AFTER LONG YEARS OF TRAINING (AND PERHAPS A lot of scrimping and saving, too), it’s finally time for all your hard work to pay off: You’re finding a physician job!

It’s a life stage that should be exciting—but it can also be stressful. Like so many other milestones in your quest to become a practicing physician, it may feel like the job search is just one more competitive hurdle, one more test in which you’re trying to persuade someone else who holds all the cards.

But the good news is that job hunting, in many important ways, is not like that at all. That’s because you’re not just selling yourself to prospective employers; they’re selling themselves to you, as well. You’re not just hoping to be chosen. You also get to choose.

Competition for the positions you’re most interested in could still be fierce, though. You’ll want to make sure your options include the best starting points for you and your career. That means introducing yourself to prospective employers in a manner that puts your candidacy in the best possible light— showing employers your best self.

Here are six ways to help ensure you do just that.

1 Know your wants and needs

Nicholas Jones, M.D., plastic surgeon and owner of Nip & Tuck Plastic Surgery in Atlanta, says showing your best self starts with knowing yourself.

“To me, presenting your best self means being thoroughly prepared, which means being honest with yourself,” he says. “It means thinking about what you really want out of life. What type of practice setting do you want to be in? If you’re married or if you have kids, how are all these things going to tie in with your career decision? And then, for any particular job, how does this position tie into your short-term and long-term goals? What is it that you want to get out of this job?”

It’s hard to shine in your job search without sincerely conveying how well you’ll fit in a particular setting or culture. That’s why it’s important to invest time at the very start in learning about different options for work and thinking through what you want (and don’t want) in your own career.

Jones says that when he left his plastic surgery fellowship, his first choice of practice and location didn’t come through. But his second choice, a job in a rural
hospital setting in West Virginia that paid well and gave him lots of additional experience with a variety of cases, helped him prepare for board certification.
Though it wasn’t exactly the job he’d hoped for, it contributed well to his longer-term goals, building up experience that helped him eventually launch his own practice in Atlanta.

“My plan all along was to have my own practice because I value the autonomy,” he says. “But with autonomy comes a lot of responsibility.”

Each career stage after his training was a building block that helped Jones prepare for the responsibility of running a business. Knowing that each step he took was an important part of his longer-term plan also helped him sell himself sincerely for each opportunity.

It’s almost never too early to start this self-assessment and big-picture planning. For some career paths, like academic medicine, it’s especially important to start well before your training nears its end.

Ariela Marshall, M.D., consultative hematologist at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, chief innovation officer at Women in Medicine and curriculum chair at IGNITeMed, says that to be competitive in academic medicine, “it’s essential that you express an interest in academics from the very beginning.”

One reason is because your candidacy may largely be influenced by what sort of research and publishing credentials you accumulate during training. In Marshall’s case, the attraction of academic medicine was also about the opportunity to help up-and-coming physicians navigate their own career goals. Knowing that this type of mentorship is also a key component of working in academic medicine — and that it’s a perfect match for her personality — helped Marshall find the right niche in several academic settings.

“For me, the most rewarding part of academic medicine is the mentoring and education piece,” she says. “I’ve been in leadership positions in fellowship training programs. I’ve worked with physicians all along the way from when they interview for those programs to when they’re graduating and they’re embarking on their own job searches. It’s really rewarding.”

If you’re targeting a highly competitive part of the physician employment market, ranking different criteria like specific clinical or research goals, geographic location and compensation can help you perform better in interviews.

“Talking to graduating fellows, I always say that there are three things you might be looking for: What you’re doing, where you’re doing it, and how much you’re getting paid for it. If you’re lucky, you may get what you want for two of them, but you’re almost never going to get all three,” Marshall says. Working out these trade-offs before you pursue a position can help you present yourself as a sincere, thoughtful and prepared candidate.

2 Make sure your CV introduces you well

“It’s helpful to customize your CV to match each position, whether you’re applying for a job in a private practice versus a hospital-based practice or a large academic institution,” says Jones. “For example, if you’re applying for a job in academia, you want your CV to show that you’ve done relevant research. You’ll also want to include any presentations that you’ve done.”

A little extra effort on your CV can set your application apart from other candidates, helping you land interviews for more competitive openings, says David Shumway, D.O., an active-duty military internal medicine physician in Biloxi, Mississippi. As a physician with prior business experience (he worked in business-to-business sales before attending medical school), Shumway regularly mentors fellow physicians on job-search tactics. He says that candidates who don’t tailor their CVs are missing an opportunity.

“I read a lot of CVs and I usually see people making the same mistake: the CV is disorganized and not focused toward the job that the physician is applying for,” Shumway says.

Recruiters and hiring managers are often deluged with CVs for attractive jobs in desirable locations. Consequently, they’ll tend to filter CVs quickly, based not just on clinical credentials but also on factors like how sincere your interest appears to be or how well you appear to understand the job you’re applying for.

To ensure your CV lands in the right pile, Shumway advises, “CVs should lead with the physician’s highest-yield, most eye-catching accomplishments. Hiring managers for a particularly competitive position may spend less than a minute looking at a CV before making at least a preliminary judgment on the candidate.”

