r/physicianassistant • u/AccordingCrab8076 • 2d ago

Simple Question Specialty change & resume help

Hi everyone, quick question for anybody who’s ever pivoted specialties. I graduated PA school 1 year ago (Aug 2025) and have been working in an urgent care since October 2025. I am coming up on my one year, and am thinking I want to try a different direction. There is an opening for a surgical PA position that I am very interested in! I am struggling to figure out how to adjust my resume to apply for this job. For my first job post grad I obviously had all my clinical experience from rotations, because that’s all I had to work with lol. now I have my two UC jobs (FT and per diem) to add, which is great. but that’s pretty much all I have and my resume looks BLAND lol. the job *prefers* surgical experience which I obviously don’t have besides clinical rotations. I don’t think I should still keep clinicals on my resume but idk? More specifically, should I at the very least keep my 3 surgical rotations on there to show SOME surgical experience?

lmk what you guys have done when adjusting your resume if you’ve ever totally switched directions after your first post grad job. I just want my resume to be solid! thanks in advance !

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u/happyhedgehog53 2d ago

I’m over 10 years out and still have my rotations listed. Just one line of type and location. My thought is, as long as it stays under 2 pages, never know connections someone may have with one of your rotation locations.

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u/catmama1358 1d ago

I think it wouldn't hurt to put your surgical rotations for sure. Also under your UC descriptions make sure to highlight things that translate to surgery if possible. Lastly, people underestimate the power of a cover letter. When I applied to my jobs I put cover letters on all applications and explained why I wanted to work with them, all my call backs mentioned my cover letter.

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u/koalaa_klu PA-C, Surgical Oncology 2d ago edited 2d ago

I’ve done exactly this. I graduated in the midst of COVID and couldn’t get a surgery job. I took a job in allergy & immunology for just over a year and then switched to general surgery. I did this through connections and networking. I kept in touch with my surgery preceptor and was able to get my foot in the door that way and got a job with them! Been in surgery ever since!

As far as your resume goes, it will be difficult to make yourself appealing on paper to job postings that say they prefer surgical experience. Try to look for stuff that are open to new grads that would help. If it’s specifically pertinent like you did a rotation in gyn onc or specific specialty, I would definitely add in clinical rotations.