Practicing pathologists: How did you get your current or former job(s)?

[coroner]

There was a pretty good thread earlier about people sharing their workload and ranges of incomes. Since the job market has always been one of the most discussed topics on here, I thought an informal survey of how people came across their current job(s) would be informative to future graduates and/or colleagues. Feel free to cast your vote or chime in how you found your job.

I'll start: First job: advertised (online). Second job: Word of mouth (conference).

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[pathslides]

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[BU Pathology]

First job: word of mouth
Second job: word of mouth

 

[WEBB PINKERTON]

Friends

Make as many as you can.

 

[deleted314957]

Contacts from my time in the military got me my one and only post-military
job.
Webb is right on.

 

[coroner]

Only one job your entire career is a testament to your commitment, stability, and probably a little bit of luck landing in the right spot. Almost unheard of in this era...

 

[Alteran]

First job: locums to direct hire.
Second job: a well connected friend

As an aside, I'm not sure cold calling is all that helpful and I'd be interested to know if its worked for anyone. Our group has been getting CVs out of the blue every week now for some time from fellows (who are from well respected institutions) looking for work, but we're not hiring presently.

 

[stickyshift]

Recruited directly out of training by someone who I trained with. Only job I have had (18 years).

 

[Stanislav]

First job - word of mouth
Second job - advertisement

 

[aspirin99]

Advertisement.

 

[WEBB PINKERTON]

First job: locums to direct hire.
Second job: a well connected friend

As an aside, I'm not sure cold calling is all that helpful and I'd be interested to know if its worked for anyone. Our group has been getting CVs out of the blue every week now for some time from fellows (who are from well respected institutions) looking for work, but we're not hiring presently.

I HATE cold calling and it's really annoying receiving CVs out of the blue all the time. We get inundated when the larger reference labs in the area sell out.

To those looking for a job, don't make cold calling part of your strategy.

 

[gbwillner]

First (fake) job: faculty job at my training program
First accepted (real) academic job: sent letter to dept chairs at institutions I wanted to work at
First real world job: A recruiter, referred by a colleague/mentor

 

[pathslides]

First (fake) job: faculty job at my training program
First accepted (real) academic job: sent letter to dept chairs at institutions I wanted to work at
First real world job: A recruiter, referred by a colleague/mentor

Why do you call your first job "fake"? How long where you there ?

 

[Euchromatin]

First job - advertisement
I am reasonably confident that I would have been interviewed anyway, but I did have one connection to the group via someone I knew from training as well

I made a few cold calls/emails to groups in geographic areas of interest while looking, but they did not result in any interviews. If I remember correctly, I received polite replies (compliments on CV, promises to "keep CV on file" if they planned to hire in the next few years) from maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of the places I cold called.

 

[icpshootyz]

First and only job - headhunter that contacted my co-fellow. He wasn't interested, but it was in my geographic area of preference so he passed along the info to me.

 

[randomlogik]

Word of mouth. The pathologist in the group did a fellowship at my institution and contacted my fellowship director that they were hiring.

 

[yaah]

I don't really think cold-calling works, but there's a twist on it - if you call someone you know who has a connection with the group you want, that can work. That actually worked for me. So my job was by word of mouth but it was facilitated by me knowing someone in the group, who then put in a good word for me after I contacted him asking if they had any openings.

I have also seen people have success when someone calls a group on their behalf. They don't want to take a call from you, who they know nothing about and have never met, but they will take a call from your program director who they know well and have a relationship with.

Bear in mind, this obviously only works if there is a real opening. But you would be surprised at how often this facilitates a group "creating" a position, or modifying their hiring strategy, or something like that. When I got my job, my group was only looking for one person (that their ad was directed at) - but they ended up hiring the person to fill the ad and me.

 

[potato51]

First job: Advertisement (path outlines... the group got ~80 applications for the position)
Second job: Word of mouth (or rather the group called me to see if I was interested)

Have a friend who found their first job by randomly sending out link requests to pathologists (within area of geographic interest) on LinkedIn. One saw their profile and invited them to apply. This friend also used LinkedIn to find their second job.

 

[LADoc00]

I stopped for gas on my way to another position I had already accepted. No joke, I had all my stuff in a Uhaul and got a phone call begging me to stop and fill up, have lunch and consider another offer while I was literally en route to whole another place.

Ended up staying, taking over, rest is history. Wierd as heck tho how I ended up where I ended up...

 

[Sulfinator]

I applied for an advertised position, interviewed about 6 weeks later, and got the job offer a couple weeks after that.


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[Violetta80]

I stopped for gas on my way to another position I had already accepted. No joke, I had all my stuff in a Uhaul and got a phone call begging me to stop and fill up, have lunch and consider another offer while I was literally en route to whole another place.

Ended up staying, taking over, rest is history. Wierd as heck tho how I ended up where I ended up...

May I ask: Did location play a role in that story?

 

[LADoc00]

May I ask: Did location play a role in that story?

Only in the sense that it was in between where I was and where I was going. And it was a place I dont mind living obviously as I am here now.

 

[coroner]

Have a friend who found their first job by randomly sending out link requests to pathologists (within area of geographic interest) on LinkedIn...This friend also used LinkedIn to find their second job.

Never figured on that one. I don't use social media though. That made me think of a co-resident I know of who got their job via monster.com. What is this 1999...? And this was recently; as in just a couple of years ago. Can't wait to see someone come on here posting how they got their job thru Instagram or the like because some group thought they lived this cool lifestyle. So, you never know. I now foresee LinkedIn getting a surge in membership from pathologists...

 

[chooks]

My first job? Advertisement -- answered an add for a $10/hour job. Awesome rate in the "cutting" edge field of knife sales. My first dip-o'-the-toes in medicine was the patented "Double-D" cutting edge made from "surgical grade" 440A stainless steel. Ahh...Vector Marketing -- making teenagers and college student hate sales for 37 years!

These days, more of a Wushof guy -- although the classic Cutco set from the 70's (maybe 60's? or 50's?) I was given as a gift has some retro cred.

As for pathology: chance meeting at a conference led to an interview a week later and a job offer a couple of weeks after that.

 

[univlad]

Word of mouth. I was a fellow working on a case from an outside hospital at the beginning of my fellowship--was discussing the case with the outside pathologist and she asked if I had a job lined up after fellowship. Turned out one of their partners was retiring the next summer. Took the job and have been there since.

 

[BrainPathology]

I was asked to return by the residency I trained with while in fellowship. Miraculously, my sexual history wasn't needed to be hired. Sadly though, even though we are all entitled to it, my workplace doesn't offer much in the way of exercise. I have to work that into my time on my own like some sort of peasant (but that's the only complaint I have).