HOW TO FIND A GENERAL PEDIATRICS JOB
I. Purpose of this Guide
This guide is targeted
toward those looking for primary care general pediatrics jobs. There will be a
few tips for hospitalists, but will mainly focus on primary care. It is meant
to help streamline the process and suggest things to think about (and watch out
for). Note: less time is spent on hospitalists because: 1. I looked for primary
care jobs, 2. I modified this handout from an original handout found during my
job search which was collected through sources: experiences of class of 2007
University of Chicago (I tried to collect my classes experience but had a poor
response). Information gleaned from a conference on finding a general peds job
by North Carolina
My hopes are that
someone from each future class will attempt to gather their class’s experiences
and continue to modify the document.
II. When to Get Started
A. Houston area: September
B. Out of town: This depends on how competitive the local market
is. In general popular urban areas tend to be competitive, while more rural
areas are always looking. For instance, in North Carolina
TIP: Try to send out your
letters 2-4 weeks before your residency schedule allows you to interview.
People tend to respond about 1-3 weeks after getting your letters and it is
better not to have to say “I can’t interview for a month” because you’re in the
PICU.
TIP: Be
prepared for the telephone calls from practices and recruiters. Having a small
notebook on your person when answering phone calls will allow you to document
the caller, caller’s phone number and email as well as the conversation about
the job description. This will allow you to have a reference of recruiters to
call back 2-3weeks before heading out on an interview trip to aid in setting up
additional interviews with the most current job listings. It also will help in
going on interviews to refresh what was originally described in the job over
the phone.
III. Considerations Before You Start: Is this the place where I want to practice and learn pediatrics for the next ____ years?
III. Considerations Before You Start: Is this the place where I want to practice and learn pediatrics for the next ____ years?
A. Hospitalist vs. Primary Care: while it is
possible to look for both kinds of jobs, most people focus on one or the other.
Some recruiters or future employers won’t like it if you say you are
undecided—you need to have that “passion” for one of them. So if you are
undecided don’t tell.
B. Schedules:
a. Common Hospitalist schedules: Most non-academic
hospitalist jobs tend to be in 24 hour shifts. 2 or 3 local hospital programs
I’ve heard about do 7 24-hour shifts a month. I’ve heard some do 11 a month.
b. Full time primary care: This can be just about
anything. Ask about schedule when you visit. Most practices are doing some
evening and weekend hours now. Typical would be one evening a week and a shared
weekend schedule. In general 4 to 5 days a week in the office, plus rounding is
typical.
c. Part Time: If you plan to find a part time
job, allow yourself more time to find a job! It is apparently possible
to find this kind of job, but most people I’ve heard of who succeeded did not
have a job lined up after they graduated—it can take quite a while for one of
these to open up, even at practices who have a lot of part time people.
i. DO YOU ASK ABOUT PART TIME UP FRONT? If you
have to have a part time job, yes. The only way to find one is to ask. However,
frequently candidates looking for full time will be hired over you. If you
don’t have to have one, you can take your chances with seeing if they will let
you go part time later. Many practices do, but even if they already have people
who went part time later, it does not mean they will let you.
C. Practice Ownership:
a. Classic Private: owned by one person or group
of partners
b. Private acquired by larger entity: practice
sold to and overseen by larger administrative group (i.e.: TCPA groups)
c. Primary Care formed and administered by larger
entity (i.e.: Kelsey Seybold)
d. Academic with primary care group combination
D. Location:
a. Metropolitan
i. Usually a major medical center nearby with
subspecialists, teaching conferences, teaching opportunities
ii. Less complicated care on your own given
availability of subspecialty care and specialty unit
iii. Social and Cultural Life
b. Rural
i. No major medical center: difficult subspecialty
access due to time and distance
ii. More complicated care: need to take care of
neonatology, emergency care with continued needs, chronic care follow up
iii. Social and cultural life very different from the
city.
