Blogging with The Doctor Job

Hi, my name is Terry, and I’ll be posting about physician resumes (or CVs, as they’re known) and cover letters for the foreseeable future. For now, though I just wanted to introduce myself, let you know that you can always leave comments with questions and that we’re happy to provide free advice on making your resume and cover letter as excellent as possible.

Five things to keep in mind about your physician CV:

1. Unless you have someone committed to reading it, longer than two pages is too much. The employer reviewing your resume is very busy and will allocate less than 30 seconds to your resume. Keep a longer version with all of your publications and presentations for an interview, but give a brief resume (which should just be a summary of your medical career, not an extensive life history) to employers and physician recruiters to get the most impact.

2. Your age, your spouse, your SSN, your kids - all things that do NOT belong on a physician’s resume anymore. Your resume is designed to give a picture of your professional career, not your personal life.

3. Likewise, your hobbies and interests are the least important thing on your resume. While they’re good if you need to fill space, consider using details from your residency or fellowship (if you’re a resident or fellow), or details about your practice if you’re a practicing physician to fill the necessary space and provide more in-depth information about your skills and abilities.

4. References do not belong on your resume, either! You don’t want every employer out there calling your references. You should bring them on a separate sheet of paper when you go in to interview, and only provide them if you are interested in working at that practice or hospital. That way, only the employers for whom you want to work will get your references.

5. Finally, for many employers, your resume will be the first thing they see. Don’t make it the last. Take the time (or ask your spouse) to review your resume carefully, getting rid of misspellings, poor grammar, and strange capitalizations. If you are a foreign medical graduate, this will be the most difficult step, so you may want to seek the advice of a resume service, an American colleague, or your program director. While you don’t have to have perfect grammar, an unprofessional resume gives a bad impression. The employer will think “If she doesn’t care enough about her career to put the effort into the resume, is she really going to put the effort into her career as a physician?”

Stay tuned for more advice about resumes and cover letters, along with other tips and tricks from the other authors here at Blogging with The Doctor Job!