Coordinating post-residency job search with non-medical spouse

[Toofscum]

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I'm a senior resident who is starting to look at different jobs in states outside of where I trained. My wife is a non-medical spouse who is an editor right now but is uncertain about her general career path. We are thinking about moving to a new region of the country where we would like to live in a small town. Basically, I could find a job anywhere. But she can't. And, I'll probably have to sign a contract this winter. What does that mean for her job search? What if I commit to a place and she can't find a job there? If she finds one first, most jobs want you start right away, which means moving and being apart before me.

I'm curious to hear from other residents with non-medical spouses who also have careers and jobs to take into account when moving to a new city. How do you coordinate your searches together?

 

[GeneGoddess]

Well, my spouse was the "trailing spouse" when I applied. I made it a point only to look at places where he had a good shot of finding an appropriate job (Cinci is nice, but nothing there for my spouse, etc). And his employment outlooks were part of my final ranking. I would have ranked one place MUCH higher had I been single, but there was nothing there for my spouse, so it was much lower on the list.

 

[APACHE3]

I'm looking at Match 2006, but my wife has Phd. She's taken a couple of years off for our children and I'm not sure she wants to go back to the lab. I'm torn bwteen university programs where there should be jobs for Phd's, vs. smaller community places, great for a family, but not great for postdoc. If she found the right department, she might go back into research, but she's really burned out right now on "publish or perish" stuff. For you, I think the lowest denominator first. See what cities are promising for her and try to modify your search. As you stated, you can work anywhere..she cannot. If nothing pops up, then go where you want and let time take care of things. Eventually it will work. I wish i was in my 3rd year of residency!!!GL