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I was just browsing ctsnet.org. There is a resident forum there: http://www.ctsnet.org/fusetalk/categories.cfm?catid=14&forumid=2
There is a group for "jobs", and I just checked it out. Man, it really seems bleak for graduating CT surgeons... the guys just finishing their fellowships. People on this board periodically post the old "is CT dead?" thread, but to me this is way more alarming than the stent v CABG issue... It seems like if you train at one of the handful of top tier programs then you can get a decent job, but if you train at a lower tier program (most of them), then you may be in for a big shock.
As an example, one of the posts is this....
"I applaud Dr. Tolis's comments.
I wish more people in his position would speak up like him. We need to stop graduating residents like it is 1975. We do not need 130+ residents graduating yearly into a workplace where only 40-60 jobs exist!!
When I graduated from my CT residency in 2002, I mistakenly thought the world was my oyster. Within a short time, reality hit. For the record, I suppose I was your usual resident from a small-tier program with absolutely no connections in the CT world.
For the next two years, my life was spent in front of the computer tracking down jobs in extremely small and far out locations. These job opportunities were extremely competitive with one job in the midwest having 102 applications for 1 job!!
To make ends meet, I did locum tenens in general and trauma surgery in small towns in West Texas. Some of these towns did not have more than 1000 people! I decided to go back and get more training as a superfellow, as jobs continued to be hard to find. While it did get me back into the "heart world" for a brief while, I felt I was just passing time. In the meantime, I passed my Boards Part I.
Then came another period of job searching, mostly unsuccessful.
Thankfully, through the grace of God, I was able to find a good position in my home state in 2004. I now enjoy a mixed practice of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular surgery.
Make no mistake about it...you are out on your own for jobs! There are few jobs out there, and the jobs that are available have the luxury of choosing from over 100 applicants for 1 job.
The hospitals and groups out there prefer fully boarded surgeons with 2-5 years of experience, not some rookie finishing a few distals out there!
My suggestions:
1). Make yourself marketable. If you do not have a good resume and or publications, you are SOL!!
2). Make sure your recommendations/evaluations speak well of you. If there is even a HINT of poor technique, bad judgement, you are toast! There are way too many candidates out there.
3). Be flexible...Make sure you do Cardiac, Thoracic AND Vascular.
4). Be prepared to live in anytown, anywhere, USA. If you are the kind that cannot live without Thai cuisine, the opera, or other big-city pursuits, re-evaluate yourself.
5). Be prepared to swallow that ego of yours...you may have just finished 7-10 years of training, but the world could care less.
6). If you do a post-graduate fellowship or superfellowship, make it count and publish and/or pick up new techniques...just don't waste time.
7). Don't even think of failing to become board-certified.
8). Pray nightly."
I mean, if the job outlook for new graduates is really this bad, then do people going in to CT know this? And if the job scene really is this bad, does anyone know of any changes on the horizon to rememdy this, e.g. - reducing the number of fellowship slots?
Finally, for those residents training somehwere with a non-top tier CT fellowship, how are the fellows doing as far as job placement? Wow.
There is a group for "jobs", and I just checked it out. Man, it really seems bleak for graduating CT surgeons... the guys just finishing their fellowships. People on this board periodically post the old "is CT dead?" thread, but to me this is way more alarming than the stent v CABG issue... It seems like if you train at one of the handful of top tier programs then you can get a decent job, but if you train at a lower tier program (most of them), then you may be in for a big shock.
As an example, one of the posts is this....
"I applaud Dr. Tolis's comments.
I wish more people in his position would speak up like him. We need to stop graduating residents like it is 1975. We do not need 130+ residents graduating yearly into a workplace where only 40-60 jobs exist!!
When I graduated from my CT residency in 2002, I mistakenly thought the world was my oyster. Within a short time, reality hit. For the record, I suppose I was your usual resident from a small-tier program with absolutely no connections in the CT world.
For the next two years, my life was spent in front of the computer tracking down jobs in extremely small and far out locations. These job opportunities were extremely competitive with one job in the midwest having 102 applications for 1 job!!
To make ends meet, I did locum tenens in general and trauma surgery in small towns in West Texas. Some of these towns did not have more than 1000 people! I decided to go back and get more training as a superfellow, as jobs continued to be hard to find. While it did get me back into the "heart world" for a brief while, I felt I was just passing time. In the meantime, I passed my Boards Part I.
Then came another period of job searching, mostly unsuccessful.
Thankfully, through the grace of God, I was able to find a good position in my home state in 2004. I now enjoy a mixed practice of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular surgery.
Make no mistake about it...you are out on your own for jobs! There are few jobs out there, and the jobs that are available have the luxury of choosing from over 100 applicants for 1 job.
The hospitals and groups out there prefer fully boarded surgeons with 2-5 years of experience, not some rookie finishing a few distals out there!
My suggestions:
1). Make yourself marketable. If you do not have a good resume and or publications, you are SOL!!
2). Make sure your recommendations/evaluations speak well of you. If there is even a HINT of poor technique, bad judgement, you are toast! There are way too many candidates out there.
3). Be flexible...Make sure you do Cardiac, Thoracic AND Vascular.
4). Be prepared to live in anytown, anywhere, USA. If you are the kind that cannot live without Thai cuisine, the opera, or other big-city pursuits, re-evaluate yourself.
5). Be prepared to swallow that ego of yours...you may have just finished 7-10 years of training, but the world could care less.
6). If you do a post-graduate fellowship or superfellowship, make it count and publish and/or pick up new techniques...just don't waste time.
7). Don't even think of failing to become board-certified.
8). Pray nightly."
I mean, if the job outlook for new graduates is really this bad, then do people going in to CT know this? And if the job scene really is this bad, does anyone know of any changes on the horizon to rememdy this, e.g. - reducing the number of fellowship slots?
Finally, for those residents training somehwere with a non-top tier CT fellowship, how are the fellows doing as far as job placement? Wow.
