Here we are in the middle of July, 2013, and for many physician residents and fellows, their upcoming job search isn’t yet a high priority. However, there are several reasons why getting a jump on your job should be among your highest priorities.
The first reason is that the process for obtaining a physician job takes quite a long time. In my previous career, working as a contingency recruiter with physicians and hospitals all over the country, I have found that the average time from a physician beginning a dialogue with an employer to actually signing a contract is about six months.
Why does it take so long? There are many steps in the process, and everything has to match up against your busy schedule. The same is true on the employer side of things with busy schedules of multiple hospital administrators and practicing physicians. When a candidate submits his or her CV to an in-house recruiter, that person may be able to get back to you quickly for an initial conversation, but then will probably need to confer with administrators and physicians about the next steps, and an offer for an interview usually ends up taking at least two to four weeks. Scheduling the interview can be complicated as well, and on average you are probably looking at having the interview occur about 90 days from when the initial contact was made. Assuming the interview goes well, it will probably take about 30 days for the employer to get a contract into your hands. Contract review and negotiations take additional time. Add these steps up, and you’re already five months into the process, and you haven’t even asked for a second interview or run up against any significant complications. Covering your bases and due diligence mean you will be going through this interview process with probably 3 to 6 employers, so starting early is key.
The second reason for starting a physician job search early is competition from peers. Only about 10-15% of practicing physicians change jobs in a given year, so that means the bulk of physician jobs will be filled with graduating residents and fellows. Almost all residents and fellows graduate in mid-summer or early fall, putting everyone in the job market during roughly the same time. Between August and January, a lot of the best jobs available for that year’s residents will be filled. Wait to start your job search until December, and there will certainly be fewer options available to you and less time to sift through what remains to find the best fit.
Even after signing a contract, a physician still needs to be credentialed at one or more hospitals and needs a state medical license before he or she can get to work. The amount of time required for these steps varies greatly. Credentialing generally takes between 30 and 90 days, but it can take longer. Obtaining a state medical license will take at least 30 days, and in the worst cases can take up to 1 year!
Finally, you want to have time to recover if something unanticipated happens, and you need to start the search over. An expected contract might not ever show up, or when you finally get a written employment offer, it may contain an unhappy surprise that changes your feelings about the job you thought you were taking. Starting your search now will allow time for a do-over should you be one of the unfortunate few who experiences that every year.
Most physicians who are starting their first job search have waited a very long time to get to that point. It’s a very important milestone in their lives. Starting the search early is a great way to help ensure that your long anticipated career gets off to a great start.
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