Blogging with The Doctor Job

Who thinks it’s a good idea for a physician to consider a job offer for a position that he or she knows is a bad job?

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?

Dear The Doctor Job,

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.

Whenever a physician is looking for a job, one of the biggest concerns is usually “how can I get the highest salary?”

In addition to finding a position in the right location, with the right schedule, work environment and growth potential, it is important for a doctor to earn as much money as possible. More specifically, it is important for a physician to have the highest starting salary as possible when accepting a job offer. Where a doctor’s income starts is a good indicator of how far their salary will grow in the years to come.

While negotiating a salary package is often the most intimidating part of the physician job search, it is actually the easiest!

The best way to receive more money from an employer is to ask for it.

It’s really as simple as that.

Once a doctor has undergone the interview process and a physician group or hospital has offered a job, the doctor knows that this employer is interested in them! The group WANTS to hire the doctor! The physician now has more control over their new job.

When a prospective employer makes an offer, they will suggest a starting salary.

The very next thing a physician should do is ask for more money. Always.

When asking for more money, the doctor should remain respectful and professional - and counter offering a job offer with a higher salary request is NOT disrespectful or unprofessional. Employers expect to negotiate the details of an offer.

When a doctor is negotiating a new job offer and asks for a higher salary, what are the possible scenarios?

1. The employer says no. So what? The employer may counter and tell the doctor that the original job offer is the highest salary that can be offered. The doctor is no worse off than they were before asking! (And if for some strange reason an employer would say no AND rescind the initial offer, that is a red flag that this is a group the doctor should not be working with in the first place.)

2. The employer says yes!

3. The employer counteroffers and the final offer is somewhere in the middle - and the doctor ultimately is earning a higher salary than they would have if they had “settled” for the original offer. This is the most likely outcome, and creates a win-win situation for both the physician and the physician employer.

Remember, it is not unprofessional to ask for more money. And it is the easiest way to give yourself an instant raise!

Attention physicians, residents, and fellows: Did you know that when you become a client of The Doctor Job, not only do you receive a full money-back guarantee that you will find a job in the area you want, but you may also be able to write off the full cost of our services as a tax deduction?

By working for the physician, not for the employer, and by helping physicians find 40 or more unadvertised jobs in markets that physician recruiters call “saturated”, The Doctor Job is providing a service that the US government considers a worthwhile investment.

Publication 529 of the 2006 Internal Revenue Code says that:

“You can deduct certain expenses you have in looking for a job in your present occupation, even if you do not get a new job.”

“You can deduct employment and outplacement agency fees you pay in looking for a new job in your present occupation.”

“You can deduct amounts you spend for preparing and mailing copies of a résumé to prospective employers if you are looking for a new job in your present occupation.”

So what does this mean for the physician looking for a job?

It means that unlike using a recruiter, which can cost you up to $20,000 in reduced salary and gives you no other benefit, using The Doctor Job will only cost between $2,000-$4,000, you’ll be guaranteed to find a job or get a full refund, AND you’ll get to write the whole services off!

Looks like an easy decision! Contact The Doctor Job 7 days a week until 11 PM EST online or by phone at 1-800-591-4842.

At The Doctor Job, our goal is always to help physicians find the perfect job for them. We don’t expect doctors to settle for just any job in an area when there is a better position to be found.

However, sometimes it is important to have a career plan that includes both long term and short term career goals. In some cases, it is necessary to think about how realistic a physician’s long term career goals are right now and determine if there are intermediate steps that need to be taken in the mean time.

For example, many times doctors will tell us that they are looking for administrative positions instead of a clinical physician job. While The Doctor Job can definitely find administrative medical jobs, if a candidate is not properly qualified, we need to establish short term goals. Often times a doctor will have the additional education for an medical administrative position, but lack real world job experience. In these instances, The Doctor Job often recommends that the physician establishes a short term goal of finding a hybrid position in the location of their choice - a job that still requires clinic practice, but that will allow them to gain administrative experience at the same time. This makes it much easier - and more likely - that the physician will ultimately achieve their overall career goals.

Many times a physician will want to relocate to a more desirable location, and they are also hoping to earn a higher salary than their current job offers. If a doctor is looking for a job like Los Angeles, Chicago, or New York - or looking in a very limited geographic area like “10 miles from Denver, CO”, we recommend again that the physician looks at the overall career goals (making more money in a top market) and determines the BEST way to reach those goals. It may be more realistic for a physician to focus on finding a good job in their top location where they can work for two years, and build networking contacts in that area, with an overall plan of moving to a higher salaried position in that same location later.

The same can be said for doctors with licensing issues who are looking for a job. If a physician has previously surrendered their license, or had their license suspended and later reinstated, it can be difficult to immediately find a position that earns a high salary or offers hospital privileges right away. However, many groups will allow a doctor with past licensing problems to work with supervision or in an outpatient only job setting, allowing the doctor to work while rebuilding their career history and reputation. Often times these jobs with short term restrictions eventually lead to successful, satisfying physician careers!

