When considering a new practice locale, I recommend a hefty dose of introspection first. Your likes/dislikes and interests are all serious factors to consider before taping up those moving boxes and relocating across the country. Do you like larger cities, smaller cities, or something in between? While big cities often offer a more diverse patient population, they can be overwhelming for some physicians. These doctors would rather work in a close-knit community, the kind where you walk down the street and Johnny the postman calls out your name as he waves. Of course, there is a middle ground here: You could always live in the suburbs and commute to your practice in the city.

Now, consider your interests and determine if a particular city will cater toward those interests. For example, are you a physician who enjoys international travel or has family overseas? If so, then proximity to an international airport is crucial. Also, living on the east coast often makes traveling to international destinations much easier. It’s also a good idea to assess what you like to do during your free time. (Okay, if you’re fresh out of residency/fellowship you might have forgotten what you like to do during this elusive “free time.” Don’t worry. It will come back to you.) If you enjoy going to the theatre then you should research what sort of performing arts venues a city offers. If grilling out before the big game is your idea of a good time, then finding a locale with a sports pocket might be a good fit.

While serious introspection should definitely play a role in your decision making process, the two most common factors physicians should consider when moving are career and family—and rightly so. While every city needs doctors, some cities might be a better fit for your career in medicine based on your specialty. For example, if you’re a neurologist who is looking to study a rare, degenerative disease, a certain research-oriented institution might be the best choice for your neurological career. Or, you might be drawn to a city due to work alongside a renowned physician in your field of practice. Sacrificing sunny weather or living on the coast might be a worthwhile price to pay when compared to the knowledge/experience you’ll gain while working in the right clinical or academic environment.

And let’s not forget about the family. Perhaps the single largest reason doctors relocate is in order to be closer to family. (Sure, they can drive you crazy but few motivators are as strong as family ties). If you have young children, it’s particularly nice to be closer to grandma and grandpa—also known as free, eager, top-notch babysitters. If the same city is a bit too close, consider finding a nearby metro area within a quick drive, or plane ride, to the folks.

Only after considering family, career goals, and your personal preferences, is it time to get that cover letter and resume ready. Bring on the boxes!

• Keep it concise. Unlike its European counterpart (a CV), a resume should not be a lengthy document. The ideal physician resume is one page. The somewhat less than ideal (but still acceptable under certain circumstances) resume is two pages. Period. There are no circumstances that accommodate for the twenty-page resume. An easy way to edit down your document is to remove any personal interest sections or references, as these are no longer appropriate on a professional resume.
• Highlighting versus elaborating. Let’s say you are a physician with an extensive research background in your respective field. Naturally you’d like to explain each study; after all, you invested a significant amount of time researching. Fight this instinct. A resume is designed to highlight professional experience, not to explain it in detail. Put yourself in the shoes of your potential employer. You’re tired, you’re busy, and you have a stack of physicians’ resumes to flip through. Would you rather look at a simple, neat list of research studies or chunks of paragraphs describing the laboratory setting? Highlighting. It’s a beautiful word. Wow them with snapshots of your experience; do not overwhelm them with a narrated slide show.
• Reverse chronological order. In each section, begin with your most recent experience and move backwards. Not only will this aid your potential employer in creating a mental timeline of your professional history, it tends to show you in the best light. Typically the most relevant experience you have is also the most recent. For example, if you had a section on your resume for Education and Training, your fellowship (most relevant) would be listed before your residency (still relevant) which would be listed before your medical school (less relevant) which would be listed before your undergraduate school (barely relevant), according to reverse chronological order.
• If you’re a foreign medical graduate, potential employers like to see your citizenship/visa status. And it actually works toward your advantage to be upfront about this regardless of your status. If you are a U.S. citizen, you can include this information if you went to a foreign medical school – otherwise, if you did your undergrad, medical school, and residency in the US, it will be assumed. Likewise, including your visa status shows a potential employer that you are upfront and honest, ready to make the visa process as smooth as possible for them.

