In today’s job market it is not enough to submit your resume, CV, or online application for a new position. It is critical that you make personal connections with people in the company or industry. Matt and Lynn discuss the importance of networking and share some personal success stories.
Lynn: [00:00:00] Lynn Paterini here with The Nontraditional Pharmacist, part of The Pharmacy Podcast Network. Today we are doing things a little bit differently on TNP. On today’s show, we’re going to have Matt as today’s guest. Matt, thank you for being on today’s episode.
Matt: [00:00:16] Yeah great to be here Lynn. This is exciting for me being you know the one that I have if any of our listeners are tuning in for this episode, I have historically done the interviews, so it’s nice to be on the other side of the microphone so to speak. I know we have some good topics planned for today. So excited to get to those.
Lynn: [00:00:35] Speaking of the topics, there’s a few reasons why we want to highlight Matt on today’s episode. First, we want to go over what our goal is here at TNP and having two thirds of The Nontraditional Pharmacist here. (Nick I know you’re here in spirit!) and we can go over some of that. Number two, we really want to emphasize the importance of networking, and there is nobody I know better at networking than Matt is. And number three, Matt has an exciting new and nontraditional pharmacy role. So we’re going to hear a little bit about Matt’s next path in his career journey, so Matt thanks again for being on today’s show. Let’s get started with my favorite subject of course TNP. Why don’t you share with everybody a little bit about what we’re about here at TNP. What is our main goal?
Matt: [00:01:24] TNP is my favorite subject too! And I think before we get into what TNP is exactly, for those that see the names of the people on the episode, we have Lynn Paterini and Matt Paterini. I want to make it very clear that we are husband and wife, not brother sister. Just to clear up any confusion there that you know people that have listened before and may not know so. But TNP is something that we’ve started and I know we’ve talked about it in previous episodes, but this is actually a good time to revisit the topic and kind of revisit what our real goal is and what our focus is with The Nontraditional Pharmacist. As we kind of passed the two year mark, not too long ago, of doing interviews and the production of what is The Nontraditional Pharmacist. So we originally started as a kind of a video blog, which is still kind of the core of what The Nontraditional Pharmacist is. But the main goal, in that, is really to provide exposure to pharmacists and pharmacy students to all of the nontraditional and unique roles that pharmacists hold in the field of pharmacy. Pharmacists are doing a lot of very interesting things. A lot of unique things that oftentimes aren’t highlighted in either school programs or they’re just difficult to learn about in the community, so we’re trying to expose those and give some education as to what pharmacists are doing and potentially what other jobs and career paths pharmacists and pharmacy students can take. That’s first and foremost. The second piece of The Nontraditional Pharmacist is really to connect interested pharmacists and interested pharmacy students with those individuals that are in those unique roles today. I mean I know we’re going to talk a little bit about networking coming up, so the idea is once you understand what the roles are available, then you’re able to connect with people that are actually in those roles and have a connection which is so important into that career path. So you may be able to either learn more or pursue that as a career path. Finally the third piece we like to provide resources that either we have found helpful or our guests have helped found helpful in their pursuit of new career paths and career exploration. So you combine the education of new roles with the connections of people in those roles with the resources, and our goal is to design a platform where pharmacists and pharmacy students can take all of that and really find the job and career that fits them best.
Lynn: [00:04:12] That was said perfectly like Matt was saying with the exposure, we want to do the shadowing for you. It’s a good way of course to get out there in the field and you know physically shadow people in roles that you’re interested in. But sometimes you can’t always do that. There’s not enough time in a day or a time not enough time in a semester in that case. So we want to go out there, get the exposure for you, get the interviews, and show you all the roles that are available out there and take it a step further with networking. This brings me to my next question, how can people get the most out of The Nontraditional Pharmacist?
Matt: [00:04:49] Really to get the most out of The Nontraditional Pharmacist, it’s not just about listening to the podcasts or the interviews. They’re a great source of information but to really get practical use out of TNP, it will require a level of connecting with those individuals. Everyone that we feature on The Nontraditional Pharmacist is very accessible and gracious with their time. And quite honestly we’re lucky to have them as guests on The Nontraditional Pharmacist, so they’re a great resource for connections and it’s up to you to make those connections in whatever capacity makes most sense for you. If you’re not looking for a new job then utilizing those resources for new careers may not make the most sense but they are a wealth of information and it can be very helpful when you’re trying to learn about new areas pharmacy. But yes, you have to take it upon yourself to connect with them, reach out, and you’ll be surprised at some of the connections you can make.
Lynn: [00:05:55] What would you say that future directions are for The Nontraditional Pharmacist?