When planning your physician job search - whether a doctor is relocating to another job market, looking for a job with a higher salary, wanting to advance into another area of practice such as a medical administration role, or returning to the workforce after an extended period of time - it is always smart to begin with long term career goals in mind. And be prepared to set short term career goals to help you get there!

Many times at The Doctor Job, we receive emails and phone calls from physicians who assume they are contacting a potential employer about a physician job opportunity. I am often surprised by the tone and simple mistakes that these doctors make during their job search when contacting potential employers.

One of the most common mistakes that I see with physicians looking for a job is a lack of professionalism. It is important to remember that at any time, a physician could be speaking to someone that is in a position to offer a job, or refer the physician to someone who has a job opening. Especially in competitive markets like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, a physician must be careful to always maintain a professional appearance.

Here are the top three mistakes physicians make during their job search that make them appear unprofessional - along with easy ways to be more professional.

Email Addresses: If a physician is including their email address on their resumes (which they should be!), it is important to remember that potential employers are going to read this email address.

The Doctor Job receives emails from addresses with names like “bigdaddy2007@xxx.com”, “init4thmoney@xxx.com” or “docfunlovin@xxx.com”. These addresses give potential employers - other physicians - the impression that the physician is not serious or professional.

When a physician is looking for a job, one of the first things to do is make sure you have a professional email address for your physician job search. For example “DrLastName@xxx.com”. This gives potential employers an immediate first impression of professionalism.

Voice Mail Messages: when a physician leaves a home or cell phone number as a contact number on a resume (again, always a good idea!), it is important to remember what kind of outgoing message a potential employer will hear if they call and the physician is unable to take the call.

We contact physician job seekers every day at The Doctor Job, and often hear unprofessional, very casual voice mail messages such as “Hey, it’s Johnny, leave a message!” or “This is Diana, I’m not here, you know what to do”. Physician employers want to hire competent, potential doctors - not medical students stuck in the MySpace generation.

If a physician is going to include a personal phone number as contact information, the outgoing message should give a courteous and professional impression. That can be accomplished with something as simple as, “you’ve reached Diana Smith, I’m sorry I missed your call, please leave your name and number and I will return your call as soon as possible. Thank you, have a great day!”

Replying to emails: The Doctor Job is not a recruiter, but often times doctors make the mistake of thinking that we are. Or, doctors assume we are potential employers. Either way, it surprises me how many times during the day I get unprofessional emails from physicians looking for a job.

When doctors send us emails, they often have no punctuation or capitalization, are littered with misspellings, and many times are downright rude! Physicians need to remember that in many cases, email will be the first impression that a potential employer has of them.

It’s important to be just as polite and professional by email as you would be in a cover letter or on a job interview. Use proper punctuation and capitalization. Be courteous. Address the person you’re communicating with by name. And finally, a physician should always sign every email with their own name as well - instead of simply closing an email with “thnx.”

These simple reminders can make a big difference in how successful a doctor is in finding a job. It is important to always remain professional, respectful and polite.

Remember, every contact a physician makes could be the one that leads to the next great job!

If you are a licensed and board certified physician, you are in the enviable position of having credentials that mostly speak for themselves. But that doesn’t mean you can afford to have a sloppy or thrown together physician curriculum vitae (CV). As with many things in life, CVs are often judged by their appearance first. That is why it is important that, as a resident or physician, your CV be visually appealing, easy to scan, and logically assembled.

Below are five quick fixes for your CV that will ensure that it gets and keeps the interest of prospective physician employers.

1) Are dates the first things you see? They shouldn’t be!

While dates are important, you don’t want them to be the main focus point on your CV. A layout that puts dates before or on top of titles and degrees is not only visually unappealing, but it forces the reader to dig for the most pertinent information.

There are four key elements to any listing in the Education, Postgraduate Training, or Work Experience sections of a resident or physician CV: 1) Position or degree, 2) name of organization, 3) location of organization, and 4) the dates of your tenure. Of these four, the position and name of the organization are the most important. Therefore, of the two examples below, B is a much better format than A.

Bolding your position or degree makes that information stand
out even more, which a busy employer will appreciate.

The rule about dates also applies to categories such as
Memberships, Honors/Awards, or Volunteer Activities. Take the example below:

Having so many dates on the left is distracting. Here is a
much better approach:

As a general rule, the most substantive information should be the most prominent.

2) Is your timeline easy to follow?

A physician employer reviewing your CV for the first time should be able to determine the progression of everything you’ve done from your undergraduate training to medical school to residency to the present in 30 seconds or less. The best way to ensure this is to list everything in reverse chronological order—this applies to the categories as well as the items within each category. If you have been practicing medicine for a while, then your Work Experience should be at the top, followed by your Residency/Fellowship Training, followed by your Education.

If you are at an early point in your career as a physician and feel that you’d benefit from highlighting your education/training above your current work experience, it is OK to put that category first, as long as your work experience doesn’t follow far behind.

