• 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!

Med students, go ahead and mourn those lazy summer days because you probably won’t see them again for several years. Sure, during your undergraduate studies you could take time off to relax before fall—but medical school is just a tad different. The summer between your first and second year at medical school is the last summer where you could, in theory, sleep in until noon, read the latest best-seller, or perfect your Nintendo Wii skills. The job of this article, however, is to convince you to do otherwise.

The break directly before your second year of medical school is an ideal time to further investigate which specialty you’d like to pursue professionally. It’s the question Grandma Fran asked you over Christmas, the question you ponder before falling asleep, and the question you’ve tried to answer by visiting various grand rounds. Well, consider researching various specialties your unofficial assignment during the summer in between MS-I and MS-II.

Of course, many might argue that MS-II and MS-III are designed to give you a taste of potential specialties. Well, that’s a valid point. But wouldn’t it be nice to have more than a taste of a particular specialty before uploading your residency applications? I would prefer a whole bite, or a whole piece of the cake for that matter. The summer prior to MS-II is the perfect time to get some hands-on training in different specialties. The information/experience you gather while shadowing a physician in your field of interest, will set the tone for the rest of your medical school experience. Not only will it sparkle on your resume, it will provide you with confidence and direction as you enter rotations.

There are several options when gaining real-world summer medical training. You can participate in a clinical externship, become involved in a community preceptorship, or simply volunteer at a local health clinic—to name a few. There are also national programs such as the National Health Service corps, which offers a month-long rotation practicing primary care in underserved areas. Whichever path you choose, make sure it is in the most appealing specialty to you. While training, talk to various doctors, ask them about their typical work load, scheduling flexibility—whatever questions are most likely unanswered in a text book about that specialty.

But what about your golden, summer tan? Well, there’s always spray tans. Or, you could schedule a week-long vacation at the end of the summer to celebrate all your hard work. You’ll come back refreshed, rested, and better equipped to pick the right specialty.

Okay, future doctors, keep that image in mind as you sit down to write your own personal statement, staring at the blank Word document on your computer screen. You are just one of many hopeful applicants with a hefty research background, great clinical skills, and a solid foundation of medical knowledge. You need something that separates you from all the other over-achievers (probably lovely people, but competition nonetheless) vying for your slot. Do not fear. You have something they do not, something that separates you from the rest: Your story. The time your little brother, Joey, fell of his bike and you nursed him back to health, the time you brought a stethoscope to Mrs. Anderson’s class for show and tell, the time ___________ (fill in the blank).

Personal anecdotes like this are diamonds to the tired residency program director. They shine in the heap of other personal statements, many dull and lifeless. Sure, it’s crucial to include the generic yet important information: Research experience and interests, brief overview of schooling, why you’re drawn to this particular specialty/program, future goals, etc. But there are plenty of empty crannies throughout your personal statement just waiting to be filled with personality. For example, when talking about research experience, can you recall a particular study that stood out from the others? Did it leave an impression on you? Affect the type of doctor you want to become? Why? Elaborate.

A great way for a medical student or foreign medical graduate to add a dash of personality into his or her personal statement is to choose an overall focus directly related to a personal anecdote. Like a ribbon gliding down the page, this overall focus should smoothly connect the different sections of the personal statement. For example, let’s use the show and tell stethoscope. This statement could start in the classroom with a vivid description of the pride you felt in showing the stethoscope to your classmates. Translated, this show and tell item represents your interest in medicine and your desire to share that interest with others. Throughout your personal statement, describe how your interest and desire to practice medicine continuously grew throughout your life. This affords you a structure to discuss medical school, medically related volunteer programs, research experience/interests, grand round experiences, precept activities, and future goals.

While this idea may seem obvious, many medical students and foreign medical graduates chose formality over personality, not understanding the potential that results in your personal statement from connecting the two. Such residency applicants fear that a personal story might appear unprofessional, thus decreasing the likelihood of admittance into their desired residency program. In actuality, quite the opposite is true. The busy (potentially exhausted) residence/fellowship program director wants to be engaged by a well-written, personal personal statement. Wouldn’t you?

