Reading material on "Physician Job Search"

I thought I should list additional resources for searching for physician jobs that I have found over time. The fact that this list is so short shows that there is really not much good information on this topic that is specifically tailored to physicans. This has to change!

Sadly, when you google "physician jobs" you are overrun by a endless barrage of recruiter websites, which are pretty much useless - unless you want a job in Desert Gulch, AZ or Podunk, NY. These sites all rechant the recruiter marketing pitch, which for the job searching physician is distracting at best and truly dangerous at its worst. Moreover, all these websites drown out the scarce useful information available on the Net.

My all time favorite and truly innovative website with enlightening information is TheDoctorJob.com. I cannot say enough good things about these people, except that we all should support them and spread the word about them to all residents, residency program directors and practicing physicians.

I have the4 do-it-yourself version of what they do here in my blog. Click here for the info.

The job websites, the job boards that I recommend to look for postings are:
NTNjobs.com
Practicelink.com
http://www.healthecareers.com/ - this is the most professional appearing large recruitment website with just enough direct-by-employer ads to be useful.

The "Medical Economics" Journal has a series of 5 or 6 articles on the physician job search. Find it by going to the "Medical Economics" website and then search for "job search". They still suffer from the notion that recruiters play a role in a successful job search and they have not caught up to the direct mail job search method as it is beautifully done by thedoctorjob.com.

http://www.emra.org/Index.cfm?FuseAction=Page&PageID=1002108 - a thoughtful article you should read. Even though it was written by an emergency physician, many of the points and caveats apply to all araes of medicine.

Some of the best articles for new physicians can be found here: http://www.newphysician.com/library.cfm. Please be aware that this is the website of Merritt and Hawkins, a retained search firm, so you will encounter a favorable bias towards using recruiters in your job search - which we know is nonsense. That aside it is very good.

www.pohly.com. Published by a former-executive-turned-recruiter Pam Pohly, this site contains numerous valuable lists of links and resources. You will find great links to long lists of professional associations, hospital directories, very good tips about writing a cover letter and CV, how to prepare for interviews, how to conduct yourself in an interview. It is very noteworthy that such good information does not come from a long time recruiter, but from a former consultant that later went into recruiting. Just skip the whole talk about recruiters being helpful in your job search.

www.Collegegrad.com While not written for physicians, the chapters on resume writing are excellent and the interview tips are not bad either. This site offers a lot of very good content - for free.

http://www.studentdoc.com/ Info by medical students and residents concerning job search

At http://www.aafp.org/fpm/20060700/37find.html you will find an article by consultant Jack Valancy, who occasionally publishes on the website of the American Academy of Family Physicians. He emphasizes finding your perfect career and job and to help you with this he has published a questionnaire called "Finding the perfect job". It helps you find out what matters most for you and what feelings and goals should be the basis of your career planning.

www.princetonreview.com/cte/articles/hired/searchsuccess.asp This article in the Princeton Review emphasizes: know yourself, know your strenghts, and then, only then decide what you want to do and apply

The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) in general has good and balanced info, but does not go into much detail, it is a bit superficial.

http://www.quintcareers.com/ this is the company that writes good cover letters and good CVs, trustworthy, fast, professional. I recommend them (no commission or any other benefits for me)

http://practice.org/resources/resources.html. This website offers a bit more advice and less distracting recruiter blabla, so it is worth looking at.

There are three books I highly recommend:

a. What color is your parachute? The classic book, the bestseller on job search and career.

b. 101 Answers to the toughest interview questions. An excellent book to prepare for questions you most likely will be asked during interviews. The better prepared you are the better you look.

c. The idiot's guide to cover letters.


Less interesting links, go there only if you have a lot of time:

http://www.cejkasearch.com/resources/careerdevelopment/default.htm#jobsearchstrategies this link will take you to some good and interesting advice on job searching by Cejka search. It is a valubale source of information about writing cover letters, CVs and interviewing. Otherwise they are just trying to lure you onto recruiter websites and into recruiter offered jobs. They discourage you from looking in the big cities and try to tell you that the country side is much better - no surprises here

The website of the American College of Physicians ACP has only moderately good information, visit http://www.acponline.org/counseling/

New England Journal of Medicine website. They have a few tips concerning job search, but they still feed the misconception that recruiters have more than a marginal function in the physician job search. Overall well meaning website, but doesnot have really good information. Misses the bite

http://caps.uchicago.edu/resources/materials/books/jss.html#jss this list of the University of Chicago has numerous resources and books, but just the titles. you will have to do the rest yourself

http://jobsearch.about.com/od/findajob/a/onlinejobs.htm

http://jobsearch.about.com/od/findajob/a/howtofindajob.htm

http://jobsearch.about.com/od/toppicks/tp/jobsearchbook.htm

these three links are interesting pages on about.com that has many ways of searching for a job and gives good tips

Job Star Central.....http://jobstar.org/index.php a good list of info from the public libraries in CA

http://www.your-cv-coach.com/resume-writing.html general purpose tips for writing a CV and cover letter, not specifically greared towards physicians. Moderately useful.

End of list

I wish you a lot of success in your job search! Please let me know if you find a great and helpful website! Post a comment on my blog please.

Your Matthias Muenzer, MD, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Medford, MA 02155