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Nov 14, 2017: NEW PHYSICIANS BEGIN JOB SEARCH ONE YEAR OR MORE BEFORE COMPLETING TRAINING

Healthcare Employers Must Appeal to Residents, Fellows Early in Their Training

St. Louis, MO. November 14, 2017- More than one-third (36 percent) of new physicians begin searching for their first practice opportunity in the second to last year of residency, according to a recent survey of 691 new physicians, by PracticeMatch, a company that provides data, recruitment resources, and online job boards to healthcare employers. Additionally, more than half of graduating physicians begin their job search at the beginning of their final year of training, while only 18 percent wait until the end of the last year of residency or fellowship to start looking for their first physician job.

"Over the past several years, we have noticed physicians seem to be starting their job searches progressively earlier. The most competitive, proactive healthcare employers are catching on to this trend as well, establishing relationships with residents and fellows earlier in their training, and offering monthly stipends for the last year or two of training, further motivating physicians to commit to employment sooner," states Mike York, chief operations officer of PracticeMatch. He notes that this is especially true for the most competitive specialties, such as primary care. "We offer healthcare employers a number of services to help them reach out and establish contact with pre-interviewed residents and fellows, and get ahead in the intense race for new physicians, while providing residents and fellows a head start with their medical careers," York adds.


The survey, completed in the Fall of 2017, also revealed that formal job search training and resources are lacking for most residency and fellowship programs. Nearly half of respondents reported receiving little to no formal job search guidance during their training, and only seven percent reported receiving "a lot" of formal job search training.

Of the formal job search guidance services offered to residents and fellows, the most common are:
  • Live job fairs (38%)
  • Financial planning / student loan advice (36%)
  • Helpful website services (33%)
  • Resume writing (27%)
  • Virtual job fairs (25%)
The least common formal job search services offered to residents and fellows are:
  • Relocation services advice (5%)
  • Spouse career advice (6%)
  • Healthcare system segments (7%)
  • Private practice business management basics (9%)
Even with the vast new technology available today, respondents seemed to indicate that nothing beats good old-fashioned networking, and word-of-mouth referrals, when it comes to job searching. Nearly three-fourths of respondents utilized peer referrals or word-of-mouth as part of their job search strategy. However, online job boards were a very close second, with 60 percent of respondents utilizing them at some point during their job search. Other popular job search resources for residents and fellows include independent recruiters (35 percent) and medical conferences (27 percent).

"Clearly, there is a need for reliable, knowledgeable job search resources for new physicians. To that end, we have developed new Career Resources workshops specifically geared towards the unique, nuanced career development needs of residents and fellows," York concludes. The workshops can be further customized for the needs of a particular medical specialty or program.

About PracticeMatch:

PracticeMatch is one of the most established companies serving healthcare employers with recruiting and staffing resources including job boards, career fairs, and candidate leads. Established more than 25 years ago, its Pinpoint physician database includes over 338,000 interviewed, pre-screened physicians. Based in St. Louis, MO, the company hosts more than 30 physician career fairs annually, across the country. For media inquiries, or to schedule an interview with a PracticeMatch executive, please contact Andrea Clement - aclement@usa.M3.com. For more information regarding healthcare recruiting resources provided by PracticeMatch, please contact Mike York (800) 489-1440, or email mike.york@practicematch.com.

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If you would like more information about this topic, please contact Andrea Clement, Media Relations at 404.990.3614 or email at aclement@usa.m3.com.

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