So I got my first job interview...

[DrQuinn]

for a REAL job, (not for residency).

Since I don't have any senior residents above me (bane of being a new program), you are all my senior residents. What are the typical questions? Pretty laid back? I have absolutely no idea what to expect (I'm the first resident to get a real job interview, a few have had fellowship interviews)...



Q

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[Jambi]

Congrats

 

[USCDiver]

I'd like to add to Jambi's very informative post . Barb Katz is a recruiter for emergency physicians (emergologists? Drs. Fatty McFattyPants?) and as a bonus she lives in Tampa. She came and gave us her schpeil on getting a job a couple of weeks ago. While a lot of what she said was about selling herself, she did have a workbook or some such that had a lot of good information. She also does a column for one of the monthly rags we get in the mail every month that has some good advice. Anyway, you might want to contact her about getting a copy of her workbook. Don't bother having her come talk to you, because she basically just reads it to you. PM me if you want her contact information. Or search on www.EDphysician.com, I know she has a least one listing in GA.

 

[spyderdoc]

Geez Mrs McFattypants, do a frickin search you lazy bum!


j/k of course...

Just a few things you may want to ask:

-Salary (any incentive/profit sharing)
-Benefits (malpractice, 401k, health, disability, CME $, etc)
-Partnership track? How long? Buy in?
-Democratic with open books?
-EM doc coverage?
-Fair distribution of shifts amongst the staff
-Call panel coverage (how complete, and how hard to get them to respond)
-24hr in house services? (OB/peds/anesth/surg/IM)
-How is ancillary staff
-How is radiology staff? Ease of getting night time studies
-Ultrasound machine in the ED?
-How are patients assigned to the doc? Honor system or round robin?

Ask if you can talk to the docs on staff to see how they like it there....

Congrats and good luck on your interview trail!

Mark

 

[Snoopy]

Barb Katz also does her talk at the EMRA Life After Residency Workshop at ACEP. She's got a pretty comprehensive list of questions in her workbook.

 

[DrQuinn]

You guys are the shizzle.

Unfortunately one of my interviews is next week, before ACEP, and the second interview is during ACEP (Tuesday).

Since Katzy-poo is in Tampa maybe I will just call her office.

Q

 

[fedor]

Can't help you with the questions, but congrats!!

 

[DrQuinn]

Actually, the thread was more to ask:
What kind of questions do they ask ME?

Q

 

[spyderdoc]

Actually, the thread was more to ask:
What kind of questions do they ask ME?

Q

Duh, sorry!

Mostly, they will blab about their ED, the job, the hours, etc.

They will ask you questions about your CV stuff...

Probably a lot of the same stuff you had to tell about yourself during your residency interviews....

-Why do you want to relocate to this area?
-Do you have family/friends/connections here?
-What kinds of things are you looking for in a group that you are considering joining
-What type of admin stuff interests you? (They want to hire people who are interested in and willing to participate on committees, and believe you me, there sure are plenty of them...)
-How do you think your colleagues feel about you?
-Strengths/weaknesses
-Ever been sued?

They will ask you if you have any questions about their group.

Usually pretty laid back and straight forward....Nothing to stress too much about

 

[docB]

Look out for groups that are really harsh on the new guys. Many of those groups beat the newbies mercilessly (nights, weekends, lower pay, no profit sharing, ect.) with the promise of partnership at the end of 2-5 years. Sometimes that partnership never materializes and you’re out years of hard labor for nothing. Be very suspicious if a group has that kind of set up but hasn’t added any new partners in several years.

Find out how many pts/hour you are expected to see. If you have good ancillary services you should be able to see 2 – 2.5/ hr without going insane. More than that can get ugly. Fewer than that usually won’t generate enough to pay well.

Don’t underestimate the value of good benefits. Depending on your situation good benefits can be worth ~$30K/yr of pay.

Know going in what your consultant base is like. Some people like having no specialists and doing stuff on their own. Other docs want lots of back up even if that means they don’t get to do some procedures.