Another factor that can lead to hasty sorting of a CV into the “no” pile: no apparent connection to the job’s location.

“I have some room to negotiate when hiring a physician, but I can’t change the cost of living in California,” says Leland Rosenblum, M.D., ophthalmologist and owner of California-based Monterey Bay Eye Center and co-owner of Monterey County Eye Associates.

Rosenblum notes that the differential in reimbursement in California can’t come close to bridging the gap between spending power on the coast versus other parts of the country. Consequently, he looks for evidence of familiarity with the region and a compelling reason why the physician wants to live and work in California.

Jones agrees, noting that a demonstrable connection to the job location may be seen as a tie-breaker by recruiters and hiring physicians. That’s because unrealistic expectations of an unfamiliar location could lead a newly hired physician to leave their job before the organization has recouped the cost of their hiring.

“If all your family lives in California and you’re applying for a job in Pensacola, Florida, the practice in Pensacola will want to know why you want to move there — and why they should hire you as opposed to another candidate they’re considering who grew up in Pensacola,” Jones says.

3 Nurture your network 

Simply by helping you figure outwhere you might fit best, your network of trusted colleagues, mentors and past supervisors will be invaluable.

Beyond offering insightful advice on your choices, your network can directly support your candidacy in a health care world that’s smaller than you might think.

Jones says that when job hunting and meeting employers, odds are good that the physician who’s considering hiring you will tap into his or her own network to see if someone they trust is aware of you and your skills.

“Plastic surgery is such a small community. Even if I don’t know you personally, someone that I know probably knows you. And it’s probably like this for most specialties,” Jones says. He adds that referrals from trusted contacts are among the most important sources of candidates for many recruiters and hiring physicians. “Do not underestimate the power of a network. If you build a strong one, it can open opportunities up to you—opportunities that may not yet exist.”

Marshall agrees, noting that one of her prior roles, at the University of Pennsylvania, came through a referral from a friend.

“It wasn’t a posted position. A friend of mine from residency who was still at Penn contacted me after hearing at a faculty meeting that they were looking to hire somebody in hematology.”

Maintaining connections to people you’ve met throughout your training can help ensure you won’t miss out on opportunities that are never advertised, Marshall says. Even when positions are advertised, a referral from a trusted physician will help you stand out among applicants.

Networking doesn’t have to involve awkward or “salesy” interactions, Marshall adds. Getting to know people will come naturally as you progress through training. Occasionally reaching out (even just to say hello or ask a contact how they’re doing) will keep those relationships fresh.

Jones says that if you consider all the various medical institutions you’ve attended as well as your undergraduate university, your network is likely a lot larger than you think.

Marshall notes that you shouldn’t be afraid to stretch outside your comfort zone and expand your network. If there’s an institution you’re interested in and you don’t know if they’re hiring in your field, reaching out “cold” may be the best (or only) way to start.

She says: “Sometimes it takes an email to the chief of a division saying, ‘I’m interested in X. Would your institution have any potential openings in this area?’”

Even if the odds of a current job opening seem low, politely expressing your interest puts you on that senior physician’s radar in a positive way. That could lead to a future opportunity.

4 A sure way to shine: preparation

Learning as much as you can about the organization and its culture before your first interview helps you come across as prepared and more genuinely interested in the opportunity. This helps both you and the practice know the fit is right.

“You can really stand out as a candidate by knowing key details about the employer,” adds Shumway. “At the very least, know what their mission and vision are. It may soon be your job to make them a reality. And by preparing, you’ll be ready to answer a question they may not even ask: How do you fit into advancing their mission or filling a key role?”

When preparing, it’s helpful to keep in mind that the interview process usually involves multiple stages — and each stage involves different priorities.

At larger organizations, first interviews are typically with a recruiter or other human resources professional. Once you pass that first screening, you’ll interview with decision-makers and prospective colleagues. To maximize the chances that you will move forward, it’s useful to consider the different things that each type of interviewer will be looking for.

Shumway says that interviews with non-physicians are almost like “on-the-spot exams of your bedside manner and interpersonal skills.” Because you’re being compared against other physicians with similar training and accomplishments, these personal factors can make all the difference. Shumway suggests asking friends and family to help with mock interviews so that you can practice speaking naturally without a lot of complicated clinical language.

Early round interviews, especially when the interviewer is not a clinician, often involve more general, “icebreaker” questions. It’s a good idea to think about your answers to questions like: How do you see your career progressing over the next five to 10 years? Why did you choose to apply for this opportunity? What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses?

Early interviews are also often done via Zoom, which requires different preparation.

“It’s helpful to practice online interviews,” says Marshall. “Try taping yourself to make sure you’re looking at the right spot in the camera. You want it to be clear you’re looking at the interviewer.”

Make sure you’ve got a reliable internet connection, good lighting and no distractions in the background, Jones adds. And Shumway recommends that to create the best impression, you may want to invest in a high-definition webcam, and be sure to wear the same sort of attire and makeup you would for an in-person meeting.

Also very important: You should prepare questions for the employer— especially once you get past the early stage and are meeting prospective colleagues and supervisors.

