The best way to find a job is by networking, word of mouth. Nevertheless, there is another, excellent way.
The best, most powerful, most successful and least advertised way of finding a job
1. Decide where you want to work and live. Consider the climate, the landscape, the economical situation and future outlook, the culture, your ability to pursue your hobbies, the cost of living and of real estate, the cost of malpractice, the possibility of working without paying malpractice, and financial issues such as being able to balance-bill.
2. Buy a list of all addresses, phone number and fax number of all physicians in your specialty in the desired area. This is much easier and cheaper than you may think.
List providers are
InfoUSA.com, WebMD or MMSlists, the marketing arm of the AMA.
I prefer InfoUSA.com. First, you can easily select just the right group of physicians you want. Second, you can purchase your list online, without having to call anyone. Third, there are no restrictions on the list you receive such as number of times you can use it (The AMA just loves to restrict you...). The cost per physician contact info is about 75 cents. For this you get address, telephone and fax number. InfoUSA also gives you year of graduation, name of office manager and a number of other useful little data. You will receive the list via email in CSV or Excel format. Either format is fine for your purposes.
3. Write your CV and cover letter. Have them reviewed, rewritten or may be written anew by an expert, such as a friend who is a marketer or publicist, an English major, or a professional writer, e.g. the people at Quintcareers.com. I have personal experiences with Quintcareers.com and was happy with them.
4. Have your CV photocopied on quality paper at Staples, Office Max, Kinko, etc.
5. Use Microsoft Word to
Mail-Merge your cover letter with the address list from InfoUSA and print the 100-500 personally addressed letters on the same paper as your CV. Your office store can do that as well for you. Sign all letters, fold and put them in envelops. Address the envelops with clear plastic labels, e.g. Avery, that you buy at your office store. You can print the addresses and your own home address on these labels using Word.
6. Mail your cover letter and CV to all doctors in your target area. Mail them so that they arrive on a Tuesday or Wednesday. This increases the chance of being read.
7. You may also fax your cover letter and CV (or maybe just your cover letter) to all physicians in your target area. You can fax all letters individually or you can use an Internet fax service such as JBlast.com. This is my preferred fax broadcast system because it allows you to Mail-Merge your letter with your list of addresses with the same ease as MS Word. You can literally fax your letter to hundreds of physicians with a single click. This costs about 6-10 cents per fax. Please consider the laws about unsolicited faxes that apply in most states! You may be considered to send unsolicited faxes, which may be illegal! You are doing this at your own risk!
The response rate will be 1-2%, meaning if you mail or fax 800 letters, you will receive about 8-16 interviews. The more physicians you contact, the more interviews you will get. This is the least expensive and most effective, most successful way to find a job as a physician - and you can find it exactly where you want it. Obviously, you may repeat this after three to four months if it does not work the first time.
Sounds like too much work for you? You do not know how you can fit this into the schedule? there is a company that does all the legwork for you. It is called TheDoctorJob.com. They will charge about 1.50 to 2.00 for each letter they write, print and mail. It is slightly more expensive then doing it yourself, but it saves you time. They have been doing it since 2003 and are very, very good at it. Since 2006 Doccafe.com also offers this service, but they do not seem very enthusiastic about it. After all, they seem to live on recruiter ads and recruiters despise the direct mail method. It makes them obsolete.
8. Follow up, follow up, follow up. That means sending another letter, another fax or calling one or two weeks after sending the letter. Be persistent.
9. Parallel to all this, use the methods that I call "
Passive search", such as looking through magazines, websites etc.
10. You do not need recruiters. With the above method you will find 2-5 times more jobs than the best recruiter will ever be able to find. Your application does not have a 20K price tag attached and therefore your letter is much more welcome than a mailing from any recruiter.
