Where to start? I worked on the administrative side, so this has nothing to do with clinical or research. I also want to stress that I did not have have any issues with any doctors while working here, only the administrative side! 1) I hated the cliques; the gossip; the fact that it's all educated middle aged women with children who stayed there for the benefits (and I am aware of the hypocrisy of this statement, as a woman, but just thinking about hospital administration brings me back to the person that I was and don't want to be.). The workers could have done something else, could have followed their dreams, but chose not to. I didn't hate the people in general, I hated that they were all miserable there, and took it out on each other, which made everyone even more miserable. It seemed like they were all out to get each other for some reason. Shouldn't we all work together?! They were happy with salary and benefits, but it was just an unpleasant work culture. This isn't a dream job or a career, this is a paycheck until retirement. No administrative job is a career, unless you are really high up on the totem pole. Yet none of the people I worked with strived to get to the top, they strived to get to 5pm... 2) I did the job of my supervisor in all three jobs. As a supervisor now, I understand the difficulties in a supervisory role (too much work, ability to delegate, being approachable, etc..), but this was a bit ridiculous. I know exactly what each of my supervisors were supposed to do because I did all of their work on top of my own work. Instead, knowing that they have an assistant, they took 3 hour lunches, dumped work on me, and expected me to stay late while they left early. You can either manage or you can't, and these three could obviously not. It got to the point that when I left, the person who had taken my last position at NYU contacted me asking if it was just them, of if the supervisor actually didn't do their job. They stay in easy managerial roles for years, knowing that they probably won't get fired. NYU doesn't fire incompetent people (con #4), meanwhile losing competent assistants every 6-8 months, who have gotten much better and much more interesting jobs elsewhere (i.e. left to follow their dreams, like I did). Not all of the managers are this way, there are wonderful ones! Just the ones that I directly worked with were incapable of doing their jobs. But, the fact that I had all three of my mangers be this way, statistically says to me that there are more bad managers than good ones. One manager actually said to me that she is "not a micro-manager", but, then, was given a task by her manager, handed it to me, and just sat over my shoulder by my desk and commented while I completed the task. This was all day every day that I worked in that position. 3) Is this really anyone's dream job? No, this really is a paycheck with benefits. It's paperwork, answering phones, and making sure you smile 8 hours a day doing mindless tasks. It's important work. Seriously and sarcastically. Without hospital administration there would be no hospitals (i.e. credentialing and licensing is key to even having a doctor see patients; organizing lectures and other events helps educate doctors more and advance in their fields; and having an administrative buffer basically leaves doctors alone to do their jobs, which is patient care or research to advance patient care!) It's easy work if you are competent, as I feel most (NOT ALL) are. There are people that do this, and do this well and put in 1000%, realizing how important it is. Being surrounded by people like that is encouraging and makes work worthwhile. However, most people at NYU are not like that. This job was not for me. I left for graduate school several years ago and have never looked back!