“You really need to imagine yourself working wherever you’re interviewing,” Shumway says. “Don’t be afraid to ask questions about things you really want to know.”

Asking thoughtful questions conveys that you’ve done your homework and that you’re serious about the opportunity. But when you’re spending an entire day or more meeting different people, it can be challenging to not repeat the same questions.

“It’s fine to ask the same questions a couple of times,” Marshall says. She suggests relatively simple, open- ended questions that encourage conversation. “I advise candidates to ask interviewers questions about themselves, because people love talking about their own career paths.”

Some examples from Marshall are: What made you decide to pursue your career here? What have you liked about it? Are there any things you’ve found challenging? Do you see any changes coming to the leadership and program structure over the next few years?

Once you reach the on-site stage of the process, the employer is also looking for specific, detailed evidence of how you’ll fit in and contribute to the organization. At an academic institution, Marshall says it’s common for candidates to be asked to present a “job talk” — basically, a presentation in which candidates articulate the ways their experiences and research plans map to the requirements of the opening and the needs of the institution.

“Candidates should prepare to explain where they see their career going and how that can benefit the institution,” Marshall says. “For example, my field is benign or classical hematology, so non-cancer blood disorders. When I went on my job talks, I spoke about my specific interest in women’s hematology and how I saw a role for collaboration with other departments, like OB/ GYN, and how we could build an institutional name in a [unique] sub-specialty area.”

5 Practice confidence, not arrogance

“Showing your best self in the context of an on-site interview will thankfully be more familiar to you,” says Shumway. “You’ve had three to five years of post-graduate training in how to conduct yourself professionally in person. Be personable and professional at an on-site interview in the same way you would in any other professional context.”

Shumway adds that self-confidence is important, because by presenting confidence, you’re communicating that you know your worth — “as long as you don’t tip over into arrogance or snobbery.”

“There’s a small percentage of people who are too arrogant. But I think most physicians do a really bad job of selling themselves,” Marshall says. “For the vast majority of people, they’re bad at talking about themselves in a good light. The culture of medicine teaches you to be very humble and not brag about your accomplishments.”

Marshall says that this leads to a sort of reticence she calls the “tiara phenomenon,” where physicians assume that because their CV contains all the factual information about their accomplishments, it won’t be necessary to promote themselves in interviews. But people considering hiring you will want to know much more about you than what’s on paper. No matter what practice setting you’re pursuing, you’ll need to clearly communicate how you and your experiences match up with the needs of the organization and role.

“You have to be ready to say, ‘I’ve worked on these projects, and these are my strengths,’” Marshall says.

For example, if you’re interviewing in academic medicine, you’ll want to share how you see your experience, personal qualities and interests translating into recognition for the institution. For a hospitalist job, prepare to explain how your strengths and goals connect to the organization’s mission, or to a gap they’re trying to fill. In private practice interviews, be ready to share how you’ll help the group thrive.

When interviewing with a private group, “anything to distinguish yourself as willing to go the extra mile and show you want to be a practice builder and not just an employee would go a long way,” says Rosenblum. He adds that it’s especially helpful to show you’ve considered some of the economic issues that are particularly important to private practices.

“We’re living in an era of declining reimbursements from insurance carriers and Medicare. Having an interest in an elective procedure that could generate a separate income stream from total insurance dependence is of value,” he says.

For example, Rosenblum adds, in ophthalmology that could mean an interest in things like oculoplastics, premium intraocular lenses or LASIK. “Do you want to develop a dry-eye disease clinic? That’s something that could drive non-insurance reimbursement, which is increasingly vital to independent groups.”

Marshall adds that when connecting your candidacy to the needs of the institution, your motivations, interests and goals can be just as persuasive as your direct experience.

“If it’s your first job, you know that everyone in the room will have more experience than you do. But just saying, ‘I’m really inspired by X, Y and Z at your institution and the work that’s happening, and I can see my interests aligning really well’ is an effective way to promote yourself in that situation.”

6 Maintain professionalism as the search concludes

You’ve made it through the full interview process. You’ve wowed prospective employers with your just-right application, your clear preparation, your awareness of and fit with their culture. You may think it’s time to sit back and wait for offers to roll in, but there are more opportunities to stand out in a positive way.

“Don’t forget to send a thank you to the people you interview with, whether it’s a note or an email,” says Jones. “Just be sure to follow up.” A quick note to the people you met during a positive site visit conveys that you are still interested in the job — and it keeps your candidacy top of mind.

If an offer comes in for a job you’ve since decided you don’t want, Jones adds, “don’t burn any bridges.”

“Let’s say you go on an interview and decide you really don’t like the practice, but they offer you a job. Or maybe you go through a period of negotiating but don’t get what you want and decide it’s not a fit. You can respectfully decline a job offer. Don’t burn the bridge. It’s possible that later on in the process, you’ll decide that offer was actually the best one in town.”

Even when you take as much care as possible in finding and choosing your first job, there’s always the chance it won’t work out as well as you had hoped. Parting with prospective employers on good terms also keeps the door open for you to contact them in the future, should you be back on the hunt for a new position. •