Master thread for those struggling to find a decent job

[deleted969641]

I have noticed a disturbing and increasingly prevalent trend to try to minimize accounts of residents graduating unemployed or underemployed and to discount struggles with the job market as exaggerated or fictitious experiences made up by unhinged individuals under the cover of online anonymity. I am always willing to share my uncensored thoughts on the future of radiation oncology in person, and many of my peers do as well. Discussions in real life about this have increased dramatically over the past year.

As a retort to these few individuals and organizational representatives that repeatedly claim online forums are untrustworthy and the only way for medical students to get a true picture of what's going on is to speak to residents and attendings in person, I would offer that not everyone is in a position (or perhaps they aren't just stupid like I am) to give brutally honest advice as being openly negative about your employment situation or having a negative attitude in general in a malignant work environment could be met with retaliation by administration and directly or indirectly cost you your job. It would be unlikely that a program director who is unhappy would actively dissuade interested medical students. If anything, you are going to get a more honest opinion under the cloak of anonymity.

In an effort to try and combat this notion that few people have concerns and most are happy with the current state of affairs and employment outlook, I thought it would be a good idea to group all these experiences in one place.

If you are reading this and are a senior resident or recent grad and either
- Haven't been able to find a job
- Had to do a fellowship or locums not by choice
- Were offered low pay and poor contract terms
- Had to take a job someplace you didn't want to be
- Are unhappy in your current job and can't leave

If the job search went smoothly for you and you are happy with your outcome, here is a parallel thread to post your experience and suggestions: Master thread for those who have found good jobs

Please login or sign up and share your experience. Offer specifics if you can.

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[RO2019]

great idea to start this thread. at least we can have real opinions from real people going through the process.

 

[deleted18755]

I have noticed a disturbing and increasingly prevalent trend to try to minimize accounts of residents graduating unemployed or underemployed and to discount struggles with the job market as exaggerated or fictitious experiences made up by unhinged individuals under the cover of online anonymity. I am always willing to share my uncensored thoughts on the future of radiation oncology in person, and many of my peers do as well. Discussions in real life about this have increased dramatically over the past year.

As a retort to these few individuals and organizational representatives that repeatedly claim online forums are untrustworthy and the only way for medical students to get a true picture of what's going on is to speak to residents and attendings in person, I would offer that not everyone is in a position (or perhaps they aren't just stupid like I am) to give brutally honest advice as being openly negative about your employment situation or having a negative attitude in general in a malignant work environment could be met with retaliation by administration and directly or indirectly cost you your job. It would be unlikely that a program director who is unhappy would actively dissuade interested medical students. If anything, you are going to get a more honest opinion under the cloak of anonymity.

In an effort to try and combat this notion that few people have concerns and most are happy with the current state of affairs and employment outlook, I thought it would be a good idea to group all these experiences in one place.

If you are reading this and are a senior resident or recent grad and either
- Haven't been able to find a job
- Were offered low pay and poor contract terms
- Had to take a job someplace you didn't want to be
- Are unhappy in your current job and can't leave

Please login or sign up and share your experience.

Please make a separate opposite thread as well where senior residents or recent graduates who are very happy can not just talk about how awesome their job is but specifically how they were able to obtain it and what they think may have really helped or what they may have done differently.

Those of us who have been out awhile and are very happy (or unhappy) can just step aside.

Its obvious that times have changed/are changing so it would be great to get as many recent first hand experiences as possible and really try to help out the next generation.

 

[deleted969641]

Please make a separate opposite thread as well where senior residents or recent graduates who are very happy can not just talk about how awesome their job is but specifically how they were able to obtain it and what they think may have really helped or what they may have done differently.

Its obvious that times have changed/are changing so it would be great to get as many first hand experiences as possible and really try to help out the next generation.

Sure. And good idea. Hopefully combined the two threads will be good resources for current students.
Master thread for those who have found good jobs
Can we keep the bad experiences on this thread and the good experiences on the other one?

 

[20181121]

Can you also post a few details that allow you to remain anonymous but provide more insight:
- Haven't been able to find a job (are you currently a PGY-5? fellow? attending?)
- Were offered low pay and poor contract terms (what constitutes low pay [ballpark]? what are poor contract terms [in generic terms]? if the pay or low/contract terms are poor, how do you feel about your job's location?)
- Had to take a job someplace you didn't want to be (what kind of place? how is the pay? how are the contract terms?)
- Are unhappy in your current job and can't leave (why?)
- How does your training program rank (top vs. mid vs. low tier, established vs. new, academic vs. not, etc.)

Although I think this thread will magnify an opinion that is not shared by the majority, I think it can certainly be informative. I also think oldking's suggestion to start an opposite thread is a great idea.