4) Make sure to factor in lifestyle considerations. Before choosing a specialty, the potential physician should spend time evaluating his or her goals for the medical career AND personal life. If you plan on having four kids, two dogs, and a vacation home you retreat to bi-monthly, you need to select a career that will allow for that. Don’t choose a specialty such as Surgery or Obstetrics that will have you on call all hours of the night and weekends. On the other hand, if you are a George Clooney style bachelor whose goals includes a penthouse apartment in a chic zip code and a lease on a private jet, it might be in your best interest to go for the 24/7 job (and the salary that comes with it). Be truly honest with yourself about what you’re capable of handling and what you really want out of life. It might be very possible that a specialty you absolutely love doesn’t quite mesh with your plans for the future. This is something that it’s better to figure out now than after three divorces.

5) Consider the technological aspects of each specialty. Some specialties are continually incorporating modern technologies, innovative techniques, and state-of-the-art equipment. If you are a physician who is constantly upgrading your computer, buying the newest iPod model, and photo texting all of your friends, then a technologically-heavy specialty is probably for you. If you still have a dial-up modem and a rotary phone, then you want to stick with a specialty that relies more heavily on patient interaction, medication, and hands-on healing.

6) Are you a people person? Bedside manner is important for some specialties, but some physicians just don’t have that type of personality. While most physicians will say that they are a people person, are you really? Are you the type of person who chats up a stranger in the check-out line, or the type who ducks behind a large curtain to avoid having to exchange hellos with an attending? While most specialties require a large dose of patient interaction, there are plenty that do not. Consider a career in Radiology, Pathology, or Anesthesiology if you love clinical medicine, but could take or leave the personal side of medicine. Conversely, if you are an excellent communicator and you love having relationships with your patients, practicing Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Ob/Gyn or Pediatrics will be right up your alley.

Once in a while when I am assisting a medical student or FMG with a personal statement for residency applications, I get this question: What specialty (or specialties) do you think I should choose?

While I like to think of myself as very wise and insightful, I can’t imagine why anyone would ask me this question. Having only known these individuals for a few days, I am hardly qualified to determine what they should do with the rest of their lives.

Choosing a medical specialty requires a lot more time and effort than you’d put into choosing a breakfast cereal. But it seems that many medical students make the decision lightly. Even if you don’t have a ton of time to spend carefully evaluating each specialty, there are some basic things you should keep in mind when making this important decision.

1) Unless you absolutely must, don’t base your decision on what program you think will be easiest to get into.

I understand that for some medical students or FMGs, the main objective is to actually get accepted into a residency program vs. choosing the specialty that best suits them. If you feel your chances of gaining acceptance are slim, then yes – it makes sense to go for the specialties that are less competitive.

But if you feel strongly about a certain specialty (and you have decent credentials), by all means go for it! After all, someone has to get into those competitive specialties. Why shouldn’t it be you? If you feel that Dermatology, Radiology, Ophthalmology, or Orthopedics is your calling, don’t be afraid to put at least some of your eggs in that basket. You can always apply to a “fall-back specialty” (such as Family Medicine) in case your ideal one doesn’t work out.

2) A great clinical rotation doesn’t necessarily equal a great career in that specialty.

When I was a high school student I absolutely loved my biology class. As a result, I thought that biology would be an excellent major for me in college. I was wrong. It turned out the only reason I absolutely loved my biology class was that I absolutely loved my biology teacher. He was dynamic and engaging, and he challenged me to do my best. The actual subject of biology, absent of this teacher, bored me to tears.

So before you make a decision based on the fact that you loved your Ob/Gyn or your Pediatrics rotation, really think about what it was you liked about that experience. Make sure it was the subject matter itself that fascinated you rather than the cute resident who supervised you or the excellent turkey wraps in that hospital’s cafeteria.

3) Remember that your passion, or lack thereof, about your specialty will come through in your application & interview.

Think of a food that you absolutely detest. Now pretend you must eat a giant forkful of this food and convince the person sitting across the table from you that you think it is delicious. Not so easy, right? Even if you manage to get the word “yum” out between gags, chances are you won’t fool anyone.

Now while you might not detest a certain medical specialty the way you detest liver pate, it will still be clear to the person interviewing you that you aren’t totally thrilled about entering this career. Why? Because the same person interviewing you will be interviewing lots of candidates who ARE thrilled about this career. While you are reciting cliché phrases about a career in surgery being great for you since you have good eye-hand coordination, your competitor will be proudly displaying photos of himself at 8 years old dissecting a grasshopper.

