In this episode of the UCM Podcast, Dr. Bill Davis walks chiropractic students through the three critical steps to landing a great preceptor position—one that builds confidence, skill, and long-term career momentum rather than regret. Drawing from his own difficult preceptorship experience, Dr. Davis explains why a preceptor position should be viewed as career training, not just a graduation requirement. He emphasizes the importance of clarity around career goals, positioning yourself as a future doctor rather than a desperate student, and gaining access to the right opportunities through relationships and intentional networking. The episode also highlights common mistakes students make—such as waiting too long, prioritizing pay over mentorship, and ignoring culture fit—and provides actionable resources to help students transition successfully from student to doctor.
Links discussed in the show: UCM Associate Talent Network
Why Preceptor Positions Matter More Than Students Realize
(Preceptorship as career training, not just an internship requirement)
Step 1: Getting Clear on the Doctor You Want to Become
(Practice ownership, specialization, technique choice, learning environment)
Step 2: Positioning Yourself Like a Future Doctor
(Mindset, professionalism, coachability, communication, and follow-up)
Step 3: Gaining Access to the Best Opportunities Through Relationships
(Networking, conferences, communities, and early action)
Common Preceptor Mistakes to Avoid + Action Steps for Students
(Waiting too long, choosing pay over mentorship, poor culture fit, and available UCM resources)
Well, hello, upper cervical doctors and chiropractic students. Excited to talk with you again today on the UCM podcast. I’m Dr. Bill Davis, your host for today. And today we’re going to be talking about three steps to take to land a great preceptor position as a chiropractic student.
So this is a great podcast to share with those students in your lives, those if it’s your kids or your people that you’ve met or, or, you know, just students that you know from your technique clubs or technique conferences or any of those types of things, please share this podcast with them and put a lot of work into this to help chiropractic students to be successful as quickly as possible as they leave school.
And so we’re going to be getting into the three steps to take to land a great preceptor position as a chiropractic student. And we’re also really going to talk about how to avoid common mistakes and set yourself up for long-term success.
You know, when I came out of chiropractic school and I did my preceptor position in the last, you know, during my last trimester, just got a position basically anywhere that I could get one. And it was a terrible experience for me, actually.
And I, I, I actually had thought that I made a terrible mistake by going into chiropractic school. And so it was, it was a, it almost, I almost got to the point where I, I didn’t even want to be a chiropractor anymore because this was such a bad experience.
And so I don’t want that for any of you out there that are chiropractic students. I want you to have a great preceptor position experience that will hopefully lead into a great associate position for you as well.
And so let’s get into three steps to take to land a great preceptor position as a chiropractic student. First of all, why does this matter? A preceptor position isn’t just a requirement for your degree.
It’s training for your future career. That’s how you should be thinking about it. No matter where you are in school, how can I get the training that I need to be successful in my career as a chiropractor?
And so you don’t want to wait too long to think about your preceptorship. You don’t want to take the first opportunity that you’re offered or what will commonly happen is you’ll end up with poor mentorship and limited growth.
And so let’s get into it and look at what you should be doing as you go into it. So step one here is to get clear on the type of doctor that you want to become. A preceptor position isn’t, it’s not just an internship.
It’s a learning environment that shapes your confidence, your skills, and your direction as a chiropractor. And so to think of it that way, start with, you know, begin with the end in mind and start thinking about what is the, you know, what type of a doctor do I want to be?
What type of a chiropractor do I want to be? What type of a specialist do I want to be within the chiropractic profession? Start thinking in that, those terms and you can start to get more clear on the type of position that you’ll want to look for.
So here’s some questions that you might or that you must answer as you are preparing for your preceptor position. And you really want to answer these questions before you apply anywhere. You want to ask yourself, do I want to own my own practice one day?
Right. This is an important question to answer. Do you want to own your own practice? Not everybody should own their own practice. And so be thinking that through because that will, it can, it can dramatically impact the type of preceptor position that you want to look for.
Ultimately, whether or not you want to do an associate position or not, or if you want to get, try to get as much experience as possible during your preceptorship and go directly out on your own. So thinking about, do I want to own my own practice one day?
And what is the timeline for that? Is that, you know, I want to go, you want to come right out of school and start your own practice? Do you want to, you know, have a short-term associate position, maybe one year, two years, three years?
Or do you want to be a long-term associate and not own your own practice ever, which is okay as well. It depends on you, your goals, and what you believe you’re going to be most effective at and successful at when it comes to your chiropractic career.
Another question that you want to ask yourself is, do I want to specialize? There’s a lot of different specialties within the upper cervical. I mean, within chiropractic, I should say. You know, one of my favorites is upper cervical, obviously, but there’s a lot of chiropractic specialties out there.
There’s people that specialize in particular techniques and particular conditions or particular styles of practice. There’s lots of different specialties out there. And so thinking about that, again, can really impact the type of preceptor position that you want to get.