These are just a few tips, but they will help you make sure that your resume is cleaner, easier to read, and more likely to get you interviews. For further assistance, don’t hesitate to contact the experts at The Doctor Job!

Are you posting resumes all over the physician job bards, and can’t understand why you’re not getting interviews?

Have you sent resumes to all of the doctors and hospitals you know personally – and not getting responses?

Take 5 minutes and a few easy steps to improve your search for a physician job!

1. Open your resume. Where is the contact information? Is it at the top of the page where it can be found easily? Your contact information should be included on your resume (not just on the cover letter) and should be very easy to find. It needs to include your phone number and email address.
2. Check the email address on your resume. Is it correct? Is it an email you check at least once a day, if not more often? Many of your potential employers are busy physicians themselves. One of the easiest ways for them to contact another doctor about a job is through email. If you are not in the habit of checking your email every day, get in the habit – at least until you find a job.
3. Check the phone number on your resume. Who will be answering that number? This is the number one mistake we see doctors make in their job search. Is the phone number correct? Is it a number that you can actually be reached on? When you leave your number on your resume, be sure you are not making these common mistakes:
   • Don’t leave your home number if your 93 year-old grandmother who barely speaks English is the person who is most likely to answer the phone during the day.
   • Don’t leave your office number if you don’t want your current employer to know you’re looking for a job.
   • Don’t leave the general number to the hospital that will the caller feeling foolish because they don’t know your personal extension.
   • Don’t leave a number that you’re only available on 1-2 hours out of the day. The goal is to make it EASY for a potential employer to call and offer you a job.
4. Check the voice mail on the number you have on your resume. Is your voice mail set up? Is it full? If a potential employer calls you and is unable to speak to you, they will want to leave a message for you to return their call. If they are unable to leave a message, chances are they’ll move on to the next doctor looking for a job. They can’t hire you if they can’t talk to you.

By doing these simple things, it will be easier for other doctors to call and offer you a job. While this advice may seem obvious, all of these are mistakes that we see physicians make on an alarmingly regular basis.

Remember, if an employer can’t reach you – they can’t hire you.

After years of training and weeks (or months) of job searches, many doctors stop just short of the goal of finding a great job.

This is especially true if they are searching for a doctor job in a market like New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago or Atlanta. There are plenty of great physician jobs available in these cities, but most physician job searches quit looking too soon to find them.

When Should A Physician Keep Searching For A Doctor Job?

If A Recruiter Tells A Doctor They’ll “Get Back To You”… Keep Looking

In recruiter language, this is usually code for “I don’t have any positions you qualify for or that meet your needs.” That doesn’t mean the recruiter is mean or doing a bad job. It just means that they are limited to filling the positions they have been hired to fill – and none of those are a good fit. Sure, they’ll keep a doctor’s resume on file in case something “happens to come up” – but the odds of that are about 5%. Less than that if a physician is looking in a big city or isn’t board certified or needs a J-1 waiver.

Relying on a recruiter to “get back to you” is a recipe for failure when a doctor is looking for a job.

If A Recruiter Tells You They Have “Submitted Your Information”… Keep Looking

While this holds slightly more promise than the “I’ll get back to you” brush off, it is still a very far cry from actually getting a job.

It is a recruiter’s job to submit physician resumes to their clients (the employers who hire the recruiter). The employer then decides which candidates they will interview and which doctor they will ultimately hire.

Remember, the practice or hospital doing the hiring will have to pay the recruiter $20,000 or more once they have hired a doctor. Of course they are going to be very selective before making such an expensive buying decision!

If A Doctor Has Scheduled An Interview… Keep Looking

Interviews don’t pay the bills. Nothing is guaranteed until a physician receives a written offer and accepts that offer (and even then, things can go wrong).

