The Job Hunt - General Questions

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

So I thought I'd start a Grand Rounds Thread about the MD Job Hunt.

Now that DH is about to enter his second to last year, I'm starting to have questions. He is still considering fellowship but I think he's 50/50 on doing that. A few questions:

1. When/if to contact recruiters? I've heard really mixed things. Some practices indicate that they mostly use recruiters and other blogs I've read are like "recruiters are terrible, they immediately begin shopping your resume around to a million places to place you as fast as possible and the in house recruiters hate them and it can hurt your chances"? So confused...

DH likely wants to do private practice but it's unclear whether it's best to cold call or talk to recruiters

2. When to start reaching out to practices we may be interested in? As previously mentioned, DH MAY want to do a fellowship but is open to not doing it if the right thing came along and they needed someone sooner. Is it worth reaching out to them to understand if they'd be more/less interested if he was fellowship trained?

3. Is it best to pick a city/state and just start googling practices? How can you find details on these practices (size, volume, where they operate, etc.).

[Thirteen]

We did not contact recruiters, because they would have pocketed the majority of our signing bonuses.

We started reaching out 8 months in advance, knowing that new state licensing can take forever. (CA, TX, etc)

Since we have the ability to live anywhere, we did just that: picked states/locals, and checked openings. Lots of googling, and I would send the postings to DH's email for further review.



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[oceanchild]

My DH is subspecialized enough that there aren't a ton of choices. He made a spreadsheet of all the places he could work in all the places we'd consider living, and it was under 50. They were all hospitals, so a lot of the basic info he wanted to know (whether they had residents, how many beds the unit had, etc) was available online. Where there were postings, he applied to those, and where there weren't he cold called. I don't want to oversell this method though, because honestly, it didn't yield many results for us. The problem with subspecializing is that the number of places who could actually hire you in any given year is also small.

We did not use recruiters really, but there's a big group that hires lots of hospital pediatricians nationally, and he gave them his contact info. He also went to some local MD career fairs, and he gets a lot of recruitment emails. In general, the recruiters seem to be recruiting for places we didn't want to live. But I'm sure that's specialty specific. It's also good to talk to people who've finished recently and get the sense of how hiring works in your specialty. Easier said than done, I know.

[OrionGrad]

In general, the recruiters seem to be recruiting for places we didn't want to live.

This has been our experience, too.

[corn poffi]

It's never too early to talk to practices that he's interested in, as you never know when they're looking to expand, even a few years down the road. My guy has had a job lined up/contract signed for over a year now (and still has a year left). Having that sealed his decision not to do fellowship.

[MarissaNicole]

Following... We are two years out as well, and pretty sure no fellowship based on his mentor's advice.

Although I'm pretty sure Nsg doesn't contract more than a few months out in advance, so I doubt we'll know much for a good year and a half.


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[Sheherezade]

In my DHs hyper specialized field, now on the other side of the hiring equation, we are seeing doctors hired and signed over a full year before the starting date.


Angie

[MarissaNicole]

In my DHs hyper specialized field, now on the other side of the hiring equation, we are seeing doctors hired and signed over a full year before the starting date.


Angie

Pp or academics?

Wife of a PGY-5

[Sheherezade]

Academics. Having spent the last year down TWO partners we are eagerly awaiting July when three new hires will start straight out of fellowship. The three were all interviewed last spring (2014) and had signed contracts before July 2014. I was surprised it would be a full year before anyone finished though. It's been paaaaaainful managing an ever growing practice with fewer surgeons for so long.

It's been a long, awful year with hours like residency except he's the one booking eight surgeries each day for himself.


Angie

[Vanquisher]

Every contract I've seen in PP, hospital employed, or academics takes a minimum of six months.

We used a recruiter. I don't regret it. Start without one, but get one if you need to.

[OrionGrad]

The Job Hunt - General Questions

Obviously every specialty is different, but it's not uncommon in ortho for people to have signed contracts before leaving residency (before fellowship even begins). Right now DH is negotiating a contract (well, the lawyer is) with a PP 7 months after he first interviewed and a verbal offer was given. It's incredibly frustrating how long this stuff can take, especially when there are multiple parties fronting the first year guarantee.

ETA: On the flip side, DH interviewed for a hospital job in Nov 2013 and had a contract in hand two months later. (For a position starting in Sept 2016), so obviously not everything takes this long!

[MarissaNicole]

I'm such a planner I'd be thrilled if one year from now we had an idea of what jobs would be open (at that time we'll be 12 months from graduation)...

My fear is that jobs in nsg arent "open" until they are ready to be filled
... 3 months before the start date or less.


Wife of a PGY-5

[OrionGrad]

I'm such a planner I'd be thrilled if we had an idea of what jobs are even open a year from now (12 months from graduation)...

Wife of a PGY-5

If there's somewhere specific you want to go, I don't think it's ever to early to start reaching out and letting them know you're interested and you'll be finishing training at such and such date. Worst thing that can happen is they say it's too early, but at least you're on their radar.

[MarissaNicole]

If there's somewhere specific you want to go, I don't think it's ever to early to start reaching out and letting them know you're interested and you'll be finishing training at such and such date. Worst thing that can happen is they say it's too early, but at least you're on their radar.

We want to stay here, but know that that may not be an option. The doc DH researched for all year is kind of keeping an open ear out for any openings in the area.

A very young and talented chairman tragically passed away unexpectedly this year so I imagine there may be some movement at least at that program. Which may cause a shuffle with other hospitals in the area as well.

Wife of a PGY-5

[poky]

My fear is that jobs in nsg arent "open" until they are ready to be filled
... 3 months before the start date or less.

I seriously doubt that. registering/credentialing/whatever if you move states takes longer than that. Didn't SuzySunshine's husband's group have to wait a year for their new hire to start? I'd start letting places you're interested in know when you'll be available nowish.