WHEN SEARCHING FOR your first job after residency, how do you know what would be a good fit? How do you get started? This timeline will walk you through the path to your first post-training job. 

Starting your search 

According to FirstPractice.com, you should start looking at job postings in the area where you want to work 12 to 24 months before you plan to start working. If you’re planning on a fellowship, you’ll want to apply as soon as the fellowship application opens. 

“Look in your areas of interest as early as possible. It’s never too early!” says Gabriela Hanco, M.D., an OB/Gyn at Mount Carmel Hospital in Grove City, Ohio. 

Hanco says, “familiarize yourself with job markets in cities you’re looking at.” You will need to narrow your search based on the location where you aim to practice and the type of practice you want to join. PracticeLink.com’s robust job board enables filtering based on location, practice type, specialty and more. PracticeLink also provides virtual career fairs, interviews with provider relations specialists and other unique resources. 

At the start of your search, you will have a lot of questions to consider. Do you want to work in an academic setting, or is a private practice a better fit for you? The best way to answer these questions is to discuss with your peers and mentors who have experience in your field of interest. 

“Ask attendings that have a similar practice or lifestyle [as the one you want] about how they created that for themselves,” says Hanco. In learning what others have done, you can guide your job search in the direction of a perfect fit. 

To fellowship or not to fellowship? 

Some specialties enable residents to either do a fellowship or go directly to an attending position. Making that choice comes down to what will serve your career best. 

“The main consideration for family medicine residents contemplating a fellowship is whether the one year of attending-level income deferment is worthwhile to get the extra training and how they might use that extra training to improve their work satisfaction in the future,” says Susan Kuchera, M.D., director of the Abington Family Medicine Residency Program at Jefferson Abington Hospital. 

Fellowship can be a narrow competition. If you want to specialize, you’ll need to prepare your application as soon as you can. “For our program, we receive 120 to 130 applications per year for three open positions,” says Suraj Alva, M.D., program director of the colorectal surgery fellowship at Atlantic Medical Group, an affiliate of Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. 

The fellowship matching process is similar to the residency matching process; you’ll match with ample amount of time to prepare for your life as a fellow. 

“Once we find what we like, we start catering our application toward that,” says Robert Myers, M.D., a fifth-year resident in the Jefferson-Abington Surgical Residency. “For me, that was vascular surgery, which included working on presentations, case reports and research projects. Our fellowship match is during our fourth year of our five-year residency. So I sent out applications in December, interviewed in the winter/spring and matched in May.” Myers will begin his vascular surgery fellowship in August 2025 at The Ohio State University. 

Your application materials 

Building your CV throughout residency will allow you to enter into the application process prepared. 

“I work on [my CV] every 3 to 6 months and add any new things that have happened in the interim,” says Myers. 

Your CV should represent who you are as a physician. Start with your contact information. Then, in reverse chronological order, add dedicated sections for education, work experience, licenses and certifications, research, leadership experience and awards and/or professional memberships. 

Your education should include your undergraduate program, medical school, residency, fellowship if you’ve done one, and other relevant training programs. In the work experience section, include the types of procedures you’ve done and other relevant specifics. 

Licenses, certifications, awards and professional memberships should include the year and location in which they were obtained. For research, consider what publications and presentations share your interests and journey best. “I think it’s important to actually just set a time limit—I stopped including things I did in college, for instance, in my CV I used as a fellow,” says Lili Sadri, M.D., a vascular surgeon at the University of Texas at Austin. You’ll want to take care to include what’s most relevant to the job posting for which you are applying. 

Alongside your CV, you will need to line up references from physicians under whom you have trained. A personal reference from a well-known person in your field is ideal, as their endorsement of you carries the weight of their credentials as well. You need, however, to balance prestige with practicality. While it would be great to get the head of your program to write you a letter, they might not have time. “I think it’s really important to pick someone who’s seen you in your department, who is well known or well established—particularly a chief or a chair or a program director. I think it’s easy to befriend a junior faculty member, but they are not as well known, so it can be more difficult for people to accept their letter of recommendation,” says Dave McKeown, M.D., a colorectal surgeon at Colon and Rectal Associates in Abington, Pennsylvania. Get to know the people in charge of your program, and they will be able to write you a wonderful recommendation. 

An often-overlooked part of the application process is to collect copies of your license and credentials. Each board of medicine will want to approve you before you move somewhere new. 

“It can be very difficult and time consuming [to gather required documents],” says McKeown. It’s smart to scan everything you need and keep it backed up on your device. “It will make the whole process more streamlined, and potentially save you months of waiting for copies of documents,” he says. 

The interview 

During your interviews, hiring physicians want to know you’re able to do your job competently and that you’re adept at the more personal side of patient care. 

“In family medicine, we spend our whole day having conversations with people. As family doctors, we already have a great skill set for conversations,” says Kuchera. “Family doctors remain in high demand for jobs, making the interviews more casual and conversational rather than formal and competitive.” 

Be sure to ask questions based on specific aspects of the job posting. 

“Candidates should ask about the practice’s support for career advancement, CMEcourses and other learning and development opportunities,” says Rachel Ramirez, M.D., who is program director of the internal medicine residency at Jefferson Health-Abington, governor of the Southeastern Chapter of Pennsylvania of the American College of Physicians and medical director of Hartnett Health Services Jefferson Health-Abington. 

Asking about how a practice supports physician growth not only provides you with necessary information, but also shows your interest in growing with the practice. 

“Talk with other employed physicians [at the practice] about how long they are retaining their staff,” says Ramirez. These questions will give you a sense of the longevity of a position. 

You may go through multiple rounds of interviews. Ask broad questions during the initial interview, and save your specific questions for future rounds. Your goal is to get a sense of the practice culture and mission, two important factors for determining whether a role is a good fit. In later interviews, you can ask about the day-to-day processes of a practice and other nitty-gritty details. 

Later interviews will give you the opportunity to discuss compensation. 

Follow your interviewer’s lead when it comes to broaching the subject. Make sure, however, that you have clear answers on your compensation before signing a contract. 

How to pick 

At the end of your process, you may have a few offers to consider. It may be helpful to consult your initial job-search criteria. Which one fits your original goals? 

“I had very defined criteria: I wanted to work at a place with great mentors and be in a location near my husband. It’s important to keep it simple,” says Sadri. “For most jobs, you’ll make around the same amount for your profession type, but it’s the mentors and support you get when you’re building your confidence up as a first- or second-year attending that is paramount in laying the foundation for a successful career.” 

Though money may be a big draw as an early-career professional, the importance of a support system cannot be overstated. 

“My best advice is to figure out the price you assign to aligning your job with your own values. Often, a job that will support your own peace and well-being may pay somewhat less than other jobs,” says Kuchera. 

Discuss the terms of an offer with your potential employer. Ultimately, both you and the practice hiring you want a deal that will favor both parties. It’s important to carefully review any offer that comes across your desk. Visit PracticeLink.com for other contract-related resources, including a primer on how to prepare for negotiations. 

You will also want to assess whether a certain position will allow you to fulfill your career goals. Do you want to do research? Do you want to teach? You’ll have answered some of these questions for yourself while applying, but you’ll need to assess each offer for what it can provide. 

“Be very clear about your goals with yourself,” says Sadri. “Don’t try to fit into a job; make sure the job fits you.” •