While an interview for a physician job is progress, it’s no guarantee that the doctor has a job. Chances are, there will be several physicians interviewing for that position (at least, there should be if it’s a GOOD job!), all of whom are hoping their job search has finally come to an end. Most of the interviewed physicians will be disappointed.

A doctor should go into an interview optimistic and with a positive attitude, but they shouldn’t stop investigating other possibilities or scheduling other interviews.

If A Physician Receives One Job Offer… Keep Looking

One job offer does not give a physician any negotiating power or leverage. It also doesn’t give a very accurate picture of the possibilities and potential in the job market in most cases.

If a physician receives an offer for their dream job that far exceeds their expectations, of course they should take the job! But more often than not, we see doctors take the first job that comes along because they are so grateful to be employed. These physicians don’t realize that there are usually SEVERAL great jobs available in every job market in the country.

Don’t settle for just A job. The doctor job search isn’t over until you’ve found the BEST job.

When a physician posts a resume online, this fantasy is often perpetuated by dozens of calls from medical recruiters. With hundreds of phone calls and emails coming in daily, the doctor is confident they will find the perfect job quickly. Clearly, they are in demand!

Then weeks go by, and the requests for interviews with hospitals and practices are far outnumbered by the calls to find out “more about what kind of physician job you’re looking for”.

The only openings seem to be in remote locations, far away from where the physician actually wants to live.

As a doctor, how can you tell when your job search is headed down a dead end road? What are the signs that a physician needs to take a different approach to their job search?

1. When a doctor has been looking for more than 2 months, it’s time to try something new. The Doctor Job clients typically find jobs within 6-8 weeks in some of the top markets in the country, including New York and Chicago. If a physician has been looking for a job in an area like LA or Atlanta for more than 8 weeks – it’s because there are no ADVERTISED medical jobs available.

2. If a doctor is hearing the same objections or excuses from recruiters over and over again, it’s time to try something new. If a physician has licensing issues – they are going to get the same negative response no matter how many recruiters they talk to. Whether it’s older age, years without practice, H1-B and J-1 visa problems – every recruiter a doctor talks to is going to have the same results: none. If ten recruiters have told a doctor they can’t help, it’s a waste of time for that physician to talk to ten more recruiters.

3. If a physician is getting lots of calls, but no interviews – it’s time to try something new. Many doctors confuse “opportunities” from a recruiter for actual job openings from a hospital or practice. Just because a recruiter calls to get a doctor’s information does not mean they can get you a job. If a doctor has been working with a medical recruiter for weeks and the recruiter has not produced viable interviews, waiting several weeks more is unlikely to change that.

4. If your physician recruiter has stopped returning your calls, it’s time to try something new – immediately. A recruiter who does not actively follow up with a doctor is sending one clear message: they don’t have jobs for you. And they won’t magically have jobs for you in 2 weeks or 6 months.

It is often said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, while expecting different results. If what a physician is doing is not producing the job they want in the city or state of their choice, it is time to change tactics.

Surfing Job Boards.

For fun.

How do we know it’s for fun, you might ask? Well, every day, we here at The Doctor Job receive phone calls and emails from physicians telling us that “they aren’t really looking for a new job”, they just “like to check out the job boards”. Apparently there are masses of working doctors and residents in the United States who enjoy spending the precious free time they have looking through physician work boards online, just to “see what’s out there”. These doctors aren’t really looking for a new job, they just like to look. Some of the physicians are hoping that unlike the past 100 times they looked at the job board and saw nothing but recruiters and jobs in places they didn’t want to be, this time there might magically be an amazing position that pays a lot more money right where they want to live! And even though every successful physician knows that (a) if you’re spending your free time searching job boards, you clearly dislike your current position, and (b) the better jobs are never going to be advertised – they’re all word-of-mouth, physicians still casually browse the job boards hoping that a beautiful wonderful new job will fall into their lap.

Casually surfing a physician job board for a perfect position is as productive as ordering four cheeseburgers, two french fries, and then deciding to get a Diet Coke instead of a regular Coke, to cut back on calories.

