BY THE TIME YOU’VE MADE IT THROUGH MED school and see the end of residency or fellowship ahead, the idea of embarking on yet another journey—the job-search journey—may seem understandably daunting. The process can be lengthy, often lasting 12-24 months. But a well-done job search can also lead to personal and professional happiness. And like any good journey, it was never meant to be taken alone. For the best chance at success, you’ll need a support team to travel with you along the way. 

“A job search for a physician [position] and, in particular, a first-time attending position, is extraordinarily stressful,” says Tiffany Di Pietro, D.O., a cardiologist and concierge care physician with Di Pietro Health based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. “A support team will help an applicant through the anxiety of picking the right job and [evaluating] various aspects of the job.” 

These traveling companions have insight and expertise you don’t have—about job opportunities, contracts and sometimes even yourself. By assembling your job-search team and relying on them throughout the journey, you’ll be equipped to navigate the terrain ahead and, ultimately, make it to your practice destination. 

Following a well-worn path—even when the destination is uncertain 

If this is your first job search coming out of residency, the whole journey may feel like it’s taking place in a foreign land, and that is totally normal. The truth is many physicians have gone before you—and there’s much to gain from their experiences. 

“Coming out of residency, obviously, I was trained really well on how to be a physician, but for a lot of us, this is…the very first time we’re having to consider everything that comes with a job choice,” says emergency medicine physician Travis Ulmer, M.D., chief clinical recruiting officer for US Acute Care Solutions. “It was a whole new experience for me, trying to navigate the waters [of] what was important to me and what landmines to avoid.” 

As ger iatrician Kendika Abrams, M.D., embarked on her job search, she also relied on advice from her colleagues. “A lot of my co-fellows and fellows that went before me and residents that went before mentioned that it’s a process that you have to start early, especially since I’m a J-1 visa candidate,” she says. 

At their advice, she kicked off her search by signing up for physician job boards, including PracticeLink.com, and inputting her job-search criteria. 

“They did allow for me to be able to see jobs that were completely J-1s, jobs that offer J-1 waiver, jobs that offer both. …I could put in all the parameters, the areas I wanted to work, and it spits out the jobs that are available,” she says. “Once a week, sometimes twice, I would get a long list of places that I could potentially apply to, and then I would be able to bookmark the ones that I really liked.” 

Though Abrams originally wanted to stay in Massachusetts, the home prices and commute were unattractive, leading her to consider other areas of the country. Thankfully, her colleagues had prepared her for this. 

“I was told by a few of my senior residents and fellows that went before me, ‘You’re going to have to go to a lot of places before you figure out what it is that you like or you don’t like,’” she says. This insight enabled her to keep trekking, even when the destination was unclear. 

By perusing job sites, she spotted a job in Missouri that seemed like a fit. 

“I just came across Citizens Memorial. …I started looking through [the job posting]. I was like, ‘OK, this looks like some place that I want to be,’” says Abrams. 

The job posting included the recruiter’s phone number, and Abrams reached out immediately. 

In-house recruiter: Giving you the inside scoop 

By reaching out, Abrams found a key player for her job-search team: an in-house recruiter (also known as a staff or employer recruiter). In-house recruiters—in contrast to third-party or agency recruiters or contracted headhunters—are actually on staff with the hospitals, practices or groups for which they recruit. 

“I decided to call, and I got Donna [Shelby]. Donna is actually one of those recruiters that are based on site,” says Abrams, explaining the in-house distinction. “She’s not contracted out, so she eats, sleeps and breathes Citizens Memorial. She knows everything about Citizens Memorial.” 

Because hiring the wrong candidate would mean having to restart the recruitment process, in-house recruiters are especially motivated to hire candidates who will be the right fit for their organizations and communities for the long haul. 

“I look at the in-house recruiter role almost as a Realtor role,” says Donna Shelby, director of medical staff services and physician recruitment for Citizens Memorial Hospital and the in-house recruiter who worked with Abrams. “I’m working to get the best candidate for my organization while finding the best opportunity for the candidate. …None of us like to backfill positions, so we’re always looking for the best match.” 

Like many physicians early in their job-search journeys, Abrams hadn’t even known about in-house recruiters before she got in contact with Shelby. 

“ [ In eva lua t ing othe r opportunities], there were a lot of people that I would speak with, and they would have to go back to someone else,” says Abrams. “It would always be a layer [or] several layers before I got to the information that I needed. …But Donna had a lot of these answers, and even if she didn’t know, she would find it out so quickly.” 

For this reason, in-house recruiters make excellent job-search mentors and guides. They’ve walked with many candidates before you, and they can answer nearly any question you raise about their organizations, opportunities and communities. They know their practice’s structure and vision, strengths and weaknesses. They can put you in touch with physician leaders and other potential colleagues. They even know about the school district, housing market, restaurant scene—whatever matters to you in a community. If they don’t know, they’ll find out quickly. 

“She’d text me back, ‘Oh, I found this out. This is this,’” says Abrams of Shelby. “And it didn’t matter how many times I asked…she’d be like, ‘Oh, I have a document on that. Don’t worry. Let me send that to you.’ It was just very refreshing.” 

