Career question

[NYPATHDOC]

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Hi everybody, I was hoping some of the seasoned veterans could offer some career advice. I am currently an attending who recently finished training. Long story short I only did one fellowship that was not fully subspecialized and not a boarded fellowship, lots of general. I went to an outstanding residency program at a highly regarded place on the west coast and a very good fellowship institution. However, I didn't exactly get the job I wanted. I sold out and I work for a coroprate lab company.
Got bills to pay and such....

Anyways on the job interview trail it seemed that not having a second fellowship was holding me back...I can't exactly do another fellowship because of family concerns (can't move just anywhere for a year then move back, not to mention low salary again, and also planning 2 years in advance for the year is another problem, etc.)

My current job however I do have a subspecialty focus in the practice and I am building a good resume.

Basically my question is in order to get the job I really want, and in a good location....should I do more training? Or does real world experience practicing a subspecialty account for much more?...would you hire the person with 2 years experience or the one who did more fellowships? Thank you everybody for your advice in advance!

 

[pathslides]

Hi everybody, I was hoping some of the seasoned veterans could offer some career advice. I am currently an attending who recently finished training. Long story short I only did one fellowship that was not fully subspecialized and not a boarded fellowship, lots of general. I went to an outstanding residency program at a highly regarded place on the west coast and a very good fellowship institution. However, I didn't exactly get the job I wanted. I sold out and I work for a coroprate lab company.
Got bills to pay and such....

Anyways on the job interview trail it seemed that not having a second fellowship was holding me back...I can't exactly do another fellowship because of family concerns (can't move just anywhere for a year then move back, not to mention low salary again, and also planning 2 years in advance for the year is another problem, etc.)

My current job however I do have a subspecialty focus in the practice and I am building a good resume.

Basically my question is in order to get the job I really want, and in a good location....should I do more training? Or does real world experience practicing a subspecialty account for much more?...would you hire the person with 2 years experience or the one who did more fellowships? Thank you everybody for your advice in advance!

Real job expierence signing out is way more important than doing a second fellowship. There is no reason two fellowships are needed for a competent pathologist, that trend is mainly due to the oversupply of trainees as well as subpar trainees who can't find a job and perpetually do fellowships to atleast have some income. Hiring someone with actual job/sign out experience outweighs a second fellowship any day. It's usually garbage academia that wants multiple fellowship people since everything is so sub specialized and they pay you peanuts so they can hire many people who each sees only a specific subject area . Private/community practice understand the importance of real job expierence and having a broad sign out expierence with an increased interest in a certain subject area (that's how my practice is).

 

[univlad]

Real world experience is going to be way more important. The subspecialty experience you are building now can also be helpful, but are also signing out some general cases as well? Most fellows, unless they are doing a junior faculty type appointment, don't really sign out their first case completely until their first job. It's still usually the attending that hits the sign out keys. There will be less hand holding initially with you than a new fellow. Also another plus, you'll likely be free to start at other times of the year than July.

 

[NYPATHDOC]

Real world experience is going to be way more important. The subspecialty experience you are building now can also be helpful, but are also signing out some general cases as well? Most fellows, unless they are doing a junior faculty type appointment, don't really sign out their first case completely until their first job. It's still usually the attending that hits the sign out keys. There will be less hand holding initially with you than a new fellow. Also another plus, you'll likely be free to start at other times of the year than July.

Thank you guys! I appreciate the advice! Very helpful.

Yes I sign out general surg path, cytology, blood smears, I am also a lab director....and my subspecialty is like 30-40%...i also do my subspecialty conference too...so I am very busy....

 

[pathslides]

Thank you guys! I appreciate the advice! Very helpful.

Yes I sign out general surg path, cytology, blood smears, I am also a lab director....and my subspecialty is like 30-40%...i also do my subspecialty conference too...so I am very busy....

How's the money and vacation time at the corporate labs? What's your daily slide volume like ?

 

[NYPATHDOC]

How's the money and vacation time at the corporate labs? What's your daily slide volume like ?

Vacation 6 weeks
Salary is 225k (in area with cheap cost living)
Slide volume varies and changes but around 20-25 surgical, 7-10 smears, some cyto...sometimes less sometimes more...sometimes I feel underworked...and sometimes overworked....then there are conferences

 

[Pathbusiness]

Vacation 6 weeks
Salary is 225k (in area with cheap cost living)
Slide volume varies and changes but around 20-25 surgical, 7-10 smears, some cyto...sometimes less sometimes more...sometimes I feel underworked...and sometimes overworked....then there are conferences

That's pretty good. It will increase in coming years. Days of making $500K are gone. Of course there are exceptions.
Doing extra training is not a good idea once you have a job. Experience brings more value addition.