Letters for job question

[ecCA1]

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Once you're done with residency, how do your letters from your chair and PD help you down the road? Certainly with your first job they'd be all you have to rely upon, but if you worked there for a few years and decided to move elsewhere, are the letters from your program even solicited or useful? If you've done a fellowship will your residency letters hold weight several years after you have been out in private practice?

Thanks!

 

[signomi]

I found in my job hunt in Internal Medicine that you were expected to have an LOR (or at least a phone call in your support) from your PD if you are less than 18 months out of residency. This was so even when switching jobs. I was told by physician recruiters that this was the standard. Letters are more helpful for fellowship apps. A lot of jobs will just call your references, which means it is a good idea to keep in touch with them.

 

[Gern Blansten]

The letters themselves may not necessarily be important years down the road, but every time you apply for hospital privileges, the hospital sends a minimum of two documents, that are very detailed, for the program director to fill out based on your performance during residency. The moral of the story: Work hard during your residency, stay out of trouble, and don't ruin all of your hard work for the previous years by slacking off or shirking responsibility at the very tail end of the residency. Be a finisher. Those things will be in your file and referenced FOREVER.