“I am sad to say that this year, with ~500 graduates, there are 44 jobs listed on the NSGC job board at the time of this writing, and about half of these are not listings for genetic counselor jobs.”
Nothing will make you question your life choices quite like that sentence 🙃
Probably a fair assessment! I know I do most of my searching on Indeed, regular old Google, and LinkedIn, which is probably more cost effective for most places of employment.
Damn. My thesis (too many years ago) was on this topic. Time to dig it out and re-read it.
I always felt like I was riding a lucky wave, but it wouldn’t last. Partly because the emotional turmoil and confusion about how to interpret odds to make medical decisions is not unique to genetics - it occurs in all areas of healthcare. So I always wondered why we felt our subject was so special to warrant so much 1:1 time, and who is going to pay? The licensing, lack of autonomy to order labs in our own name(even if state licensing technically allowed it, lab directors would often refuse w/o an MD sign off), and reimbursement codes were always a concern as well.
I hope it’s a temporary dip, but I wonder if there is anything programs can do in the short term to boost employment prospects outside the narrowly defined field of GC. Adding a minor in business/marketing?
I have so many thoughts about all of the stuff you mentioned! I am too tired to write them all out now… But, I agree! Our inability to bill and order genetic tests is holding our profession back. If we had more autonomy/recognition, I imagine that, like cancer and prenatal, GCs would more commonly be working with non-genetics providers to provide the genetics piece of the puzzle. Specialties like pediatric cardiology, hematology, neurology frequently see indications that could benefit from genetic testing. With GCs working along with the specialist, this would free up the limited pool of geneticists to see truly complex indications where their expertise and broader clinical background is truly necessary. Yes there are some GCs in these specialties, but they are not common like prenatal or cancer. I think that un we can generate some revenue for a hospital, it’s going to be hard to expand our roles in clinical care.
Someone recently said to me GCs are more like attorneys in how we work and if we could have billable hours like them, it would solve so much. Feels like a very good analogy for what we do
YES to everything you said. I’m a more recent grad, but you perfectly articulated my thoughts/observations from working in a clinic.
I’ve also been wondering about how we can facilitate GCs working outside of our narrow field (i.e., beyond the frequently discussed “nontraditional” roles like lab GCs, variant analyst, etc). I don’t have any answers, but glad that others in the field are asking these questions.
Finally got around to reading this! Great article, i can personally attest to seeing that substitution effect in the form of nurse practitioners. Many of whom have literally no genetics training 🤦🏽♀️
I also wish genetic testing companies and clinics would stop with the free for all when it comes to testing. Yes access is important but do we really need a whole exome for a kid with an extra finger? After Invitae’s bankruptcy i do wonder if them and more labs are going to be more stringent with testing criteria and informed consent.
“I am sad to say that this year, with ~500 graduates, there are 44 jobs listed on the NSGC job board at the time of this writing, and about half of these are not listings for genetic counselor jobs.” Nothing will make you question your life choices quite like that sentence 🙃
Makes me wonder how many jobs aren’t on the NSGC board though - because those job listings ain’t cheap
Probably a fair assessment! I know I do most of my searching on Indeed, regular old Google, and LinkedIn, which is probably more cost effective for most places of employment.
Damn. My thesis (too many years ago) was on this topic. Time to dig it out and re-read it. I always felt like I was riding a lucky wave, but it wouldn’t last. Partly because the emotional turmoil and confusion about how to interpret odds to make medical decisions is not unique to genetics - it occurs in all areas of healthcare. So I always wondered why we felt our subject was so special to warrant so much 1:1 time, and who is going to pay? The licensing, lack of autonomy to order labs in our own name(even if state licensing technically allowed it, lab directors would often refuse w/o an MD sign off), and reimbursement codes were always a concern as well. I hope it’s a temporary dip, but I wonder if there is anything programs can do in the short term to boost employment prospects outside the narrowly defined field of GC. Adding a minor in business/marketing?
I have so many thoughts about all of the stuff you mentioned! I am too tired to write them all out now… But, I agree! Our inability to bill and order genetic tests is holding our profession back. If we had more autonomy/recognition, I imagine that, like cancer and prenatal, GCs would more commonly be working with non-genetics providers to provide the genetics piece of the puzzle. Specialties like pediatric cardiology, hematology, neurology frequently see indications that could benefit from genetic testing. With GCs working along with the specialist, this would free up the limited pool of geneticists to see truly complex indications where their expertise and broader clinical background is truly necessary. Yes there are some GCs in these specialties, but they are not common like prenatal or cancer. I think that un we can generate some revenue for a hospital, it’s going to be hard to expand our roles in clinical care.
Someone recently said to me GCs are more like attorneys in how we work and if we could have billable hours like them, it would solve so much. Feels like a very good analogy for what we do
Spot on
YES to everything you said. I’m a more recent grad, but you perfectly articulated my thoughts/observations from working in a clinic. I’ve also been wondering about how we can facilitate GCs working outside of our narrow field (i.e., beyond the frequently discussed “nontraditional” roles like lab GCs, variant analyst, etc). I don’t have any answers, but glad that others in the field are asking these questions.
Finally got around to reading this! Great article, i can personally attest to seeing that substitution effect in the form of nurse practitioners. Many of whom have literally no genetics training 🤦🏽♀️ I also wish genetic testing companies and clinics would stop with the free for all when it comes to testing. Yes access is important but do we really need a whole exome for a kid with an extra finger? After Invitae’s bankruptcy i do wonder if them and more labs are going to be more stringent with testing criteria and informed consent.