Help!! Offered Clinical Analyst I position, need advice

ikarus01 · Feb 22, 2014

I would go the epic route, no doubt about it. Yes, the salary right now might not be so high, but with a couple of years of experience, you should be able to find a higher paying job.

Why i wouldn't be as excited about the blue cross job---what application will you be using? Assume you don't like the job and in 2 years you want to switch jobs: will you be as marketable as if you had the epic experience/training behind your back?

And for the smaller hospital job....same kind of concept, no doubt there will be jobs for you if you decide to switch jobs, 2 , 3 years from now, but again, how marketable would you be?

What the epic experience gives you right away is marketability in the future and a guarantee of a higher paying job later on.

Obviously this is a quick analysis of the situation without knowing factors like family life, commute, etc. If none of these other factors apply, then this is a no-brainer decision.

And also, keep in mind that there are plenty of people out there dying to get epic experience so you're in a nice position of having to choose the epic opportunity. I wouldn't waste it.

RNredhead · Feb 23, 2014

Thank you so much for your reply/advice. I looked at your website, and it seems you have lots of experience to help with this type situation. So, if you don't mind, I would like to ask another question.

Today I found a job at another local hospital. It's a position for "Credentialed Epic Trainer for Ambulatory Application". The job description sounds more like a classroom teacher/staff educator position. It is different than my current offer as a Epic analyst/builder. I did apply for this Trainer position. That facility has a reputation for significant higher salaries than the one offering the analyst position. Is an Epic trainer position just as respectable as an Epic Analyst? Would it offer similar future benefits for career growth? Also, the company providing me the current offer (mediocre salary for Analyst I) wants an answer by Monday. That is only a total time of 4 days after my interview to make a decision. Would it be fair to ask them for more time to make a decision, in order to see if I am contacted about trainer position?

The blue cross position describes an Enterprise software that I'm not familiar with. The small, rural hospital describes a Point of Care system that I'm not familiar with, no other name given other than Point of Care, abbreviated as POC.

Thank you so much for providing your advice. I am nervous to take this position on Monday, and miss a better position. But also nervous to turn it down and still not get another job offer from my other potential employers that I'm dealing with.

ikarus01 · Feb 23, 2014

Is an Epic trainer position just as respectable as an Epic Analyst?

Any position is as respectable as you want it to be. If you're happy and proud of your job, it doesn't matter what others think of your position. But no matter what position you're in, there is always the possibility that somebody will claim another position is more respectable than yours. But those claims are all irrelevant when you are secured in who you are, in your own skills and career path.

Would it offer similar future benefits for career growth?

My first job in the informatics world was as an analyst. Then an opportunity came to be in a trainer position and I took it for my own personal reasons at the time. I really enjoyed the role but after less than 6 months, I was ready to be an analyst again.

As an analyst you get to be involved in all aspects/phases of a project implementation: Design/analysis, configufing, testing, training, implementation, support.

Obviously, in some analyst roles you might be assigned to specific aspects of a project, but nonetheless, you get to experience some if not all the phases of the project.

Thus, an analyst role gives you more flexibility in you career path since you have more skills or qualifications to offer when you apply for other jobs out there.

As a trainer sometimes you're not even allowed to configure the application so all you can do is train others on the application so your resume might just be confined to this phase of project cycle.

IF you decide later on that you don't want to be a trainer and you want to be an analyst for example, questions might come up as to what building/troubleshooting/testing experience you have, and since you might have been locked out of doing changes in the application, then getting the analyst job might not be as clear cut.

Kind of happened to me when I went from training back to being an analyst. I was being questioned about my build experience even though I had that experience under my belt, but some employers expressed concerned that I wasn't up to date on the latest release builds.

At the time I was confident with my skills so I thought it was kind of funny I was being questioned about my build skills so I would definitely say, be aware that you might be pigeon holed in skills when you are a trainer and then you want to move into another role.

Nonetheless, I've worked with hospitals that have trainers who are allowed to also build/test so their skills are not just limited to training, and sometimes these trainers ask to move to another role and within that hospital system, some have been able to move to other positions.

Would it be fair to ask them for more time to make a decision, in order to see if I am contacted about trainer position?

Yes, it is fair to ask but also be aware what goes behind the scenes when hiring people. The hiring manager might take this request and think, this person is not really committed or ready for the job, let's find another person or they can simply say, we have tons of other candidates, thanks, but we'll move on.

If the employer really wants the candidate, of course they will wait for him/her. But I have seen candidates asking for time to think about their decision and I've had managers tell me, clearly this candidate is not ready for this job, let's move to another one because we got these other eager ones on the pile of applicants.

Now, they offered you the job so obviously they think you're ready for this position, but I personally never know what hiring managers/directors are thinking. I've seen some crazy decisions out there that have left me baffled for weeks!

As for choosing the job, do and choose what makes you happiest!

thefacilitator · Feb 26, 2014

RNredhead,

ikarus7401 made a good point - a builder/tester/analyst has the potential to be a trainer anytime if they have the skills necessary to teach people. However, a trainer may not be able to transition into a builder/tester/analyst role until they have had a good bit of training - be it official or unofficial, taught or self-taught.

All the best! Hope you will be able to make a decision/choice that will eliminate regret from the equation when you look back at it a couple of years from now. :)

RNredhead · Feb 27, 2014

Thank for the advice!! I did accept the offer for Epic analyst/builder. I already have 3 trips scheduled to Wisconsin for training at Epic headquarters and I am so excited. Ultimately, I decided the Epic experience would be most rewarding in the long run with my career. So thankful for this opportunity!