What is the September surge?

Hey Health Techies!

September is here and with it: the infamous September surge.

Maybe you’ve heard all about it in years past, but perhaps if you’re in a traditional healthcare setting, the concept is new to you.

📈 So what exactly is September surge?

• September surge refers to the bump in hiring activities that tends to happen in the early fall.

• It’s not specific to tech companies, but in all my time in healthcare I had never heard of the concept before moving into the tech sector (though I fully admit that this could be due to other reasons).

• Perhaps it didn’t gain a catchy alliterative name until more recently? Maybe it’s just because I wasn’t as close to corporate level hiring conversations? In my pharmacy manager days I was just focused on the hiring needs of my individual store and really didn’t put much thought into what trends were happening across the business outside of the surge of new pharmacists we might see after graduation activities and licensing exams were complete. But I digress…

🤔 What causes this surge in activity?

• Well, hiring is sort of a team sport at a company. It takes a lot of coordination with a lot of different people from recruiters, to hiring managers, to other interviewers just to get a round of interviews scheduled. Not to mention needing to coordinate with the candidates themselves as well.

• Over the summer this becomes nearly impossible to do at any quick pace due to vacations and other commitments. So when everyone returns and kids are back in school and things start to look normal again, there is an absolute flurry of hiring activity to make up for a little bit of lost time.

• Another reason is that corporate budgets are set waaaay in advance for the year. If there is any money left in the budget for additional staffing, by this time of year it becomes a bit of a use it or lose it situation because 2025 will be a new year with a new budget.

🧑🏻‍💻 What does this mean for clinicians interested in jobs at tech companies or other nontraditional settings?

• September surge is a great time to go hard with applying even if you’ve been feeling discouraged. If you’re actively seeking an opportunity, up the volume of applications that you are submitting (and I say that even though I’m a quality over quantity kind of girl when it comes to resumes).

• If you are not actively seeking a new opportunity, use this time to get a good feel for what’s out there. Check out companies that interest you, what types of roles they’re hiring for and what pay ranges are published. You may be surprised at what you find.

• Stay vigilant. So far I’ve already noticed a bump in the amount of spam messages I’ve received asking if I’m interested in new opportunities. If they come in via text or WhatsApp, I literally run 🏃🏻‍♀️ in the opposite direction.

I’ll also leave you with this: I know many of you in this community are actively seeking your very first opportunity in the health tech space and it can be overwhelming. Start taking small steps like setting up coffee chats, updating your resume, or setting some job alerts for roles at companies that you admire. You don’t have to go all in just because there’s a hiring frenzy going on. That’ll keep you feeling stuck. Just take it one step at a time.

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Until next time,

Lauren