CAP 17 Job Fair

[Sulfinator]

I understand that there is going to be some kind of job fair type thing at the CAP this year that is apparently geared toward matching employers with trainees who are near the end of their training. Any one planning on participating in this?


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[path24]

I would be curious how this goes. A where's Waldo problem. A room full of trainees all looking for that one employer.

 

[univlad]

Years ago, when I was a fellow looking for a job, they had in the program a room reserved for those looking for jobs and those with jobs to connect. Another fellow from my program and I went to the room, but we were the only people who showed up other than one guy who's group was hiring and he left after a few minutes.

 

[Alteran]

This will be interesting to see.

My experience with physician job fairs, as a pathology resident, was pretty awful. You see the recruiters basically bend over like pretzels for every other specialty until you walk up to the booth as a pathology resident. Then they look at you like some leper that crawled out of the sewer and are curtly told that "sorry, we're not looking for pathologists". Even the military recruiters weren't sure if they needed pathologists. After two job fairs, I stopped going as I got the hint that no one is actively looking for a pathologist. Certainly not enough of a demand to even bother to advertise at a job fair anyways.

 

[Granular]

My experience was similar. During third year of residency, I went to a sizable job fair for residents (over 100 employers from around the country), brought a dozen copies of my CV, but only one recruiter wanted a pathologist: needed peds path training plus another fellowship in a surg path area. Other recruiters looked at me like I was from Mars. This was quite a shock to me. I realized I could not live anywhere I wanted and command a nice salary; the demand was simply not there. Changed my whole outlook on life. My fault for not investigating pathology more thoroughly.
During my med school path rotations, all the residents were getting fellowships, which I erroneously equated to some level of demand for pathologists. After the job fair, I realized that demand for fellows is not the same as demand for pathologists. As a med student, I should have asked the fellows why they were doing a second fellowship, or what offers they were getting for jobs. I hope other med students can read this and learn.
As demand for path training among US grads drops, programs instead fill with FMGs. So, working to diminish interest amongst US grads does little to alleviate the oversupply problem. Surely other specialities have dealt with this - high demand for residents but declining demand for board-certified practitioners. How did they resolve this, and why can't path do the same?

 

[Thrombus]

My experience was similar. During third year of residency, I went to a sizable job fair for residents (over 100 employers from around the country), brought a dozen copies of my CV, but only one recruiter wanted a pathologist: needed peds path training plus another fellowship in a surg path area. Other recruiters looked at me like I was from Mars. This was quite a shock to me. I realized I could not live anywhere I wanted and command a nice salary; the demand was simply not there. Changed my whole outlook on life. My fault for not investigating pathology more thoroughly.
During my med school path rotations, all the residents were getting fellowships, which I erroneously equated to some level of demand for pathologists. After the job fair, I realized that demand for fellows is not the same as demand for pathologists. As a med student, I should have asked the fellows why they were doing a second fellowship, or what offers they were getting for jobs. I hope other med students can read this and learn.
As demand for path training among US grads drops, programs instead fill with FMGs. So, working to diminish interest amongst US grads does little to alleviate the oversupply problem. Surely other specialities have dealt with this - high demand for residents but declining demand for board-certified practitioners. How did they resolve this, and why can't path do the same?

Because Big Academia and Big Corporate Laboratories (and some Big Hospital Administration) depend on a high supply of low paid minions to do their work. Pathologists are a commodity. Our leadership is a bunch of traitors. Pay them nothing and quit CAP, ASCP asap unless they actually do a 180.

 

[WEBB PINKERTON]

Skip the "pathology job fair" and network. That is the best way to get a decent job in this field. I can only imagine how few recruiters would be there. Any outfit that showed up at a job fair would be a red flag to me.

Like we have pointed out a million times, many jobs come from word of mouth and are not posted. Path is the worst specialty for this by far. Make as many friends as you can, especially if you are tied to a geographic area.

 

[gbwillner]

Most recruiters at job fairs are hiring for hospitals or hospital networks. Because most hospitals don't employ pathologists but contract with external path groups, they do not do the recruiting for those groups (although they can put you in contact with them).
I agree that this is generally fruitless, but if there is a CAP job fair, the experience could or should be more in your favor.

 

[yaah]

Read all of the above, but also read that our group has been advertising (word of mouth and public ads) for 2 months now for a non-niche hire, albeit someone who can do multiple things including some CP, and the quality of applicants we have got has been extremely lacking. So far, only a couple of VIABLE candidates. The viable ones typically have multiple quality job offers. If I was going to CAP I would be looking for those seeking jobs. But our group is pretty picky.

Job market: Bad for weaker candidates. Much more competitive for stronger applicants.

Am just curious about whether the people who post here who are in quality groups honestly can say they've tried to find a quality new hire in the past 2 years? If you're looking for a body, fine, that's different. If you're looking for a long-term partner, different situation.

 

[univlad]

One of our more senior partners left in autumn of last year without a lot of notice. We put an ad out and also advertised at the programs we trained at; however, we were hoping to fill the spot before the next summer. We received a lot of CV's, but there were only three candidates that we we willing to offer an interview. Two found other jobs on the coasts before they interviewed with us. The third ended up being a great fit for our group--good at communication and skilled at the scope as well.

 

[wholeheartedly]

Read all of the above, but also read that our group has been advertising (word of mouth and public ads) for 2 months now for a non-niche hire, albeit someone who can do multiple things including some CP, and the quality of applicants we have got has been extremely lacking. So far, only a couple of VIABLE candidates. The viable ones typically have multiple quality job offers. If I was going to CAP I would be looking for those seeking jobs. But our group is pretty picky.

Job market: Bad for weaker candidates. Much more competitive for stronger applicants.

Am just curious about whether the people who post here who are in quality groups honestly can say they've tried to find a quality new hire in the past 2 years? If you're looking for a body, fine, that's different. If you're looking for a long-term partner, different situation.

Can you hold this spot for like 6 years or so?

 

[yaah]

Might have another opening in a few years! We are smack dab in the middle of the retirement cliff (that supposedly did not exist but has somehow managed to result in 5 members of our group retiring).