How does one network as a Resident?

[cognitus]

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Where does one get opportunities to build a network in residency? Is it limited to being friendly with attendings in your program and going to medical conferences? Just wondering how else you can build contacts outside of these options so that you can get positions outside of gaswork.

 

[B-Bone]

The best way is to stay close with your senior (and junior) residents before and after they finish. They will generally disperse to a number of locales and jobs and can be a great source of info about the job market in different places. Some will have dream jobs, and maybe you can horn in on one. Others will join terrible ****shows and leave after six months, but that is valuable information as well. Overall, be the type of resident that if one of your resident colleagues is ever asked "would this guy be a good fit for our group?", they'll answer in the affirmative. In the past few weeks, we had an applicant who looked awesome on paper and had some great references, but one of my partners was a co-resident of theirs, and gave it a no-go. Didn't waste our time interviewing them.

 

[deleted171991]

That's great advice. Be very careful how you vent your frustrations to your co-residents, especially your seniors, especially at the end of a grueling call when your defenses are down. Your co-residents are your best network; don't piss any of them off, ever. The more friends you have among them the better.

The simple fact that somebody disliked you during residency may be enough for what B-Bone said to happen:

In the past few weeks, we had an applicant who looked awesome on paper and had some great references, but one of my partners was a co-resident of theirs, and gave it a no-go. Didn't waste our time interviewing them.

Anesthesia is a service specialty, so if you don't have the service industry mindset, and you have a big mouth, you will not get the best positions, even if you are professionally among the best.

 

[stester77s]

Where does one get opportunities to build a network in residency? Is it limited to being friendly with attendings in your program and going to medical conferences? Just wondering how else you can build contacts outside of these options so that you can get positions outside of gaswork.

Hi Cognitus, I'm trying to PM you but it's not available. Is there any way you could send me one or could you provide another means of contact (such as an email address)? Thank you!

 

[kazuma]

The best way is to stay close with your senior (and junior) residents before and after they finish. They will generally disperse to a number of locales and jobs and can be a great source of info about the job market in different places. Some will have dream jobs, and maybe you can horn in on one. Others will join terrible ****shows and leave after six months, but that is valuable information as well. Overall, be the type of resident that if one of your resident colleagues is ever asked "would this guy be a good fit for our group?", they'll answer in the affirmative. In the past few weeks, we had an applicant who looked awesome on paper and had some great references, but one of my partners was a co-resident of theirs, and gave it a no-go. Didn't waste our time interviewing them.

This is very true. An attending of mine was talking to me about this last week. Not playing well in the sand box can potentially ruin your chances for years to come. He told of me of a particular resident that had graduated over a decade ago who had a potential job pulled out from under them with a single phone call from the group. The opposite is also true. Being a hard worker, team player and easy to get along with during residency can serve you well for years to come. It's a small world in medicine and word gets around, both good and bad.

 

[HollywdAnesth]

Don't just focus on your anesthesia colleagues. If you stay local, there's a good chance that you will run into surgical residents that you trained with. If you cultivate relationships with them while you're training, there's a good chance that they will want to work with you in the real world as well. Bringing new surgeons to a private practice group gets you huge credit.