Understand what happens BEFORE a job is ever advertised !

For young physicians searching for a job it is very helpful to know what goes on in the mind of a practice owner before a job is advertised.

Usually the practice owner has a growing practice and works more and more, harder and harder and starts to get tired. He starts delegating more, may hire additional staff, and then after many months, the thought arises that he might need an additional physician to prevent burn out. He may toss that idea around in his head for a few months, since it is not an easy decision. Then he may talk to his wife about it, or to a partner in the practice. Then, when the decision gets ahead, he might talk to his accountant and think about the cost of a new physician. Then he may make a detailed business plan with a cost analysis for an additional colleague in the practice. Then, after one or several more months to about a year he may make the final decision "Yes, I will hire a new physician".

Then he will ask around in the hospital for a few weeks, put the word out, mention it to the colleagues who cover his call, then maybe to the head of the department, maybe to the medical director if he happens to know him better. He might, after one or two months, contact the closest University and he may speak to the residency program director "Any good residents that might be interested in joining me?".

Then, if after a few months, if nobody materializes, he might advertise in one of the journals. Usually an ad yields several CVs. Maybe one of the candidates is a fit and the search is over. Maybe nobody has the right qualification and the right chemistry. Then he may advertise again in the same journal, or maybe now in all three or four commonly used journals, or he may advertise, hopefully on NTNjobs.com or healthecareers.com. It is now 3 months after the first ad was placed.

And here is the important point: ONLY AFTER ALL THIS WAS NOT SUCCESSFUL, will he consider, for the first time consider, calling a recruiter. Why? Very simple, there are 20,000 solid green reasons NOT to call a recruiter....

Between perceiving the need for an additional physician and the advertisement usually 6-12 months pass by and then another 6 months at least until the owner will consider giving the job to a recruiter.

This means that you, the smart uptodate physician, who searches jobs actively by using direct mail or a direct mail service such as Thedoctorjob.com have a window of 12-18 months to find a job before everybody else knows about it! By the way, many recruiters know this and routinely send their ads out to practice owners hoping to catch just the right moment - but don't worry, there are those 20,000 reasons that work very much in your favor!

Imagine that! Your CV just seems to pop out of nowhere and lands on the doctors desk. Surprise, a qualified, willing physician looking for a position right where the practice owner is and right now, at this fortunate moment!

I am not kidding. I had these reactions "God must have heard my prayers", "It is most fortunate that you sent my your CV at this time" "Your CV reaches me at a great time".

So, you are truly welcome if you send out your cover letter and CV, you actually relieve the practice owner of further searching, or at least you raise that hope. And, your CV shows up without any competition, at the right moment. You cannot have better chances than that!

That is why services like Thedoctorjob.com can advertise high success rates. I have tried it with the do-it-yourself method and had the above surprising results. It works like a charm, I can highly recommend it!

The function of physician recruiters is to fill the less desirable jobs! When a recruiter calls, stop and think: Do I really want a less desirable job?

Good luck and happy searching!
Your Matthias Muenzer, MD