E. Solo/Group Practice:
a. Solo Practice
i. Incentives:
1. You are the decision maker and have total control.
2. Entrepreneurial Spirit,
3. Financial Control
ii. Difficulties:
1. Expensive and inefficient,
2. Who takes call? (call group vs. just you?, what do
you do for vacations?),
3. You must handle all contract negotiations with
insurance companies.
b. Group Practice
i. Two or more pediatricians who share: office space,
equipment, income, patient care responsibility
ii. Advantages:
1. facility and equipment (multiple waiting rooms,
special rooms like vision/hearing, lab, teen rooms, consult rooms),
2. High ticket items like computer, coulter counter.
3. Office Staff: Business manager for personnel and
financials; staff for insurance, collectibles, referrals; clinical specialists
like dietician, lab tech, lactation, nurse educator, psychologist.
4. Colleagues: shared night call, individual
expertise, different personalities, sharing interesting patients.
5. Varied Patient Mix
iii. Disadvantages:
1. Need to play nice: share income, share decision
making, share vision, represent all members
2. Care for each other’s patients
F. Big Practice/Little Practice:
a. Big Practice:
i. Advantages: More colleagues to get help, back
up, advice from. Splitting up the call schedule. Likely easier to rearrange
schedules. Hopefully more established/financially stable practice.
ii. Disadvantages: May be more hierarchical, or
may not be. Some people just don’t like the feel.
b. Little Practice (i.e. joining a solo practice
as the 2nd Dr
i. Advantages: Getting in on the ground floor—more
equality when you make partner. Potentially better financial rewards.
ii. Disadvantages: Potentially less financially stable.
Potentially worse call schedule (depends on if you split with a call group).
Usually more rounding. More of an on your own feeling—this is a good or a bad
depending on your personality as a new attending.
G. Academic/Private:
a. Academic: Affords teaching opportunities and
possibly research opportunities. May pay less and afford less leadership
opportunities.
b. Private: may pay better and afford partnership
opportunity (with share of leadership and financial rewards). Usually less
teaching opportunity, although some private practices have residents and
medical students come through.
IV. Actually Looking: Sources
to find potential jobs.
REMEMBER: MANY/MOST
JOBS ARE NEVER ADVERTISED.
A. Ask attendings for contacts. Dr. Drutz is a good resource. Also
think about finding people who trained other places in Houston
would
not. Ask permission to use the attending’s name who gave you the contact.
TIP: The highest yield in terms of getting responses from
jobs is when you use someone’s name.
a.
If
searching out of state, contact the residency programs in the nearest big city
to your search. They can direct you towards the personal with the greatest
knowledge of job opportunities in the area.
b.
If
searching within TCH:
i.
TCPA
Recruiter: Marketta Beneke, 832-824-2319,
Marketa Beneke's email address is
mjbeneke@texaschildrens.org
**The TCPA main office is at 1919 South Braeswood, Houston TX
77030
iii.
FIS
- Please send your CV to Dr. Paul Sirbaugh at sirbaugh@bcm.edu and/or Geeta Singhal at gsinghal@bcm.edu
B. Emails about job postings forwarded by chiefs/Office Job
Binder/On-line posting of the Job binder. These are places that are
definitely looking, so they tend to get back to you.
C. Internet:
a. Job Board sites
http://www.webmd.com/ = Just type in your starting location and define a
mile radius.
http://www.practicelink.com/ = good resource for Healthcare groups organizations (i.e. Kelsey Seybold)
http://www.careermd.com/ = helpful because detailed when job was posted and
immediate contact information
http://www.mdsearch.com = posts how many days the job has listed but most
have separate log-in to apply for job (i.e. send information to recruiter)
http://www.pedcareer.com/ = must have login to site but will flag jobs that are
new since your last search
http://www.pediatricianjobs.com/ = will post down to the minute how long job has
listed but may be difficult to find contact information as list is collected
from a variety of sources (Monster, Web MD, etc.) which may require a log-in
http://www.pedjobs.org/ = post your CV here and recruiters with occasional
private practices will call you but don’t expect to find many job postings here
Other
Helpful Websites
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