Instead of deciding to pro-actively find a job that will make you happy, wealthy, and wise, if you are a doctor who is spending your evenings and weekends and lunch breaks searching internet job boards for physician jobs, here are some other activities that you can do that will be equally as productive.

10 Hobbies More Useful And Rewarding Than Searching Job Boards:

1. Fence painting. Your neighbors will also find this hobby useful. It’s a win-win. And if your neighbor happens to run a hospital, maybe he’ll hire you!

2. Jogging. You might jog by a practice that puts a “Help Wanted” sign in their window!

3. Dog walking. What if your teacup chihuahua finds another teacup chihuahua on a walk that just happens to belong to the hiring coordinator for an HMO?

4. Online poker. While you run the risk of losing money, you’ll still probably make more money than you will by browsing through physician job boards.

5. Kite flying. If you tape your resume to the kite while you’re flying, it might fly off and land on an employer’s desk!

6. Start an ant farm. Watch your ants build tunnels, then shake up the farm and watch them start all over again! It’s futility, just like casually looking at a job board!

7. Spider Solitaire. If you insist on being on the computer, at least this will give you a sense of accomplishment if you can beat the game.

8. Underwater basket weaving. Maybe your underwater basket weaving coach’s hairdresser’s sister’s uncle’s roommate’s father runs a private practice and he needs a physician just like you!

9. Recycling. Well, if you’re not going to help your career, you might as well help save the environment.

10. Clipping Coupons. This hobby, while almost as time consuming as surfing job sites, can be much more financially rewarding.

Now, if you’re a physician reading this who thinks, “Well, I do casually surf job boards, just to see if there are new openings,” it’s not too late for you. Examine your desire to surf the job boards. Are you unhappy? Do you want more money? A better environment? Better staff? An easier commute? If your answer to any of these questions is yes, consider being pro-active. The perfect job is not going to fall in your lap – sometimes, you have to make the effort (and yes, spend the time and money) to find that amazing job. It is out there, as long as you know how to find it.

If the most intelligent, accomplished physician in the world can’t present a well-written CV and cover letter, none of the accolades will mean much to prospective employers. Remember that the employer reading the resume probably doesn’t know anything about this doctor except for what he/she sees on paper. Friends and colleagues might overlook a sloppy email because they know the physician is a brilliant surgeon or internist or nephrologist, but an employer will think only one thing: “This doctor doesn’t seem very intelligent.”

But what do writing skills have to do with medical skills, you ask yourself. I shouldn’t have to be a flawless writer because my strengths lie in other areas. This is true to an extent. But while a physician is not expected to deliver pages of glorious prose, he or she should be able to portray a coherent, intelligent manner. After all, a physician’s job includes a great deal of communication. Not only does a physician need to communicate effectively with patients and colleagues every day, but perhaps be required to communicate on a greater level; for example, at national meetings or group presentations. If this is an important part of the job a physician is applying for, it is essential that the doctor be capable of communicating clearly from the get go.

The main reason that employers get so irked by poorly written materials is that there’s no excuse for them. All you need to do is have one or two grammar-conscious friends or family members proofread your documents. This is probably the simplest thing you can do with regard to your job search, and it will have the greatest impact. It’s not enough to just use the spelling/grammar check on Microsoft Word. This feature might catch a misplaced comma or a misspelling, but it won’t be able to help you with a poorly constructed sentence, a repetitive phrase, or a misused word.

Foreign Medical Graduates: If English is not a doctor’s native language, it is even more essential to have the resume and cover letter and other materials reviewed by others before sending them out. Physician employers and physician recruiters will already be questioning the applicant’s English skills, just based on the fact that English is a second language. By having flawless grammar, spelling, and punctuation the foreign physician avoids giving the employer further ammunition to disqualify their credentials with poorly written materials.

