5 Tips for Residents Preparing to Search for their First Job
As a resident nearing the completion of your residency, the task directly ahead of you is the job search. You’re at a key inflection point in your life. Take a deep breath, get ready, and prepare to do some research and take several important steps.
First and foremost, you’ll want to begin your job search process early, perhaps 1 to 2 years before your residency concludes, depending on your specialty. That way you won’t feel rushed or be slammed with a high-pressure situation at the time you least want one.
Here are 5 tips for preparing for the job search:
- Be well-organized at the start
Determine your goals, desires, and hopes for your career, and prioritize them. Begin to collect your key documents, which may include visas and licenses. Write your CV in a way that presents you in the best possible light for recruiters and employers. Update or create your LinkedIn profile.
Start to build an applications shortlist of post-residency options at practice groups and hospitals. As you get going on this, you may get very busy, so be sure to budget your time wisely as you prepare for your Board exams, scheduling in time to get everything done.
- Make time for soul searching
What do you really want, beyond just working in the specialty you’ve chosen? Where? What size practice fits you best, a small clinic or a large hospital? Here are a few insights into what management thinks about in terms of how they create a work culture, published by MASC Medical Recruiting.
You may feel pressure from peers, friends, family, and others. Don’t give in to it, nor be influenced by high salaries that might be offered if a position isn’t right for you. It’s often a good idea not to take the first offer unless you are absolutely certain. There are many other considerations, too, such as your spouse’s wishes and whether you want to be near family for your children.
As you search, you’ll need to begin thinking about the myriad issues you’ll encounter such as housing in a (potentially) new community; here are a few tips on doing that, published by KPG Provider Services.
- Develop your professional network
You have established many work relationships by now. Continue to pursue and deepen your connections with peers. It’s a fact that often residents are hired by the practices where they did rounds during their residency.
Relationships are a key to success in most professions, but especially in medicine where physicians, nurses, and support personnel tend to know one another and are aware of everyone’s contributions to a practice or a hospital. You never do know who will be helpful in opening doors for you.
- Seek out and connect with recruiters
Take advantage of the deep knowledge and connections that are offered by recruiters who are experts in medical field hiring and employment. They will already have established relationships with employers and hospitals, and will know about openings that could be the perfect fit for you.
Recruiters are generally up-to-date on the field. They have to be; finding jobs for physicians is how they earn their living. They can do a lot of the legwork for you in terms of seeking out opportunities that you might not come across on your own.
- Use job boards
There are many boards out there that are geared to physicians, nurses, and allied healthcare practitioners seeking jobs. Not all are created equal. Focus on the highest-quality ones such as PhysEmp.com, which offers such helpful features as:
- Free search of many thousands of posted jobs, updated frequently
- Information-rich maps that show exactly where jobs are, with clickable pins
- Opt-in emails that deliver job opportunities to your inbox based on your search criteria
- The fastest system in medical job search
- All services confidential
PhysEmp has helped many, many thousands of physicians find jobs they love in the places they want to work. Tell us where you want to go and let your job find you!
Learn how the PhysEmp job search system works.
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