The main thing to avoid is categorizing your experience in a way that makes it difficult to follow chronologically. For example, if you spent a few years after your residency pursuing research before joining a medical practice, don’t bury that information on the second page. It is fine to put it in its own “Research” category, but it should be placed accordingly within the timeline on your CV.

3) Is your CV two pages or less?

Traditionally, resident and physician CVs are lengthy and include all types of information beyond education, training, and employment. Physician CVs also list publications, presentations, CME activities, volunteer work, community lectures, and other relevant professional activities. While it’s a good idea to keep an updated, comprehensive CV on hand, for the purpose of your job search, you want an abbreviated version that is two pages or less (unless you are looking for an academic position).

If you have a lengthy CV, the best way to condense it is to create a separate addendum containing detailed information about your research projects, publications, abstracts, etc. This addendum can be provided upon request to interested employers.

You still should mention these things on your abbreviated CV, but summarize them in a few bullet points or a brief paragraph. For example, you might consider the following:

4) Is the overall appearance easy on the eyes?

A CV that’s appealing to the eye is not necessarily the same thing as a CV that’s eye-catching. Of course you want to get noticed, but many people take the notion of eye-catching too far. Unusual fonts, strange symbols, or tricky formats will only aggravate the busy person who is trying to quickly assess your qualifications.

Make sure to use a traditional font such as Times New Roman or Garamond. Since these fonts are what most people are accustomed to reading on a daily basis, they won’t have trouble adjusting to a new one. Text should be either 11 or 12 point font, not bigger or smaller (excluding category headings).

Also make sure you use white space to adequately separate each item in your CV. This will make it easy to scan and pick out information. A laundry list is hard on the eyes, and it also can obscure important information.

Finally, your headings should be clear and stand out from the other text in your resume, so that it’s easy to pick out each category.

5) Is your formatting consistent?

Before you send off your CV to a physician employer, do a quick check to make sure that your formatting is consistent. If you bold your job titles, then you should also bold your degrees. If you put a colon after some of your headings, it should be after all of them. If you use a dash between some dates, make sure you don’t write the word “to” between others.

Although these details may seem minor, inconsistent formatting makes your CV seem sloppy. That is not the first impression you want to give to a prospective physician employer.

It’s always a good idea to get a second pair of eyes on your CV before sending it off. If you’ve been working on it a while, or you’ve had the same format for ages, you might be missing something that is glaringly obvious to someone else. The best person to look at your CV is someone who is unfamiliar with your career history. Ask this person if anything is unclear or if they have any questions about what is on the page.

Putting in a few extra minutes to make sure your CV looks impressive will save you a lot of time down the road because you will find a great job that much sooner. By following the five tips above, you can feel confident that you are submitting a polished and appealing document to prospective employers.

To continue where I left off, here are three more factors to consider when choosing your medical specialty:

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.

Terry is one of the staff of writers for The Doctor Job. Do you need your personal statement edited, or do you need help in writing one from the beginning? Click here for more information.

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 you are a job-seeking physician with a J-1 or H-1B Visa, it is essential that your resume be as polished as possible. Many foreign physicians wrongly assume that if they are not finding work it is because of their visa status. While having to find sponsorship does make it a bit more challenging to find a job, the biggest hindrance to visa-holders in their job search is an unorganized, unappealing CV.

Follow these important tips to ensure you don’t make this mistake:

1) Don’t draw attention to the fact that you are not a U.S. Citizen.

I’m not saying you should hide this fact, but you also don’t need to make it the first thing on your CV. When I look at a CV and the very first thing I see is: Citizenship: Taiwan, the very first thing I think about this person is “Needs visa sponsorship.” The beginning of your resume should focus on your best attributes, not your citizenship. Therefore, I recommend that you include citizenship/visa information at the very end of your resume.

2) Ensure that grammar/spelling are perfect.

Whether you’ve spoken English fluently for 20 years, or you’re still in the learning stages, there is no excuse for a resume that isn’t written in perfect English. A potential medical employer reading a poorly written resume will think “If he/she can’t write English well in a professional document, how will he/she communicate with patients?” If you struggle with grammar, have a native English speaker proofread your resume and cover letter carefully before you send it out.

3) Make sure your resume is in reverse chronological order.

One of the biggest mistakes I see on resumes is that candidates do not list their most recent activities/training first. If you are a resident, your residency should be the very first thing on your CV. When you put the oldest information first, you are again drawing attention to the fact that you did your schooling outside of the U.S.

4) Cut out irrelevant or old activities/achievements and make sure you explain anything that might not be understood.

One of the biggest complaints I hear about CVs from foreign physicians is that they are filled with activities that are either outdated (such as high school extracurriculars) or confusing. A lot of academic honors and activities that exist in other countries don’t exist in the U.S. If you list something on your resume, make sure you either include an explanation or the U.S. equivalent.