On the phone with a recruiter, in a videoconferencing chat with a hiring manager or across the table from a health system leader, physicians looking for their first jobs after residency or fellowship training will likely hear the same thing: “Do you have any questions?”
The pressure to deliver on the spot can trip up anyone, but with the stakes particularly high for residents and fellows in a time crunch, preparation is key.
“It’s hard to schedule interviews [with physicians] and even just screening calls can sometimes be really hard to schedule. We’re dealing with doctor schedules, so we’re canceling patients to get them in and they're so busy, as well,” said Stephanie Voigt, senior provider recruiter for Confluence Health, based in Wenatchee, Washington. Having a list of questions in advance can help physicians “tailor their search a lot easier and make the interview process less stressful for them.”
That resonates with Meghan Hicks, MD, a pediatrician with Confluence Health in Moses Lake, Washington. Dr. Hicks’ current physician role is her second one since completing residency training in 2021.
“The biggest thing is just being prepared for the interviews, so that you come in prepared to answer those questions and to present yourself in a positive way,” she said.
Confluence Health is part of the AMA Health System Member Program, which provides enterprise solutions to equip leadership, physicians and care teams with resources to help drive the future of medicine.
Voigt and Dr. Hicks, who has been through the job-search process recently, shared advice for residents and fellows preparing to interview for that all-important first physician job out of training. They offered 10 questions that early-career physicians should be ready to ask and answer, all in service of determining whether the role is the ideal fit.
It’s also key for physicians searching for a first role after training to remember they are in demand like never before. Even before they are ready to begin the search for your first job out of training, recruiters likely will have already reached out. In the most recent survey of final-year residents and fellows from recruiter AMN Healthcare Physician Solutions, 56% said they had gotten 100 or more job solicitations during their training and 78% had gotten 51 or more solicitations. Both were the highest numbers in those categories in the survey’s 34-year history.
Residents and fellows “have all of this great training and their life has really been controlled up until this point, but now it's their time to go to work,” Voigt said. A first physician job has “to be a nice blend of a great job fit, but also a great lifestyle fit for wherever they move. It’s difficult to uproot—to go and accept a job and stay there for just a couple years and then decide that's not what you like and then move on.”
Dr. Hicks, who has been through the job-search process recently, and Voigt both have advice for residents and fellows preparing to interview for that all-important first physician job out of training. They offer 10 questions early-career physicians should be ready to ask and answer, all in service of determining whether the role is the ideal fit.
In the remainder of this news article, residents and fellows transitioning to practice and going through the physician interview process will learn:
- Why it’s important to dig into physician well-being and burnout.
- What to ask about physician compensation and salary.
- Whether the type of recruiter you’re connecting with matters to your job search.
- What questions you might be asked in an interview—and how to answer.