More “things to consider” will be forthcoming in my next post…

If I had 30 seconds to do a quick resume make-over for a physician client, the first thing I would tackle would be the resume’s organization. When I look at a physician’s resume I immediately form an impression of his/her medical experience based on what is at the top of the page. If the CV lists a medical degree from a foreign country, my first thought is “foreign medical grad.” If the CV lists a medical degree with a date prior to 1980, I think “old.” (Blunt, but true) If the CV shows a long list of jobs that are each two years or less in duration, my impression is “job-hopper.”

Are these assessments all correct? Yes. There’s no way of getting around the fact that a doctor graduated from a foreign medical school, is getting up there in years, or has held a lot of different clinical positions in a short period of time. What can be tinkered with is when that information is revealed to a prospective employer.

For instance, if you are an FMG but you have been practicing in the US for 10 years, your practice experience is what you want to highlight. If you graduated in 1967, don’t draw attention to that fact by making your degree the first thing employers see. If you’ve moved around a lot in your career, but you have strong credentials, make your undergraduate and medical education and post-graduate training the focus so that employers have a chance to be impressed by your strong points before they take note of any weaknesses.

To figure out the ideal way to structure your own medical resume, jot down the three most impressive things about your experience. This could be 1) the fact that you were Chief Resident, 2) that you went to an excellent medical school, and 3) that you published an article in a prestigious journal.

Now, if you are a fairly recent medical graduate, your residency and medical school might be at the top anyway since you have not had much practice experience. If not, there is a quick and easy way to bring attention to these things while still giving attention to your practice history: create a “Summary of Qualifications.” Adding this category to the top of your resume will give you a chance to put all of your best attributes in one place AND put them in a prominent location.

You can also play around with the categories you use. Don’t feel that you have to use the resume categories found in a template. Be creative and use categorization to your advantage.

For example, one recent physician client did a fellowship in sports medicine after practicing general pediatrics for 10 years. He wanted to make a career change to focus on sports medicine. Instead of doing the usual categories of “Post-graduate Training,” and “Practice Experience,” I created a “Sports Medicine Training & Experience” category. That way, I could list all aspects of his sports medicine experience (including fellowship, research, extracurriculars, event coverage, etc.) in one place. This helped paint him as a “sports medicine physician” rather than as a pediatrician who happened to do some training in sports medicine.

When it comes to your resume structure, pay attention to the first impression you’re giving off. If you feel that an employer will like what he/she sees in the first 15 seconds, then you can feel confident that your resume is structured well.

“Why I want to be a doctor” by John Q. Medical Student

I love helping people…
I want to save lives…
I want to make a difference in the world…
My parents were doctors…
I was a good science student…
I have always been fascinated by the inner workings of the human body…

Bored yet? You can guarantee that residency directors are. I have probably only read a small number of statements compared to a seasoned residency director, and yet my eyes glaze over when I read sentences like the above in medical students’ personal statements.

When coming up with topics for your personal statement, whether for a residency or fellowship program, use a little imagination. Perhaps you could answer this question: Describe one truly unique thing about you, or something that others would find surprising about you. Another trigger question could be: What accomplishment outside of academics are you most proud of?

In addition to general personal statement clichés, medical students and FMGs can also fall into the specialty cliché trap. For example, when it comes to Internal Medicine, “diversity of cases” and “being able to form a relationship with your patients,” fall at the top of the “most mentioned” list. For Emergency Medicine, it’s almost always “love of a fast-paced environment.”

Does that mean you can’t mention these things? No. It’s virtually impossible to be completely original when talking about why you like a certain specialty. But you can be unique in the way you talk about it.

Instead of saying “I love working in fast-paced environments and I thrive under pressure,” give a concrete example of a time you excelled in such a situation. Describing how you jumped into a pool to rescue your neighbor’s baby while everyone else stood frozen on the sidelines is much more compelling.

You might have the same reasons for pursuing a medical career as every other medical student out there, but that doesn’t give you an excuse to write a cliche personal statement. No one else has lived your life, so you are bound to have some interesting stories to tell that will help you stand out from the pack.