Matt: [00:05:57] Future directions is tough. As pharmacists know the landscape is changing. A lot of new roles, new avenues to work in are becoming less nontraditional. So the focus is really on the networking component and the connections. We’ll continue to provide information in the emerging markets and the emerging roles that are becoming available. But the emphasis moving forward will be even more so on the connections. We have the ability now to email and call if people provide their contact information, but we want to make that easier and help facilitate that in any way we can because we understand how important it is. So the focus on networking moving forward is going to be key, but how exactly that plays out, stay tuned!
Lynn: [00:06:52] Yeah exactly. So take these take these interviews and use them for connections and bring us to our next topic for today is for networking. This is a huge part of TNP. So let’s talk a little bit about why networking is so important? You are phenomenal at networking. You’ve gotten two jobs through networking in nontraditional pharmacy. So what is the big takeaway? Do you think it’s more important to network than to say, submit your resume online to a job source or website?
Matt: [00:07:25] Now the job market and the way people hire is becoming so personal because there is so much information available on candidates and avenues for people to submit either resumes or fill out an application or you know maybe there’s job postings and even Facebook and social media. So employers have a lot of information on candidates at their fingertips. Google included, even a simple google search. So really the way employers are making decisions on who they hire is coming down to who they have a personal connection with, who’s taking the initiative to understand their business, understand what their work is day to day, how the organization runs, if the culture is a good fit, etc. People that take the initiative to learn about those things from people that are in a position of hiring or leaders in those industries are going to have a huge leg up on.
Matt: [00:08:24] People that simply mass submit applications or resumes to a website. I know from personal experience you know my most recent two positions have been achieved through through networking, either personal connections that I have stumbled across accidentally or that I’ve actively pursued to learn about the industry, learn about a company, and kind of take taken that is a snowball effect to see where I fit best within the organization. So it’s becoming critical that you network and make connections with the people that are in those positions of hiring ahead of time, even before you do any of the actions that are required of a position like submitting a resume your application or something like that. So I would say networking is by far and away the most important thing when looking for a new job. And that goes for any industry in any role.
Lynn: [00:09:21] I definitely agree with that and I would say most, if not all of our previous guests on our episode have landed their careers through networking, whether it was through a rotation that they had and making good connections with their preceptors, to just having an internship in a pharmacy. And that’s where they got their role. So that’s a great point there. What would you say some of the keys are to networking?
Matt: [00:09:45] Now there’s a lot of different ways to go about you know quote unquote networking. I think some of the traditional ways of face to face meetings, either conferences or job fairs where you have a lot of people in the same industry talking about the same subject matter, you know concentration of individuals in that industry is probably still the best way. But with all of the avenues that are available today, we talk about LinkedIn, Facebook, other social media avenues, there’s so many different ways to at least make that initial connection. Of course you want to do things in kind of a multi-way approach, so if you meet someone in person, connect with them on LinkedIn, maybe schedule a phone call to discuss what their role is and maybe how they may be able to help you, and how you could help them learn about something new. So there’s a lot of different ways. And I would say focusing on only one is probably not the best strategy. You really need to be connecting with people on different levels and different avenues to really make that lasting personal connection.
Lynn: [00:10:54] Speaking of networking I’ve been excited to ask this question because I love the story behind this: What is your best networking story?
Matt: [00:11:02] Yes I do have a great networking story. And I tell it often because it’s one of the accidental ones and is how I’ve landed my current role with UCG Technologies and Contract Guardian, which we’ll talk about what those roles are in a minute. But it’s such a great example of how you never know where an opportunity can come from. Lynn and I actually had just moved to Cleveland after graduating pharmacy school where we both began our careers. And I had started with IBM a few weeks into moving to the Cleveland area. And when you move to a new area ,one of the first things that you have to do is figure out where you’re gonna get a haircut. And I didn’t really think of that ahead of time so that was one of the first things on my list. And I went to this barbershop downtown Cleveland and had a conversation with the barber. Very nice guy. And he sort of asked me about what I do for work. I mentioned I worked at IBM at the time and he said, “That’s funny because my brother-in-law worked for IBM back in the 80s. He has since started his own company. But you remind me a lot of him, I think you guys should connect. I think you should meet him.” And I said I would love to meet him. Sounds like an interesting person I’ve always had an interest in kind of the entrepreneurial side of things so I emailed or called, I can’t remember if I emailed or called, the UCG technologies President, Jim Kandrac, that afternoon and we had lunch a couple of days later and we got to talking about his business, what he was looking for in terms of employees and growth and scale and what he needed for the business long term, and I was kind of expressing what I was looking for in terms of work. And we just had a nice conversation. Fast forward you know probably a year later and I now work at UCG technology, so I took that one interaction and over time developed a relationship. We learned about each other, we learned about my professional goals, his professional goals, the needs of the business and the timing was right for him to hire and for me to make a move. So again, it’s just a great example of have those conversations take those opportunities. You never know what’s going to happen.