In-house recruiters also have the inside scoop on an employer’s culture, enabling you to suss out whether it’s what you’re looking for. 

“I encourage physicians [to ask] in-house recruiters about what their physician turnover is [and] get an understanding of why the position is being recruited,” says Shelby. “Is it due to turnover? Is it due to retirement? Is it a new position being added due to growth and volume?” 

There are multiple ways to add an in-house recruiter to your job-search team. Like Abrams, you can use the recruiter contact information on PracticeLink job listings to get in touch with the recruiter who posted a specific job. Alternatively, if there’s a specific organization you’re interested in, you can always call their in-house recruitment department directly to find out if they’re hiring—or planning to in the near future. 

Spouse: Evaluating the family fit 

If you’re married or in a serious relationship, your spouse or significant other will also play an important role—if not the most important role—in your job search, both because their life is intertwined with yours and because they know your needs so well. 

They certainly may help you with the administrative work of a job search—perusing listings, bookmarking jobs of interest, networking or even managing the logistics of your travel. But don’t think that their help has to stay behind the scenes. Recruiters and hiring managers are used to having spouses visibly involved in the job-search process. 

“We always invite spouses or significant others on the interview process and certainly [into] pre-interview discussions,” says Ulmer. “[Physicians are] not just making a decision for themselves—they’re making a decision for their family, and so it’s really important to get all the stakeholders involved.” 

Of course, the basics like salary and schedule will affect a whole family, but Ulmer identifies three additional reasons why spouses should be involved in the job search: to evaluate the benefits, to assess the community fit and to gauge the vibe. 

In fact, it’s so standard to involve partners in the site visit that many employers will cover the site visit expenses for not only you but also your spouse or significant other. 

“I welcome physician spouses and significant others for the whole job-search process as far as the interview goes and the community tour and dinners and things,” says Shelby. “They’re welcome to attend, and our organization supports that by covering their expenses as well.” 

Involving your spouse in your search helps ensure that their insights are heard and their needs are considered, and it also provides you with a reliable sounding board throughout the job-search process with someone who’s making the journey alongside you. 

Lawyer: Ensuring your contract is airtight 

Another key teammate on your job-search team will be a lawyer, specifically one well-versed in health care contracts. 

“As the wife of a health care attorney, I can say firsthand how many mistakes doctors make when it comes to negotiating and signing contracts,” says Di Pietro. “It is very important to remember that we went to medical school, not law school. Contracts have very specific nuances and verbiage, which might seem like plain English but can sometimes get an applicant into trouble if they don’t truly know what they are signing.” 

All contracts should clearly spell out your work expectations (including schedule and responsibilities), compensation (including payment model, incentives and benefits) and legal terms (including termination conditions, non-competes and insurance coverage) among other things. But on top of the basics, your contract must also include your unique contract concerns. And because contracts tend to be built from templates, it’s easy for these unique concerns to get overlooked. A lawyer can help ensure that doesn’t happen. 

“With my contract, it’s very specific because I’m a J-1 candidate,” says Abrams. “For me, there were some things that were very important, things like ensuring that my green card process was completely paid for…that that process was going to be started within the first couple of months of starting the job; [that] if my salary were to change because of an RVU-based system, that there was a base and that I was not going to be dropping off to a lower salary; that my vacation time didn’t have to be accrued.” 

Important points like these must be included on the contract itself because, at the end of the day, email threads and word of mouth are not legally binding. 

Before landing at Citizens Memorial, Abrams had been in talks with an employer in Massachusetts, but important promises that employer was making in conversation were not showing up in the contract. “[Some of what] they were mentioning to me in the interview…was not in the contract,” says Abrams. “And when I approached them about that, I was told, …‘We have never had to write it in the contract for anyone. We always uphold that whatever we say to you is binding.’” 

This raised a red flag for Abrams. “But tomorrow let’s say you are no longer a part of this establishment. What then happens to [your] word of mouth?” Abrams says. 

The job search is a team effort 

Though in-house recruiters, a health care lawyer and your spouse may be the MVPs of your job-search team, there will likely be many other people who help you along the way, including colleagues and mentors from med school, residency or fellowship. The value of their input cannot be discounted. 

“Different perspectives for various opportunities are invaluable,” says Di Pietro. “Mentors may have specific experience with various medical positions [like] private practice, large group [and] hospital employment.” 

Just as you turn to your team for advice, take the time to check in with yourself and listen to your intuition as you make these big decisions. “I always tell physicians not to disregard their gut instinct,” says Shelby. “So if you feel like the position is not a right fit, regardless of what you’re being offered for the position, it likely is not a right fit.” 

Though the job-search process may be arduous at times, keeping your end goal in mind will bolster you along the way. 

“Becoming an attending physician is a long and very difficult process,” says Ulmer. “But…being an attending physician is absolutely worth it. It is such a rewarding job, and we really get to be involved in people’s lives in a way that not many other people do. …Being happy in your job—in the group that you’re with—is such a critical step. As long as they’re joining groups or locations for the right reasons that are important to them, it’s a really fulfilling career.” 

Your job-search team will help ensure you find a job that suits you, and they’ll be building you up for your next journey: being a practicing physician. •