Talent Spotter Tales: Part 1

Hasnain Mamdani is an experienced optometrist and store manager at Vision Express, as well as a successful podcast host. (Take a few minutes to listen to The Optics Room, where he interviews various professionals within the industry.) He is also a champion of newly qualified optometrists. “Planning your career path sounds daunting, like making a decision that will be set in stone and won’t allow you to diversify later on,” he says. 

“However, where I am now is very different to what I envisaged when I set out to study optometry.” Hasnain chose to work in the field because he wanted to interact with people, not just with a screen. He explains, “As time went on and I passed my pre-reg, I found myself enjoying the business aspects of optics. I took various management courses and eventually was able to integrate what I learned into my daily clinics and interactions with staff and customers.”

Mamdani outlines the paths a new optometrist may be considering. “There are multiple clinical specialities you can learn if the clinical side appeals to you, such as IP, medical retina, glaucoma, orthoK, and much more. If commercial is what excites you, there’s the business aspect of driving KPIs, while maintaining exceptional customer service and standing out in the market. There is training, which is also a key part of optics – supervising pre-regs, performing staff training, and more. And with advancing technology, the scope of your work as an optometrist is getting wider and wider with virtual eye exams, AI, and smart lenses, just to name a few.”

He concludes, “You have to find what you enjoy and hone in on it. You won’t regret it in 10 years when optics has moved on – you will have been able to adapt.” 

So, the new optometrist has some big questions to answer. “Do I specialize? Do I want a managerial role? Should I work for a multiple or an independent? Am I destined to have my own practice and do things my way?” 

I second what Hasnain Mamdani says: Find out what you enjoy and focus on that. You can then lean on specialist agencies like ours to advise you on what other opportunities are out there. For example, did you know that more and more independent practices are actively looking for newly and recently qualified optometrists?

Not a literal new optometrist? Well, no matter the stage of your career, my team and I are always happy to advise on the market, point you to active vacancies, or support in some other way on your next step. In short, we are here to enable your ambitions. www.consultsearch.co.uk