One of the biggest problems I see with personal statements is that they are rather impersonal. All too often they read like a prose version of a resume instead of giving insight into the medical student or FMG behind the application.

When writing a personal statement for a residency program or a fellowship, take advantage of the fact that this is the one area where you can exercise a little creativity. You don’t need to give an account of your life’s history, but you do need to give the program director a sense of what makes you tick as a doctor and what makes you different from all of the other residency or fellowship applicants out there.

If you are worried about weaknesses in your residency application, then you may need to use the personal statement to really elaborate on your strengths, skills and experience. But if you feel you already have a strong residency application, then you should focus on conveying some of your personality and background through your personal statement.

One way to do this is through your writing style. While you don’t want to be too informal in your writing, it is OK to use a little bit of humor or to write in a way that reflects your personality. Can you imagine how bored residency directors would be if everything they read sounded like it was written by the same physician?

Another tip is to tell a story with your personal statement. A well-told account of an event that was meaningful to you can be a powerful tool and can also give the program director a sense of who you are. For example, one medical student client recently used her personal statement to talk about her experience as a child prodigy piano player. Hearing about the ups and downs of her experience not only gave me the sense that I knew her a little better, but it conveyed a lot of her strengths (perseverance, discipline, etc.) without her having to spell them out.

Residency program directors and fellowship program directors are looking for smart and skillful medical student and FMG candidates, but they are also looking for likeable individuals. Use your personal statement to say what your grades and test scores can’t.

There is no simple “yes” or “no” answer to this question. Whether or not to bring up your poor USMLE test scores or bad grades in your application for medical school, a residency program, or a fellowship depends on 1) the strength of the rest of your application, and 2) the reasons behind those poor scores/grades.

You’ve probably heard the expression: “Excuses are like buttholes…most of them stink.” This sentiment applies to excuses for a poor academic performance. Think about it – what are the most common reasons people perform poorly on tests? 1) They didn’t study enough, 2) they’re notoriously poor test-takers, or 3) they’re just not that smart. Do you think that mentioning any of these excuses is going to win over the heart of a residency director? The first indicates that you’re lazy and can’t prioritize, the second means you freeze under pressure, and the third….well, that doesn’t need to be spelled out.

Here are some other poor excuses I’ve heard:

“I had a girlfriend during my first two years of medical school and my grades suffered because we spent too much time together.”

“I hated a lot of the subject matter during medical school, so I had a hard time motivating myself to study.”

“I drank too much the night before the USMLE.”

In these situations, honesty is NOT the best policy. You are better off leaving things unsaid until your interview, at which point you should skirt the topic as much as possible.

Now, there are some truly reasonable excuses for a less than stellar academic performance. If you have one of these, it is probably in your best interest to explain it – briefly and honestly. I highlight the word “honestly” because I am in no way advocating that you come up with a creative excuse to cover poor grades or test scores. However, if you had an uncharacteristically bad semester or bad test-taking experience, it is probably in your best interest to explain why. Otherwise, you run the risk that the person reading your application will jump to conclusions and think you just slacked off, while in reality you were taking care of your two-year-old nephew while your aunt received cancer treatments.

If you do decide to explain a poor performance, follow these two rules: 1) keep it brief, and 2) mention it toward the end of your statement. You want to have a chance to impress the person reading your statement before you point out any shortcomings.

What to expect as a Pathologist

While most laymen associate pathologists with the dead, the fact of the matter is these doctors make decision of life and death everyday, usually without ever meeting the patient.

Pathologists determine the course of treatment though many patients by making minute and extremely accurate diagnoses that may mean the difference a lifesaving procedure or one doomed to failure. The information provided by a pathologist determines whether an organ can be repaired or must be removed.

It is a specialty that requires diligent study, an attention to detail in the extreme, confidence in one’s abilities and the ability to recognize the limitations those abilities. Pathology is the backbone of all medicine and so a pathologist supports the practicing physician. As William Osler, the first Chief of Staff at Johns Hopkins and founder of the residency method of training put it, the pathologist is the doctor’s doctor.