Lynn: [00:13:28] I love that story and one thing I want to zoom in on from it is how Matt did it that day that he heard of that connection. And that’s one strong point that he does that he always does things NOW, he doesn’t hesitate, he doesn’t overthink it. You know he had an opportunity and he called him that day and you know within a year he had a new job that he currently loves.
Matt: [00:13:50] Yeah, it’s interesting because when you have those opportunities they don’t last forever, so you have to take them as they come. At the same time things that are good are worth working hard for and waiting for. So it was a long you know it’s not like I started working there the next day, there was a long process in that time and we’ve done a lot of work since then. So yes you can do things quick and you have to take action, but also recognize that there’s a long process to ultimately hit goals that you think you’re you’re looking to hit.
Lynn: [00:14:28] That brings us to his new role as Contract Guardian with UCG Technologies. What exactly is Contract Guardian? Can you tell us a little bit more from a bird’s eye view what it is about?
Matt: [00:14:41] Contract Guardian is very exciting for us at UCG. UCG Technologies has been in business for 30 years and really focused on an IBM hardware system for the majority of that business. And so the opportunity came along (talk about opportunities!) for UCG Technologies to acquire a software as a service solution called Contract Guardian. Now we’ve had relationships, UCG as a company that is, with the Contract Guardian company for over 30 years. So talk about networking, there’s a long term relationship that has now turn into a new opportunity. But Contract Guardian itself is a software as a service, cloud-based solution for health system contract management. So it’s pretty cool for me as a pharmacist to be involved with this kind of at the ground floor just as we’re getting it going. But we do contract management, agreement management, any kind of documents that you can think of that a hospital or health system would deal with, kind of from the administration side, not so much on the clinical side. So you think about service agreements, physician agreements, vendor agreements, any sort of administration document that a hospital or health system has to manage and organize. This solution provides the ability to organize those documents, as well as provide reporting, notifications, and submit tasks for certain individuals, so it’s really a full process automation tool for contracts in healthcare. So we’re excited to take it from where it’s been over the past 10 years which has been a great software solution and really apply a level of marketing, and hopefully getting the messaging out to the right individuals, where we can really make an impact on health system administration.
Lynn: [00:16:46] And that’s pretty interesting too because you’re using your little bit more applicability to use your pharmacy degree. Now you’re a little bit more in healthcare now, would you say that that’s definitely a plus of the job?
Matt: [00:16:58] That’s definitely a huge benefit to Contract Guardian, and for me personally. The other part of the business where we do data protection, disaster recovery services, we do a lot for healthcare organizations as data protection is critical for healthcare organizations. But this is a little bit even more on the healthcare administration side, which I’ve always had a large interest in. So it’ll be great to blend my experience through you know pharmacy rotations and other experiences I’ve had and bring that to Contract Guardian.
Lynn: [00:17:32] Not to mention how how critical technology is going to be in healthcare. So it seems like you’re definitely in the right career path. What role does Contract Guardian, you touched on that a little bit in terms of the side of the contract management with health systems. Can you elaborate a little bit more about the role that Contract Guardian plays in health system?
Matt: [00:17:51] Yeah that’s a good question. It’s really, and I mentioned it a little bit, but it’s really a full process automation tool for a number of different organizations in healthcare, it’s not just for contract managers or compliance officers. We’re finding that a lot of health systems are utilizing Contract Guardian across all departments. So any department that has a large number of agreements to manage or documents to organize, can benefit from Contract Guardian. You think about how most health systems today do that and it’s usually through a manual process. Maybe it’s Excel spreadsheets and there’s a few other tools, files, folders, shared files folders that is, but there’s really not many using a robust contract management solution. So it’s an organization tool for all those documents on the one hand. On the other hand, if you need an agreement or a document to move through a certain process within the organization, we know how many policies are in place at health system so a document may have to go through three, four, or five different approvals before it can be executed. Contract Guardian helps manage all of that, so you can task different individuals to perform certain actions by certain deadlines and help move documents efficiently through the health system to make sure they’re executed on time, and that everyone is adhering to the terms and conditions. So it’s really more the administration side but can span across all departments.
Lynn: [00:19:30] I just want to touch a little bit on that again. Can you give us an example? Who is the contract between? Is it within the health system or is it in a specific department or is it you know a contract between the health system and an outside source?
Matt: [00:19:48] Could be any one of those. A good example would be a vendor contract say a health system needs to contract with a vendor for medications, certain medications. Those contracts are negotiated and have certain terms and conditions that each party needs to adhere to, as well as follow the approval process of that health system. So vendor submits a contract, the hospital or health system goes through its initial approval, then it sends it to the relevant parties, maybe there’s certain tasks they need to perform for that contract before it’s finally signed, approved, and executed by the organization or individual that has the power to do that. So it can be from vendors to the organization. It can be within the organization. Really any document that requires certain steps or approval or documentation that people adhere to certain terms and conditions can be applied with Contract Guardian.
