How to Get a Job After Internal Medicine Residency: My Best Guess

It's April, third year of your internal medicine residency. You've slaved away the last 3 years of your life, perfecting your history taking, the finesse of using your healing hands (to order labs and studies), your charting skills are unBELIEVable, and now you're finally ready to graduate from your residency program. Ahhhh, time for sweet, sweet relaxation.

No! Wrong!!! Time for earnest, earnest job-seeking! In theory, this should have been done several months ago (think early fall, NOT late spring), but perhaps you lacked the motivation, know-how, or were counting on that Mayan end-of-the-world prediction to pan out. Spoiler alert: we're still here.

DAMMIT.

No matter! Now the heat is on to find a job (and by "heat" I mean "parental nudging towards a state of employment and away from their couch"). Let's break it down into easy to follow steps:

Step 1: Your CV

You remember your CV, of course. The last time you saw it was probably 3 years ago, when you applied for residency. You can update the education/training portion to reflect your internship/residency program,  and add your licensing and other certifications as well (who's ACLS certified? That's right, YOU'RE ACLS certified!). Now clear off the volunteer experiences and hobbies you used to participate in because residency has EATEN YOUR LIFE. Well, you can leave a couple of hobbies in there. Don't put the real things you do outside of work, like "Googling how to quit my residency program", "watching TV, lots of TV" or "stealing scrubs." Put something that makes you seem more normal like "biking" or "cooking," and will be hard to disprove at an interview. Did you pick "reading?" Strong work.

Step 2: References and letters

For most jobs they will ask for at least 3 references, and/or letters of recommendation. Who to chose? A lot of places want to hear from your program director. You might feel intimidated by asking your program director, but keep in mind that (a) they almost certainly already have a nice template letter that they use when everyone in the program asks them for a letter, every single year, and (b) your program directors want you to do well, because it reflects well on the program. Who else to ask? Pick people you have a good feeling about. It could be an adviser, someone you've worked with for a significant chunk of time, someone who you feel knows you well enough to speak to your strengths.

Who not to ask? Don't ask the most prestigious person you have ever taken an elevator ride with but doesn't know you from Adam. No future employer is going to be impressed by a vague letter that gives the gist that "I have no idea who this person is, but they were very polite during the ride from the 10th to the 14th floor," no matter who its author is. And don't pick anyone you get a bad vibe from. Why would you want to put your future in that person's hands?

Step 3: Where do I find one of these elusive jobs?
- Word of mouth: your program directors and other docs you work with hear about positions all the time; spread the good word that you're on the hunt!
- Recruiters: they come in hordes, relentlessly spamming your email inbox with vague job opportunities ("Ideal outpatient or inpatient position on the coast, competitive salary, near a major metropolitan area! If interested, email me your CV"). They can actually be very helpful in helping you find a position, because they are motivated by making a commission off getting you hired someplace.
- Journals: just to name a couple, the NEJM and JAMA (both in print and online) are good resources for job ads, and have search engines for sorting through the posts on their websites. You can also sometimes submit your application through the journal's job search website.
- Online: some of the large medical societies, such as the ACP, has a "career center" complete with job search engine. Government/military medical jobs are required to be posted for open application, and the same is true for some positions in university/academic settings; these are searchable online. Where can you find a job online? Where CAN'T you find one! There are even postings on craigslist. No joke. And if you're open to locum tenens (temporary) positions, your job options expand exponentially.

Step 4: You get the job
(We may have skipped some steps here)

You got the job? You GOT the JOB?!? Congratulations!!!

 ...can you put a good word in for me?