Choosing Pathology

Pathology requires an inquisitive nature and a voracious appetite for knowledge. Pathology training puts an emphasis on research, reading and study. First-year students looking to pathology will often concentrate in such courses as gross anatomy, cell biology, histology and chemistry.

There are two types of pathologists and the length of residency is dependent on the path chosen.

Studying primarily bodily fluids, blood and other patient specimens, the clinical pathologist is the laboratory expert. They key here is scientific analysis. They are concerned with the management of data, quality control and all facets of diagnostic testing. Clinical physicians often call upon these doctors to consult on what the best test might be, given certain symptoms These experts in scientific processes, both natural and in the laboratory setting, require three years in residency. Rotations include clinical chemistry, transfusion medicine and immunology.

Anatomic pathologists study the organs, tissue and cells to make exact diagnoses as to what caused that specimen to be removed from the patient. Through the use of biopsy, autopsy, fine-needle aspiration or surgery, this physician will conduct examinations from gross to microscopic. Where the clinical pathologist relies on testing and analysis, the anatomic pathologists determinations come largely from visual inspection. They remain alert for unexpected processes at work. Residency training for the anatomic pathologist is three years. Rotations include forensic pathology, autopsy and surgical pathology.

The third choice would be to study both types of pathology. This is a four-year residency program.

During residency, pathology students are not on call in-house. While they may be called into the hospital at night from time to time, for the most part, they adhere to a regular daily schedule. However, this specialty calls for intensive study and most pathologists use those nights off for that express purpose.

Pathology does not require an internship year.

Following residency, there are many fellowship programs available that can lead to certification by such bodies as the American Society for Clinical Pathology and the American Board of Pathology. These fellowships include such diverse subspecialties as Forensic pathology, Hematopathology, Medical Microbiology, Blood Banking/Transfusion Medicine, Cytopathology, Clinical Chemistry and Surgical Pathology.

In practice, the pathologist is generally an anonymous entity to the patient, much like the radiologist or anesthesiologist, in most cases more so. Physicians seeking to have a doctor-patient relationship of any kind should probably look elsewhere. To say that pathologists never meet their patients would be overstating it. Exceptions include such procedures as plasmapharesis and bone marrow biopsies.

The lack of patient interaction, or the common perception of pathologists as doctors to the dead, does not mean they aren’t lifesavers. Physicians rely on the work of pathologists in determine treatment courses. Careful specimen study by a pathologist may be what detects whether or not a surgeon fully resected a tumor, thus perhaps saving the patients from further pain or death.

The specialty is also ideal for those who wish to be on the cutting edge of medicine and technology. Pathologists use the latest equipment and scientific processes and have access clinical material in the course of their study. They are often on the front line of detecting new and unusual conditions and advance medical understanding of disease.

What your life will be like as a Pathologist

The average pathologist works a fairly regular schedule of just over 40 hours a week, very nearly keeping regular office hours. Late calls are rare, though in their capacity as consultants to other doctors, they are occasionally called in for emergencies. Surgical pathologists, for instance, must be present when an intraoperative consultation is called for. Generally, a pathologist’s career life allows ample time to spend with family or on outside interests.

The practice options open to pathologists are many and varied with the majority working in private practice, specifically in hospitals or laboratories. A smaller number choose to take the academic path and become take faculty positions at universities and medical schools, both in research and teaching jobs. The popularity of the CSI television programs has shone a light on the next most popular choice, that of civil service as a forensic pathologist in city and county crime labs and medical offices.

According to the American Medical Group Association, the average salary in this specialty is just over $220,000 annually. The American Society for Clinical Pathology places the bottom end of the range at $167,000 and the top end at just under $300,000.

As with other specialties, certifications will tend bring more money. Over half of pathologists surveyed by the American Medical Association have indicated that their current compensation package has exceeded their expectations.

Is Pathology for you?

While the lifestyle perks of the pathology specialty make the choice very attractive for some medical students, there are certain qualities that must be in place to succeed as a pathologist. An inquisitive nature and the discipline to maintain independent study (and not while in training) are imperative. Management skills will also be called for, especially as a clinical pathologist who may be in charge of a laboratory setting. If these apply and you enjoy serving as a consultant to other doctors rather than being more “hand on” in doctor-patient interactions and enjoy a challenge, then pathology is specialty that, though often overlooked, bears closer examination.