How To Find Your Dream Job After Residency
I feel like I won the lottery with my job. I knew I wanted my first job after residency to be long term. 3 years later, I don’t see that changing! Here’s some advice for those of you in the midst of job hunting.
1️⃣ Write down your “must haves”. This is hard to do in residency because it’s really just “anything but residency”, but spending some time really exploring this will pay off. I knew I wanted a post call day off. I knew I could not sustain being on call more than 1:5. I knew I cared about my lifestyle more than my paycheck. Decide what’s important to you, both now and 5-10 years from now.
2️⃣ Pay attention to the culture. Every office/hospital/organization has its own culture. During your interview be sure to watch how people react to one another, ask what the culture is, pay attention to how you feel when you’re there.
3️⃣ Identify a mentor. Make sure that your potential employer plans to mentor you, especially as a new attending. Ask how they provide support to new attendings, ask younger physicians how they were mentored when they started.
4️⃣ Consider opportunities outside of medicine. Do you want to be at an academic institution where you can teach students/residents or does that feel like a burden? Do you hope to transition to a leadership position eventually? Do you want to incorporate mission trips or volunteering into your life? These things are not available everywhere, so it’s important that you consider what interests you have outside of clinical medicine and if they will be supported.
4️⃣ What are the extras? Is it a private practice where partnership is possible? How much vacation/CME time do you get? Do you need to be in house for call? Is there a backup call requirement? Do they offer loan repayment? Don’t just make a decision based on the salary, there is so much that matters more than that.
5️⃣Ask every person you interview with what they would change about where they work. No job is perfect, and this question will give you a good idea of what may be missing. It may also help uncover something that you consider a “deal breaker”.