Lynn: [00:20:56] Where can people go to learn more? Is there a website they can go to or what what would you recommend if people want to learn a little bit more about Contract Guardian?
Matt: [00:21:04] Yeah we have a great website www.contractguardian.com, a great resource center where we have a lot of documents that provide good overview information, not just on the solution and all the bells and whistles and what it can do, but kind of some best practices and some insight as to what you can really achieve in terms of business results with Contract Guardian, and so kind of more insight as to how you should be running contract management and then how Contract Guardian helps solve some of those problems so the website is probably the best place. Follow us on LinkedIn. Connect with me on LinkedIn. I believe we have a Facebook page as well, so websites probably the best but social media avenues LinkedIn, YouTube channel, Facebook are good areas as well.
Lynn: [00:21:58] Now you’ve been with the company for about a year and since since recently you’ve just acquired Contract Guardian. How does this fit into your long term goals? Where do you see yourself in the long run?
Matt: [00:22:08] Myself personally I’ve always had a interest in being involved in kind of the running of a business, whether that’s owning my own business or you know kind of running all aspects whether that’s scaling for growth, running the day to day operations, product development, all of that that goes into running a business. So Contract Guardian with UCG technologies gives me a great opportunity to learn about all those aspects and potentially have the opportunity to be involved in a big way in those operations long term. So it’s tough to say where the end goal is, but my philosophy on my professional life is pursue work that you love to do. Doesn’t matter what industry or the type of work that you have to do. Find time for friends, family, and hobbies and make sure that that work life balance is something that you’re comfortable with and you’re really very happy with because otherwise it makes for an unhappy career and that’s not a position you want to be in. So long term goals, I think I’m in a great position with UCG Technologies and Contract Guardian and really excited to see where Contract Guardian goes in the next boy five to 10 years.
Lynn: [00:23:33] In terms of work life balance I think that you said it very well you want to make sure you’re very happy in your career but also in your personal life. And anybody that knows Matt knows that he is an extremely good golfer. He has won the Ann Arbor CIty Championship five times. That is a common bragging point I like, but joking aside how would you say you know does this job allow you to have good work life balance?
Matt: [00:23:56] It does. I think we work hard, but we also have time to enjoy the things that we like to do and have the time to do not only your hobbies but also spend time with friends and family. You know we don’t work weekends, don’t work nights. Yeah we travel sometimes, but for the most part the company is a culture that is very much focused on work-life balance and doing what you love. So that kind of goes back to my earlier point of it’s so important to look at a role in a career path that really checks all the boxes. Yes you want to do work that you love. You want to work the hours that are appropriate for you, want to make sure you have time to do the things that you like to do. So UCG Technologies does a great job of that and they take that very seriously. So that’s one of the the big benefits. So yes the work life balance is very very good.
Lynn: [00:24:58] Now you didn’t mention a little bit about your long term goals with the company. I’m transitioning back a little bit more to a pharmacy. Where do you see the future of pharmacy? Where are you where do you see pharmacy going? We always love asking our nontraditional pharmacy guests this question just because right now we’re in the midst of a change of where pharmacy is going and the new nontraditional roles out there, so how would you answer that?
Matt: [00:25:21] I love asking all of our guests this question. We always get so many different answers but they’re all true. If that’s possible they’re also different but they’re all true. The future of pharmacy is going to look very different. It already looks different than it did 10, 15, 20 years ago. Technology is going to play a huge role, as we see more development in the world of artificial intelligence and automation. The traditional role of the pharmacists is going to change a lot. So I see technology playing the biggest role in the field in general as we move forward. How exactly that plays out it’ll be interesting to see but I think a lot of work is being done on the AI side of things and automation. So I think that’s probably the most immediate, but it’ll be changing in years to come and of course you talk about things like block chain and all these other technology buzzwords. Eventually they will make their way into the field of pharmacy and they already are. Look it at Pillpack with Amazon. So it’s already happening. Technology is the biggest part but the clinical expertise and the medication use expertise a pharmacist will always be needed to supplement that technology. But the winning combination is going to be better care for patients, more efficient use of the health system. So I can’t wait to see what happens.
Lynn: [00:26:47] I can either Matt, that seems like a great answer. Technology is definitely in the future of pharmacy and you know Matt thanks so much for being on today’s episode. If there’s anything to take away from to from today’s podcast you don’t necessarily need to get your haircut to get your next job but really shows the importance of networking so to take that away; network, make these connections with people. Don’t be afraid to reach out to pharmacists or those in careers that you’re interested in. And thanks again. We’re looking forward to seeing you next time.