If you want to, say, you know, do Petabon technique, for instance, well, it would be very useful for you to get a preceptor position in a Petabon office, right? Because then you can learn how Petabon chiropractors practice and what sort of things they’re different.
What is their equipment? How is it different? How do they, you know, structure their day-to-day, their care plans, all these types of things will be different in that practice versus a different type of style of practice.
And so thinking about, do I want to specialize? And what, you know, what we recommend is you should, you should absolutely specialize in something. That’s as a chiropractor to set yourself apart. It is good to specialize.
We can talk more about that later. What techniques or practice styles interest me? Well, maybe you don’t know what specialty that you would want to pursue. And so in school, look into as many techniques as you can and different practice styles.
Visit as many practices as possible. You want to visit dozens of chiropractic practices while you’re in school. Go to different kinds. If you are considering, say, upper cervical chiropractic, go to an upper cervical chiropractic office.
Maybe go to a few different types. Go to a NUCA practice. Go to a Blair practice. Go to a knee chest practice. These are all different. These are all upper cervical techniques, but they all have very different practice styles.
There’s different ones that may interest you. If you want to specialize in, say, neurology, then go to an office that specializes in neurology. If you want to specialize in, or you’re at least considering it, specializing in, say, pediatrics, then find a practice that focuses on pediatrics or prenatal or, you know, whatever it is.
Find these practices while you’re in school. Visit them. Learn about them. So then when you get to the place of your preceptor position, then you can be more specific when it comes to the type of preceptor position that you want.
And then also ask the question about, you know, what kind of environment helps me grow? As you’ve gone through school, what are those professors that have helped you the most? What is their teaching style?
Do you respond well to very strong, disciplined, structured type of teaching style? Or do you respond better to a looser, more, you know, more free teaching style? You know, more organic. What is that teaching style that is best for you?
Because again, you want to try to find a preceptor position where you’re going to learn the most. And so the type of teaching style that that doctor has will be important. And the key thing with all of these questions is you don’t need perfect answers.
You just need direction. You don’t need to, you know, you just have to ask yourself these questions, start thinking through your answers and start to get some clear, some more clarity when it comes to the direction you want to go to, go in with your chiropractic future.
So step number two, position yourself like a future doctor, right? Great practices aren’t looking for desperate students who just have to fulfill their internship requirement for their preceptorship.
They’re looking for coachable, intentional future doctors, right? So mindset matters more than experience. And so when you’re coming out of school and you don’t have any experience really other than just working in clinic, you know, what’s your mindset like?
Do you have you committed to learning? Are you that type of a person who is consistently, you know, listening to podcasts like this or reading books, listening to books, watching videos to learn skills that are necessary to be good as a chiropractor?
Is that who you are? Are you consistently learning? Are you consistently applying what you learn and getting experience? Have you been out there, you know, as you visited practices? Have you volunteered to help them out in their practice with different things?
Have you been in practices? These types of things matter. When you have that kind of go-getter mindset and that, you know, focused on learning and focused on growing, when you have that kind of coachable spirit and you’re more intentional with who you are as a person, then that’s going to help you tremendously as you step into a preceptor position.
Because a lot of times the best preceptor positions won’t be advertised at your school. You’re going to have to go out there and begin to work with these offices to get them approved as preceptors and get yourself into those positions.
And so position yourself like a future doctor is key. And so ways to stand out and how to stand out when it comes to yourself as a student and someone who is pursuing a particular precept or position, you can stand out without experience by just communicating long-term goals clearly, right?
Like if, like we talked about previously, if you’ve thought it through and you know, like, hey, this is what I plan on doing. Like this is, I plan on, you know, I’d love to find an associate position where I can learn this, this, and this.
And then I’d like to go and start my own practice, right? If you have that kind of clear mindset or clear understanding of what your plan is, that can definitely make you stand out. Asking thoughtful questions, right?
Like, do you understand how to ask a good question about their practice, about how they see patients, what they do on a daily basis, how they interact with patients, what they do with their staff, how they, you know, do you understand chiropractic practice and the ins and outs of it?
Because you’ve been in practices and you’ve asked questions before to prepare yourself for this opportunity that you have to ask questions of a possible preceptor position. Do you show humility and curiosity, right?
Are you proud and puffed up and just think you know everything coming out of school? Or are you humble and curious and willing to serve and are excited to be able to be a blessing to that practice and do anything and everything you can to help rather than get in the place where you feel like, you know, they owe you something, which they don’t.
Are you professional and reliable, right? Do you show up on time early? Are you consistently there when you’re supposed to be? That’s being professional. It’s being reliable. It’s being consistent when it comes to that.
And then do you follow up consistently, right? Are you the kind of person, you know, because doctors are busy. You reach out to them and they, you know, you have an initial interaction with them. Are you following up with them to make sure you stay connected with them as you go through school, begin to build that relationship, get connected with them as you get closer to that place of doing your preceptor position?
These signals matter more than your resume. It’s when you talk with doctors and you talk with clinic directors who are looking for preceptors or associates or just, you know, these are the types of things they’re looking for.
