Steps to take and things to know for ENT residents who are job seeking

[koojo]

I'm a current 3rd year ENT resident, so soon I'll be looking for jobs. There are a lot of things to know on j9b seeking and I've talked to several people, but figured I'd also ask here.

From the recent graduates here, at which point in residency did you begin your job search? Did you search for jobs online through recruiters or did you just call various hospitals/practices?

If the hospital/practice was interested, did they fly you out for an interview? What was the interview process like? Did they bring up pay at the interview? We're most hospital based practices you visited RVU based?

Once you decided on a job, how long did it take to approve and sign a contract? Did you have a lawyer go over it with you or is it straight forward to understand? At which point in residency did you have a signed contract? How long did it take to get all of the insurance approval/paperwork complete?

Thanks!

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[resxn]

As the managing partner of an 8 person practice, I've now hired 8 docs since I started (2 left the practice--one was fired, one got married and moved away), so I can at least respond to your questions even though I'm not a recent grad.
1 - Most applicants have approached us in the middle of their 4th year. Most good practices do not need recruiters. Recruiters are hired by large hospitals, very large groups, or very desperate practices. As a medium size group in a large metroplex we have enough people coming to us or being fed to us that we don't need to recruit.
2 - Hospitals and large groups may fly you out. Most good practices will not because they don't need you. I'm in a very desirable, high-income suburb in that large metroplex. I have residents calling me at least monthly if not weekly inquiring about openings. Because we're desirable, like a desirable residency, we don't need to pay for the expense of bringing candidates out. We get the best ones because of our location and success. In our interviews, the candidate spends the morning in the clinic visiting with us, getting a tour, seeing the sites and the hospitals, then goes to lunch with the partners who can make it. Then after lunch they spend the afternoon with a realtor who gives them a tour of the community to check out housing, schools, etc. Finally, we get together at night at a nice restaurant (usually one of my favorite steakhouses) and have a great meal and a good time together. That dinner tells me far more about how we will get along with a candidate than anything a CV or an interview can. We may or may not bring up pay, but we will always guarantee a 1st year will make at least the 50th percentile income from MGMA for an ENT. We're not a hospital practice so I can't speak to RVUs, but we do not use those to determine income. We use straight up collections that are structured in such a way to be an incentivized bonus. In other words, the more you work, the more you're bonused.
3 - Our contracts go through 2 phases. First, after we interview, and we decide to make an offer, we provide a letter of intent which outlines what the position is, the salary, the benefits, etc. If the candidate accepts, then we put together a formal contract. Now that we've done this several times, the contract takes about 7-10 days for our lawyer to draw up then takes about 2-3 weeks for the candidate's lawyer to review (which I highly recommend even though our contracts are quite fair and rarely need any changes) and then there is a period of a week or so of negotiation of finer points if needed. Then it's signed and things really start to move. We like to have contacts signed no later than 8 months before the start date, but must be signed 6 months before to ensure all the credentialing and licensing can be done in order to start and be busy right away.

 

[koojo]

Great! Thank you for that information!

 

[DrBodacious]

Did you search for jobs online through recruiters or did you just call various hospitals/practices?

Resxn has good information. Agree that many jobs will not be listed through recruiters. Pretty much every practice will show up on Google, luckily.

If you know where you want to work, just make a list of all the possible places you could practice and start contacting people. I recommend including solo practice as an option. Hospital systems who desire more ENT presence usually generously support you in starting a solo practice, negating risk. Hospitals usual have a physician liason that will get you in touch with administration.

Deciding on a job requires introspection and discussion with mentors to decide what job is right for you.

Things to consider: How much control do you want out of the gate? Where do you need to be geographically? Where do you want to be on the spectrum of urban/rural. What range of demographics and SE status do you want to see and serve? (In my experience, higher SES moderately correlates with more demanding patients). How broad or how narrow do you want to have your practice? How much hospital call can you handle? Do you want to work at one hospital, or cover multiple? What amount of commute time is acceptable? How many partners do you want? Who are the big players in the area as far as hospitals and physician groups?

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