there anything I could do?

I will be going on Maternity Leave soon and would like to return to work in another industry

Yes of course, I was a PA for quite a long time and worked in various industries. I'm not sure what you're expecting but PA work is very much organisational in business with very little letter typing.

PA work in business will pay more than the NHS but wages have stagnated over the last ten years. I have a few friends who haven't had a pay rise in several years (not even 1%). You'll also find there are fewer opportunities to move around as a PA.

I've just moved to the NHS for more opportunity/training (not as a PA though).

Also, you'll only earn decent money if you work full time. There are very few decent (and decent paying) part time PA jobs.

Have you looked into being a private medical PA? I currently do some work for a psychiatrist and get paid way above the typical AFC pay grade

Im part time btw but I appreciate I fell on my feet.

I would actually suggest that depending on how much experience you have gained thus far you might be able to move into an office manager role if that interests you. Perhaps not immediately but certainly after a couple more years experience and yes PA work is transferable across industries. I used to be a PA and then moved into OPs and also project management. It's so diverse and moving into more senior roles will give you pay rises if you're looking for one.

If you're looking for some degree of progression, I'd suggest you need to diversify away from pure PA. Most PAs I've interacted with, or who have supported me recently, have skills such as

• budget tracking
• project management
• facilities management incl fire warden and first aid lead
• data presentation (e.g. Dashboards) in Excel and PowerPoint

These are all fun things to do and make the job a lot more interesting. Maybe worth doing some online webinars and short courses while you are off work, just to see which aspects you enjoy and want to develop

That's a good suggestion daisychain, but it just depends on the job. I have a vast skillset but have been sorely under utilised in some jobs. It's certainly not for the want of trying!

Project management, budget tracking, dashboards, presentations are fairly standard PA tasks if you're in a decent PA job.

Thank you all

I think a project management course/experience of some sort would benefit me quite a bit.

Things like project management, budgeting and even booking travel arrangements have always been missing within my roles in a medical setting.

The rest is all there though, and demandingly so

confused I haven't, no. It sounds like a good avenue to take. Not sure how to get into it though

Have you looked at your local University vacancy page? Pay is better than the NHS and a lot of the roles are comparable in terms of you could be working for an academic who undertakes clinical work/research as part of their remit, which would require audio and an understanding of medical terminology. The potential work areas are vast from more corporate areas of finance/HR to clinical trial/Medicine related fields to sciences. Definitely worth a look as you have a great deal of transferable skills. Good luck!

I moved into banking - it was a job where the very senior manager I worked for in the City dictated everything so my audio typing skills got me the job! It also paid rather a lot more than my NHS band 4 job with private healthcare and a non contributory pension. Banking and finance are ideal, especially if you work in London.

Civil service tends to pay more than the NHS and some departments have performance related pay and bonuses.

Large companies and the civil service will often have good training provided so you can do project management qualifications and move across and upwards on more money if you fancied doing something else in the future.