All right. Step three, get access to the right opportunities. Access beats applications, right? As I mentioned earlier, just because your school has a relationship with, you know, a handful of doctors in your area, and that’s where usually people do their preceptor positions, that doesn’t mean that’s where you need to go.
The best preceptor and associate positions are rarely posted publicly. They come through relationships and are filled before most students even hear about them, right? And so it’s important for you to be able to get yourself engaged in the right networks and the right connections so that you can start to build these relationships that will lead to a great preceptor position.
And so you want to build connections early. You don’t want to wait until your final year of school, right? You want to get out there and start meeting doctors. As I mentioned several times already, go to offices, meet doctors, go to practices, learn how a practice works.
Go to technique conferences. If you’re interested in a technique, go to their conferences. It’s one of the best ways you can really connect with doctors in that world is to go to a conference and meet them.
And that also will help you to determine if that’s the technique you want to specialize in. You want to plug into the right communities, right? As I said, if you’re thinking of specializing in a particular area, go where they are, right?
Go to their conferences, go to their workshops, those types of things, and learn from doctors who enjoy mentoring, right? At these conferences, a lot of times you’re going to find doctors who they’re really passionate about mentoring students.
And so that’s how you start to build these relationships before you need a position, right? Early action will create better options for you. And that’s the key with this type of activity. And so here’s some common mistakes to avoid.
You want to avoid these career mistakes, waiting too long to start, right? Now, obviously, I mean, if you’re listening to this and you’re in your final semester or whatever of school, last trimester, last quarter, whatever it is at your school, then, you know, it is what it is.
But if you can start early, then start early. If you’re in your first year of school, great. Start doing these things now. If you are starting chiropractic school, start doing these things now. Like this is, you can never do this too early.
Even before you go to school, go to chiropractic school, you can be visiting chiropractic practices and interacting with chiropractors. So avoid waiting too long to start. And also, you know, don’t get too caught up in pay over mentorship, right?
If you’re like, hey, this practice over here is going to, you know, if I do my preceptor position there, then I’m going to be able to get this amount of money to start as an associate or whatever. But it’s not really what you want to do, the type of specialty, the what type of practice you want to focus on.
You know, I would, if I were you, I would choose mentorship over pay as a, if, if that’s a priority to you, right? So of course you’ve got to get paid. You want to get paid. You want to make a good living as a chiropractor, but you can get the right mentorship, the right training, it’s going to serve you a lot more long term than, you know, a quick paycheck after graduation.
You also want to avoid ignoring culture and leadership fit, right? If you go into a practice and you don’t like the culture there, you don’t like how the doctors lead, whatever it is, then, you know, that matters.
That matters. You don’t want to be in a place where you’re going to have a hard time with what they’re doing. And then you want to avoid just assuming any preceptorship is a good one, right? I think we’ve already mentioned this a few times.
Just because your school has preceptor positions available doesn’t mean that’s the only options that’s out there. Because these types of short-term decisions can create long-term problems. And so let’s get in to some actions you can take now.
No matter where you are in school, you can take a couple of different actions that is going to dramatically help you. You don’t have to figure this out alone. The earlier you get intentional, the more opportunities you’ll have when it matters most.
And so two actions you can take right now. Number one, join the Associate Talent Network. We have an Associate Talent Network that you can find at ucmgrow.com forward slash network. That’s ucmgrow.com forward slash network.
And that will help you to connect with practices that are actively looking for preceptors and associates. This is specifically within the upper cervical chiropractic world. And so if you want to specialize in upper cervical, which I would highly recommend you do, then this is the place you want to be.
You want to be in the Associate Talent Network over at ucmgrow.com forward slash network. That will, what you’ll get as a result of that, you’ll become part of that Associate Talent Network, but we’ll also do a career planning call with you to find out more about what your plan is so we can most effectively connect you with the right preceptor and associate position opportunities.
And then the second action step is to download our free guide to help you as a student in your transition to become a doctor. It’s called From Student to Doctor, the Chiropractic Career Starter Kit. And you can find that over at ucmgrow.com forward slash career.
ucmgrow.com forward slash career. It’s a clear roadmap for career decisions before graduation. It’s got everything in there from, you know, how do you know if you are, you should start your own practice right coming out out of school?
Who is the right type of person for a long-term associate position? Who’s the right type for a short-term associate position? What are all kinds of different specialties you could go into and so forth?
And so there’s tons of stuff in this. Really put a lot of work into this. It’s a great, great guide for you if you’re a chiropractic student, no matter where you are in school. And so you can get that over at ucmgrow.com forward slash career, and that will help you as well.
So those are the two steps that we encourage you to take today as a chiropractic student. One is to join the Associate Talent Network at ucmgrow.com forward slash network. And two is to download our free guide from student to doctor, the chiropractic career starter kit at ucmgrow.com forward slash career.
Thank you so much for listening to the podcast today. And for all of you that regularly listen, you know, we always end these podcasts by saying “Go Team Upper Cervical”
