- Salaha Ashraf spent her final years of medical school feeling stressed and anxious.
- She said hospital wards were under-resourced and busy, and she knew she wanted to stop.
- After graduating, she applied to a business degree program and embarked on a new career.
This essay as told is based on a transcribed conversation with Salaha Ashraf, 28, from Bolton, a town in the northwest of England. Ashraf went to medical school in 2014, but switched to a corporate career after deciding she didn’t want to become a doctor. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
There was no defining moment when I decided to go into medicine. I kind of fell into it. In my South Asian culture, medical professions are highly valued. Plus, my siblings worked in the medical field and I could see them succeeding.
While I was working in hospitals to get my medical degree, I felt a lot of anxiety and stress. I was working long days and felt like I was being thrown in at the deep end.
I decided to leave the medical field in 2020 after graduating. I completed a graduate business program at age 25 and now have a 9-5 in HR. I never looked back.
I struggled with the lack of hospital staff in the UK while studying.
I began my five-year medical degree in 2014 at a university in the North West of England.
The first two years of my course were spent learning theory about anatomy and physiology and the final years were spent in hospitals, where I learned the skills and techniques I would need to become a doctor.
I enjoyed the first few years, but started to struggle in my third year when the work became more hospital-based. In a conference room, I was sheltered from the realities of being a doctor.
The NHS is under increasing pressure. When I worked in hospitals, wards were understaffed, under-resourced and extremely busy due to lack of government funding. It was a challenging environment to learn and practice skills. The doctors were pulled in all directions. Finding one who had the time to watch me practice and teach me was difficult.
I also had reservations about the salaries of young doctors. In the United Kingdom, young doctors have been striking for years to denounce low salaries. My peers had such a passion for medicine that they were ready to become doctors no matter what. I didn’t think I had enough passion to make up for the lack of fair compensation.
I discovered a new passion for business management, but decided to finish medical school before changing careers.
I was nervous about starting my fifth year of medical school and decided to take a year off and do a master’s degree in business management. I wanted to explore areas outside of the medical field.
I felt more passionate about business management after one year than after four years of medical school. I attended classes because I wanted to, not because I had to.
I knew I wanted to quit medicine, but I was so close to the finish line after passing my fourth year exams before taking a gap year. Logically, it made sense to finish medical school. I was supposed to graduate in the summer of 2020, but that was moved up to April due to the pandemic.
In the UK, we offer graduate programs that help you get your foot in the door in an industry.
During my fifth year, I started applying to graduate programs. I had heard about The Times newspaper’s book on the top 100 graduate employers. I looked through it and applied to various companies. My choices were mainly based on location, as I wanted to stay in the north of England, close to my parents.
The application process was more difficult than expected. I didn’t realize there were different stages, like personality and situational judgment tests. I missed the first video interview I did. But my technique improved after a few more interviews.
I went to a final interview with an aerospace company and was offered a remote job as a graduate sales agent, managing contracts for the company. I started in January 2021.
There were about 30 of us in the graduate program.
I was 25 at the time and many of the other graduates were younger than me. I felt behind and felt like I should be further along in my career at this point, but I had to remind myself that I had the maturity and professionalism that 21-year-olds didn’t have.
I learned a lot about communication by practicing speaking with patients as a doctor.
The perks of a 9-5 job are great
The program officially ended after 18 months and I was given a permanent role in contracts. The company let me move into HR six months later because I wanted to do something that would incorporate my soft skills.
I felt that my medical training made me suitable for work in HR. Doctors improve the lives of patients, and in HR, I improve the lives of employees. I left this company in September 2023 and now work in HR in a pharmaceutical company.
In a corporate role, I enjoy my weekends and have more control over my annual leave. I take a one-hour lunch break, whereas when I worked in a hospital, I would skip meals to cope with the workload. I also work from home at my current job, which allows me to spend time with my family.
I feel like I’m in the right career for me.
I wouldn’t want to be a doctor
I try to take a positive look at medical school. I’m glad I did it because it taught me useful skills, like how to communicate clearly.
If I really asked myself at 18: “What do I really want to do?” I probably wouldn’t have enrolled in medicine. If I felt capable of pursuing my passion, I might have studied psychology, which I found interesting at school. I’m happy to think about what I want now – better late than never.
I wouldn’t want to be a doctor for a single second. I have a lot of respect for people who are, but I firmly believe that it’s passion that drives them – and that’s something I ultimately never had.
In response to a request for comment from Business Insider, an NHS spokesperson said:
“There are more doctors working in the NHS than ever before, with more than twice as many people joining the medical register as leaving, but we know there is still work to do to retain our hard-working staff . As part of the implementation of our NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, we have taken steps to improve working conditions and improve retention, including increasing choice and flexibility in rotas and reducing duplicate inductions and training so clinicians can spend less time administering and more time treating patients. At the same time, we continue to expand education, training and recruitment, including a 25% increase in medical places and an expansion of specialist training places, to ensure we have the staff we need to meet the changing needs of the population.
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