Recommendation Letter long after residency

[ACal]

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If a new job position asks for 3 letters of recommendation as part of the application, and if I'm already many years out of residency, where are they expecting these letters to come from?
I could still get it from my program director which would really only be a reflection of who I was as a resident. Current co-workers? Wouldn't want to let the current job know I'm looking for other positions in the first place...

 

[Angry Birds]

If a new job position asks for 3 letters of recommendation as part of the application, and if I'm already many years out of residency, where are they expecting these letters to come from?
I could still get it from my program director which would really only be a reflection of who I was as a resident. Current co-workers? Wouldn't want to let the current job know I'm looking for other positions in the first place...

Easy. Just tell your prospective employer you don’t want to let your current employer know until the deal is done so all your letters will be from residency and have a time lag. Unless this is an academic position usually this is just a formality and they would hire you no matter what the letters actually say unless they are absolutely terrible. Plus, this close out of residency it’s not unreasonable to ask your PD if they did a good job with you or not since you are, after all, their product.

Edit: I may have rushed reading this as responding from phone. All of this applies only if you’ve only had one gig after residency. If you’ve had more than one then the letters come from the most recent one before your current one. Even so you just tell your prospective employer that you’re not ready yet to disclose to your current employer. I’ve done this before. Worked out fine.

 

[turkeyjerky]

Yeah, what i've done is use references from an prior job, explaining that I wanted to keep things confidential. Everyone's been okay w/ this so far.

When I left my first job, which I had for 4-5 years, I just got them from a few coworkers. I asked a couple guys who I trusted and asked them to keep it on the down low.

 

[Birdstrike]

When I applied for my fellowship, I was 8 years post-residency. Some required one from my program direction, but that person was no longer there. The current program director looked up my residency file and wrote a letter for me based on my residency file, grades, comments about me and inservice scores. I also added supplemental letters from people I had been working with the previous 8 years, as an attending.