Before you can impress anyone in the operating room or the clinic, you need to impress them on paper. Conveying your thoughts and showcasing your achievements clearly and concisely will go a long way toward helping you obtain the job of your dreams.

Finding two great physician jobs in the same city can seem downright impossible. But what’s the alternative? Is it really viable for a family to be separated, with one physician and children living in one location and the other living somewhere completely separate? It is very easy for a physician couple to find jobs within commuting distance of each other, and under no circumstances should any physician ever feel like he or she has to move away from a spouse in order to work. Ever.

Even in a market that recruiters call “saturated” (which can usually mean any metro area from the DC Metro Area to Dallas to Houston to Miami to Los Angeles to San Francisco to Philadelphia to New York to Chicago, and everywhere in between), it is entirely possible, and quite simple, for two married doctors to find jobs in the same place:

HOW TO FIND PHYSICIAN JOBS FOR TWO SPOUSES WITH THE SAME SPECIALTY

The best way for two doctors to each find a job in the same location is to team up in their job search. Get a list of every single networking and hiring contact – every practice and group and possibly related specialty group in the area. Prepare a resume for each physician and one cover letter outlining the desire for both physicians to practice in the same city.

This allows the married doctors to take advantage of every single networking opportunity. One group may offer only one of the physician spouses a job – but may be able to offer a valuable referral to assist the other spouse in finding a position.

(If a physician couple is using a service like The Doctor Job, often times both job searches will be covered by one fee – essentially giving the doctors two jobs for the price of one. Be sure to ask if this is possible for your job search!)

HOW TO FIND PHYSICIAN JOBS FOR TWO SPOUSES WITH DIFFERENT SPECIALTIES

The best way for two doctors to find jobs in the same town if the spouses have different specialties is to start with the most difficult specialty.

For example, if the husband is a pathologist and the wife is a family practice physician, start by securing a job for the pathologist. Once the doctors have been able to secure a pathology job, the family practice physician will know exactly what locations to focus her job search in.

The chances of both physicians finding a job in the same city as their spouses is much better when the doctors start with the more difficult specialty, commit to a location, and then begin the other spouse’s job search. This method is especially practical if the couple is using a service that can guarantee a doctor job in an exact location. (Again, a service like The Doctor Job may offer discounts for physician couples with two career searches in the same location – even if they aren’t done at the same time. Remember to ask about all of your career marketing options.)

It is possible to find two physician jobs in the same location – even if the spouses do not have the same specialty. The key is to be smart about your planning and take a strategic approach to both doctors’ career search.

You might be thinking to yourself, “Why on earth would any doctor take a job offer that’s they don’t want if they have other options?” Believe it or not, this is something we at The Doctor Job actually hear from physicians, residents and fellows who are earnestly looking for a new position. The first time I heard it, I thought the physician was joking!

“I’ve received a few job offers, but they’re not very good. I understand that you guarantee that I’ll find a job I like with a higher salary, but I think I’ll just take one of the (bad) offers I already have.”

To be honest, I don’t understand that reasoning. And I’m sure you don’t, either.

Every day, we work with savvy, intelligent physicians who are committed to finding a great job. These doctors understand the benefit of earning a high salary with a schedule that still allows them a good quality of life. These are physicians who are successful in their careers and happy because they’re smart and strategic in their job search.

So when a physician tells me “I’ve found jobs on my own, they just aren’t good jobs”, it doesn’t make sense to me why a doctor would willingly take a job they already know they won’t like, or even consider that offer at all!

The Doctor Job services do cost an average of $2,000-$4,000, depending on which job search package the physician chooses. Since we have a success rate of almost 100%, our clients earn $10,000-$20,000 above market salary, and we offer a money-back guarantee, it’s very clear that the investment pays off for our physician clients every time.

Investing money in a service when you’ll be guaranteed that you’ll find a great job is a short term sacrifice that is imperative if the physician is going to find a better physician job.

