How did you find your job?

[borden]

Hey, I'm a second year pediatric resident so have another year and a half before I start practicing in the real world. Ideally I would have a job starting in July or August of 2017.  I know the area that I would like to practice in (Northwest Louisiana) but am not sure how I would go about finding a job.  I was wondering what other readers of the site did to find that first job.  Would it be better to higher a firm that specializes in finding physician jobs, or to reach out to already established practices?  If you did you a firm, do you have any suggestions?  Couldn't find any recommended on the website.  Thanks,
Borden

[asmallchild]

I think you can do both.

I was more flexible in my geographic reach so I used a recruiter. Annoying process but they got the job done and amazingly, ended up in a very sweet job in the end.

If you know where you want to be, it probably wouldn't hurt to send out feelers now by calling and perhaps sending your CV

[IDinOH]

When I was getting out of the military I tried a variety of different methods.  I considered a recruiter but the few I spoke with seemed to only want to talk with me about jobs that were in hard to fill areas where I'm sure their bonus was even better.  I used my specialty society website, the NEJM job board and the aggregator Indeed.com and set up a daily email for new posts.  I also spoke a few hospitals in the general area I wanted to be in.

If you are very particular about the area then speaking with the physician recruitment offices at those specific facilities or speaking with the pediatric groups int that area may be the highest yield.  if however you decide you are more flexible and are happy with a general geographic region, I found online the highest yield as I was able to get enough information about prospective jobs very quickly to either rule them out completely or seek further info.

Whenever you do start seriously considering a job, I would recommend getting the contract reviewed by a pro who specializes in the field.  I think a few recommendations have been posted on this website in the past.

Best of luck!!

[LBKCLU]

If you know the area that you want to be, one strategy is sending letters to existing pediatric practices to introduce yourself. You would tell them that you will be completing your training in 2017 and want to practice in the area. Is their practice looking for someone? Do they know of any other practices that might be looking if they are not?

You will get a small number of responses, some of which that will tell you there are already too many pediatricians and you should practice elsewhere - but it only takes one to get you a job and the best ones are rarely advertised.

You can also look in the back of your association journals and see if anything is available that way in addition to recruiters.

[chrisCD]

Short-story:  It helps to know people.

My first jobs came through a temp agency.  One of those companies ended up hiring me full-time.  When I was ready to look elsewhere, I tried recruiters (programmer), and did get some interviews and one offer.  I ended up staying where I was for a bit.  Down the road, a company in the same field liked some of my work and made an offer.  I took it.  Turned out not to be to my liking and ultimately, someone I knew that owned their own business hired me.  It was for sales and not programming, but I ended up doing well at sales and being able to use my programming.

cd :O)

[PhysicianOnFIRE]

It sounds like you've got it narrowed down to a specific geographic location.  I think a letter / CV sent via mail to the groups in that area might be a good start.

If you use a recruiter, you can expect them to get a finder's fee, which may cut into the signing bonus designated for the position.

Some specialties have specialty specific job search sites.  Anesthesia has gaswork.com.  I don't know about pediatrics.

Good luck to you in your search!

[Joseph]

Hi Borden,

There are many websites that will generate a list of job openings.  I just went to Google, typed in "physician jobs pediatrics", clicked on the first Physician jobfinder link and found 434 listings.  Since you are so specific in your job location (Shreveport?), it is easy to put in the state to further your query.  I found 17 of those 434 listings to be in Louisiana but some in the Alexandria and Baton Rouge areas.

So how did I find my job?  Reading the back classifieds of the monthly journals as a resident, getting emails and going on rotations, using the Internet and website search engines.  Remember that interview travel is tax-deductible in a job search.  It is a great time and there are so many places you can go.