Abstract: Reflecting on a career shift that restored job satisfaction, ICN Contributor Amanda Scard examines a non-linear professional path spanning multiple countries, diverse industries, and roles ranging from entry-level positions to independent consulting. The narrative explores the challenge of communicating complex, multi-faceted roles—such as market research and project management—to outside audiences, drawing on analogies developed for a school career day presentation to make a broad scope of professional responsibilities clear and accessible.
A few weeks ago, I left work feeling genuinely rejuvenated. Not because I’d had an easy day, but because I’d spent time with people, learned something new, worked through ideas, and felt like I was contributing to something alongside a team.
It got me thinking about how much has changed in my working life, and how different my job looks now compared with a couple of years ago. Actually, even a couple of months ago.
I’ve never had a particularly straightforward career path. I’m Australian, moved to Germany at 19 to be an au pair, have degrees in Communications and Media and a master’s in PR from GWU, and have lived in several different countries in between. I’ve worked in everything from PR to education and research. I’ve also been a grocery bagger and worked at two gas stations. A few different versions of me professionally!
For around seven years, my full-time focus was independent market research and project management consulting. I loved the variety: diving deep into subjects I knew very little about, speaking with experts, making sense of complicated information, reporting on it, and moving on to something completely different. It was a little like being back at school, except I was getting paid to be curious.
So, what exactly do you do?
For years, I used to joke that my job was a bit like Chandler Bing’s in Friends. You know the running joke where nobody really knows what he does for a living?
Whenever someone asked what I did, I’d say I was a market researcher. Which usually led to another question: “What’s that?”
And honestly, explaining it was a bit of a production. I did a bit of everything: project and client management, interviewing, moderation, analysis, reporting, quality assurance, copywriting, administration, and occasionally translating between English and German. I was basically an entire department rolled into one person. I eventually found a way to explain it at a career day at my kids’ school. I had to speak to both kindergarten and fifth-grade classes, so I needed something that would make sense to a five-year-old and still hold the attention of a ten-year-old.
I told them I was a professional question asker.
It was probably the best description I’d come up with. At its simplest, research is about asking questions, listening to people’s experiences, understanding why they think or do the things they do, and making sense of what you’ve learned.
At its simplest, research is about asking questions, listening to people’s experiences, understanding why they think or do the things they do, and then making sense of what you’ve learned. Sometimes that means talking to doctors about how they treat patients. Sometimes it’s understanding how people make decisions, what frustrates them, or what they need but aren’t getting.
The projects themselves were fascinating. I could spend weeks immersed in a particular disease area, speaking with physicians and other experts, learning about a market, pulling together findings, and writing a report. Then I’d move on to something completely different.
It was a little like being back at school, except I was getting paid to be curious.
I liked the variety, the independence, and the opportunity to become deeply immersed in subjects I knew very little about at the start. I also liked being responsible for the whole process. There was a lot of satisfaction in taking something complicated, working through it, and turning it into something useful.
But there was a downside. Consulting can be isolating. Projects come in waves, and while I enjoyed the independence, I was often working on my own. After years of moving around, working remotely, and figuring things out independently, I started to realize that I wanted something a little different.
Wanting something different doesn’t mean you know what comes next
As much as I enjoyed consulting, working independently could be isolating. Projects came in waves, and I started to miss having colleagues, sharing ideas, and being part of something that continued beyond the end of an individual project.
After returning to the U.S. from Europe, I knew I wanted more stability, routine, and collaboration. Getting there wasn’t exactly a straight line.
My consulting work had slowed down, and for a while I supplemented my income with substitute teaching, nannying, and babysitting. Not quite the career plan I’d mapped out, but sometimes you do what you need to do while you work out the next step.
I think sometimes the hardest part of changing careers isn’t convincing someone else that you can do something different. It’s convincing yourself.
I knew I had experience, but translating that to a resume and into a different industry and a different kind of role was harder than I expected.
A little bit of luck, and the right people
I found RXNT almost by chance. I was applying for all sorts of roles and used every type of job platform. I uploaded a resume to ZipRecruiter, applied and the next day I got a response.
The role ticked some important boxes: it was local, offered the hybrid arrangement I wanted, and seemed like somewhere I could learn and grow. But the people made the difference.
During my interview with John Malamphy, the Media department’s EVP, something he said really stuck with me. His approach was that you hire for baseline skills and knowledge; the specifics of the job can be taught. That’s always been my attitude, too. I didn’t feel I was being assessed against a checklist of things I’d already done. There was an openness to what I could bring and what I could learn.
That approach has stuck with me. I’ve recently been promoted into a newly created Operations Manager role, overseeing different teams and helping things run smoothly across the business. The role is still evolving, but what’s meaningful to me is that someone recognized skills and potential that could be applied in a different way.
In many ways, it brings me back to consulting: understanding how moving parts fit together, asking questions, spotting opportunities to improve processes, and helping people work together more effectively.
The things I used to do without thinking are now the things I value most
One of the interesting things about moving into healthcare media is that I now have a different vantage point on an industry I spent years researching. I’d spent a lot of time talking to physicians about their day-to-day challenges, including limited time with patients, administrative demands, and prior authorizations. I remember hearing about practices that had to dedicate an entire staff member to handling prior authorizations.
Now I get to think about how relevant information, alerts, and resources might fit into a clinician’s workflow. An EHR message won’t magically solve those challenges, but the context matters. Is the information useful? Is it timely? Does it fit into how someone actually works, or are we just adding another message to an already busy day?
Those are the kinds of questions I was asking in research, and I’m still asking them now. The difference is that I’m closer to where those insights can inform practical recommendations and strategies.
I’ve also realized how much of my previous experience I took for granted. Consulting teaches you to manage competing priorities, communicate with different personalities, learn new subjects quickly, and keep things moving when there are a hundred little things happening behind the scenes. You get comfortable with ambiguity and become pretty good at connecting the dots.
I’m still learning to work differently as part of a team. In consulting, I was used to owning the whole process. In a larger organization, there are more people and more dependencies, and sometimes you have to wait for input rather than just doing something yourself. That’s an adjustment, but I’ve really appreciated having colleagues and leaders who share what they know, challenge ideas, and help me see the bigger picture.
Earlier this year, I also had the opportunity to consult with technology entrepreneurs like Chris Ewing at Rev& and learn more about streamlining processes and using AI to make information easier to access. I’ve started bringing some of that thinking into my work at RXNT, looking at ways to improve processes and make it easier for teams to find and use the information they need.
You might be changing direction more than you think
I didn’t leave research behind. I changed how I applied it…A pivot, if you will. And that has opened doors I hadn’t even considered when I first started looking for a new job.
I’m still asking questions, learning about complex subjects, looking for patterns, and trying to understand what people actually need. My role may keep evolving, and I don’t know exactly where it will lead, but that’s part of what makes it exciting.
If there’s one thing I’d tell someone considering a change, it’s not to underestimate what they’ve already learned along the way. Your job title might not explain everything you’ve done, but your experience might be more relevant to a new opportunity than you realize.
You don’t necessarily have to start over. Sometimes you just need someone to see what you can do beyond the title on your resume. And if anyone asks what I do now, the short answer is still that I’m a professional question asker. I just have a slightly different audience.
You must be logged in to post a comment.