Career and Life Planning Guidebook for Medical Residents

ONLINE RESOURCES Job Boards and Postings Nearly everyone is familiar with job-hunting sites like Indeed, Monster, Glassdoor, and CareerBuilder. Similarly, there is an overwhelming number of physician job boards to choose from. How do you knowwhich siteswill lead you to the type of position you are looking for? The best online resource for finding the right fit is to connect with your specialty-specific medical association. For example, visit the website of the American Academy of Family Physicians if you’re going into family medicine or the American College of Physicians’s website if internal medicine is your specialty. There’s an association for every specialty, and sometimes more than one! These associations represent the physicians in your medical specialty and limit access to job postings to members of the organization. Positions are posted by physicians looking for partners, by hospitals and medical groups offering employed positions, and by universities and residency programs filling academic positions. Many specialty associations also offer online journals that include a classified section where you will find job ads. Caution: There may be organizations who post their opportunities on job boards and journal ads whose main purpose is to entice you to contact them (e.g., to build their database). These sites may post legitimate positions; however, jobs may be occasionally outdated and/or fictional. As you inquire about these positions, ask specific questions and listen carefully to their responses to avoid an unproductive job search path. Social Media No doubt you already know the many opportunities to build relationships via social media, whether it’s on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, or others. Just as you’re using those accounts to make connections, remember that it works both ways. You’re being Googled, tracked, and pursued by healthcare organizations and others vying for your personal information. Recruiters routinely Google candidates when they receive a CV, so it is important to keep an eye on what the internet says about you. One good way to “audit” your social media presence is to do a Google search with your name and see what comes up. Use caution with social networking and always keep in mind that your potential employer may be reading your latest post. Some people choose to keep two social media personae: a private, personal profile and a second professional profile that allows potential employers to see the kind of physician in whom they would entrust their grandmother’s care. However, those lines are increasingly becoming blurred. The best strategy is to be conservative about anything you post online and to remember that the internet is forever . The internet is also a great research tool. Most healthcare organizations now have Facebook accounts designed to attract physicians and other providers. Hospitals include links to their websites, and they may post videos of current physicians and leadership. Consider social media a powerful tool to research the facility, to read about the physicians they employ, and to get an understanding of the culture they project. Compare these to your ideal practice and follow up accordingly. CAREER FAIRS Many physicians know career fairs as a great place to pick up freebies—gadgets, treats and gift cards given away by recruiters to entice physicians to their booths. However, career fairs are more than that. They provide job seekers with an opportunity to network with multiple employers within a short period of time and in a single location. Career fairs SECTION II: T MINUS TWO YEARS CAREER AND LIFE PLANNING GUIDEBOOK FOR MEDICAL RESIDENTS 156