On the other hand, knowingly taking a bad job is a sacrifice with long term negative effects. What happens if a doctor accepts a bad job offer?

• The physician will usually make less money. This is especially important to remember if this is the doctor’s first job! Future employers will take into consideration how much (or how little) the doctor was willing to work for in the past. If a doctor accepts a lower salary right away, chances are they will find themselves working for less money for years to come. In addition, our clients make salaries that are in the highest range in every market in the country.
• The physician’s family life and personal life may suffer. A good job is about more than just a great salary. Longer hours, an extraordinary heavy call load and poor work environment can affect the day to day working life of a doctor, as well as the overall quality of life outside of work. Receiving 30-40 calls of interest in one area, like clients of The Doctor Job are, gives you the option to find the optimal environment and salary in one job!
• There is always emotional baggage. Working in a bad job will mean a bad mood, a bad outlook on life, a resistance to getting up in the mornings, an unhappy life, and a cycle of poor decisions. If a physician can wake up each morning and look forward to a job that he or she loves, this attitude will spread to all aspects of the doctor’s life. Being happy in a job is essential to long-term success in life.
• Finding a better job is not going to be any easier in a few years – in fact, it’s usually more difficult! Once a doctor has accepted a job offer it is very common to sign a non compete agreement or a “covenant not to compete”. This means that when the physician decides that they have had enough of this bad job, they may have to move farther away in order to find a job that is outside of that agreement (or risk legal action). Also, future employers may take note of a job resume littered with short term stays and wonder why the physician has not been able to stay at one job for very long.

Each one of us spends money every day on things that are important to us:

We pay more money to live in a safer neighborhood, because we are guaranteed that our children can play in the streets without as much risk.

We invest in a reliable car rather than a vehicle that will leave us stranded on the side of the road because we know that it’s the smart decision.

Physicians often try to choose their schooling and training based on reputation because they know it will help them find a better job.

Why is a physician’s job search any different?

I am currently a PGY-3 in internal medicine. How soon should I start looking for a job? My schedule is so busy with my rotations, I don’t think I would have time to look for a job until I finish my residency. Is that too late?

Regards,

Future NYC Internist

This is a question we get often at The Doctor Job. The short answer to “how soon should a physician start looking for a new job?” is “a doctor should actively begin their job search 9-12 months before the physician will be available for a new position.”

Yes, we know that a resident’s schedule is grueling. Yes, we know that fielding phone calls and sorting through emails is time consuming (especially when a resident discovers that many of those emails and phone calls have nothing to do with what kind of job they’re looking for). And yes, trying to schedule interviews out of state while completing a crucial year of career training can be overwhelming.

Do it anyway.

Here’s why:

1. Negotiating a good job takes time. It’s important for a new physician to allow enough time to go on multiple interviews. It is crucial to allow enough time to consider multiple offers, weigh the options, and negotiate a higher salary. If this process isn’t done before completing residency, the newly graduated physician will find themselves facing a long job search – with no income in the meantime. Too many times we see doctors who have not worked for months since completing a residency program who have become desperate for an income and therefore jump on the first job offer that comes along – regardless of how good of a job it actually is.
2. Other residents are already looking. At The Doctor Job, we receive the largest influx of requests for help in finding a job from residents between August and October. These are the physicians who find jobs that greatly exceed their expectations and start their medical careers with much higher salaries than their counterparts. On the other hand, residents who spend time waiting to see “what will come up” or “trying it on their own first” tend to find themselves scrambling at the last minute as graduation quickly approaches. These physicians may find themselves picking through the leftovers after the career savvy doctors have already snatched up the most desirable positions months ago.

The Doctor Job understands that the physician schedule is hectic and unpredictable. Finding time for a job search can seem impossible. (That’s why our phone lines are open 7 days a week until 11pm EST). But if a physician doesn’t make time in their busy schedule to address their job search, they can expect to find themselves a few months down the road with more time on their hands than they’d like – and too few physician job prospects.