Trauma or not? Residents or not? Know going in what you want.

Find out if the group has any administrative requirements. Some have none. Some require you do to stuff like CQI or attend hospital med exec meetings. Some of these requirements can get annoying and time consuming and many don’t pay you for the extra time.

This is important: Know if you get paid as an employee or a subcontractor. Briefly and very oversimplified if you get paid as an employee you pay more in taxes but it’s much simpler. If you get paid as an independent contractor you can do lots of tricky accounting things to pay less taxes but you better know what you are doing or have a really good accountant.

I’ll let you know if I think of any more.

 

[docB]

Actually, the thread was more to ask:
What kind of questions do they ask ME?

Q

Oh. I got asked about how many pts per hour I could see. Had I done any moonlighting. What did I know about billing and documentation in terms of revenue generation. My answers were basically that I didn't know too much but I was interested in learning. That was OK because most residents don't kow too much about the financial stuff.

 

[DrQuinn]

Thanks so much, you guys have been such a great help. Man I love SDN.

I'll keep ya'll informed as to how it all goes. I got one next week and then one during the ACEP convention (but not AT ACEP).

Q

 

[Annette]

Actually, the thread was more to ask:
What kind of questions do they ask ME?

Q

If they have read SDN, they may ask you if you prefer Dr. Quinn, medicine woman or Dr. Quinn, medicine man!

 

[Energon]

It would be funny if you went to the interview and then stood up on a table and yelled
"show me the money bizaches"

 

[Snoopy]

I've got several interviews lines up for the end of October and plan to do a few more in early November. Does it seem reasonable to expect (more like hope!) to have offers in hand and accept one by the end of the year? I sure would like to finish off my senior year knowing exactly where I'll be next June.

 

[DrQuinn]

If they have read SDN, they may ask you if you prefer Dr. Quinn, medicine woman or Dr. Quinn, medicine man!

Actually one of my attendings was talking to faculty at another unnamed program... where they even asked them "is Quinn a guy or a girl."

Well, first off, my name isn't Quinn, its Pat.

Q

 

[DrQuinn]

I've got several interviews lines up for the end of October and plan to do a few more in early November. Does it seem reasonable to expect (more like hope!) to have an offers in hand and accept one by the end of the year? I sure would like to finish off my senior year knowing exactly where I'll be next June.

I know when I was rotating at the Univ of MD in November, the vast majority of the residents either had signed contracts or knew which contract they were going to take.

Nov aint' that far away!
Q

 

[Sessamoid]

The reason medical residents do the job search so early is because those going out-of-state will have to get licensed in the new state. That takes a variable amount of time, but at least a couple months for most states and sometimes considerably longer. Then you have to get privileges at the hosptal(s) which also takes a couple months or more.

 

[DocWagner]

As I am currently working right now...in my first post residency job...there are HUGE THINGs to ask.

1. Salary, how do you get paid, is this hourly, is this salary, is this partnership, when and how do you get to be partner...is their a buy in. What has profits/bonuses been. Is there incentive pay?

2. HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE LEFT in the past 5 years. Perhaps the MOST important question. You don't want to be in an unstable group...talk to the newest docs.

3. Who covers your tail when you leave (and you will), how much is tail coverage.

4. Is their a nursing crisis at your hospital

5. When are you fully vested in the 401k etc. Benefits etc

6. Who covers neurosurge if their is coverage. How are MI's treated. Can you get an ultrasound at 3 am? Peds, what do you do with them? Speacialist coverage is always a big issue.

7. If you join a democratic group, when are you a voting member, is there favoritism for the older docs (shift differential...it is not a bad thing)

 

[spyderdoc]

3. Who covers your tail when you leave (and you will), how much is tail coverage.

And tail ain't cheap! My wife has to pay her tail for her pedi hospitalist job that she just left. It is going to be somewhere in the $20k range! OUCH
She couldn't stand her boss, so there is no way she would stay for 3 years, which is the time he required to pay her tail....
I guess the standard rate for tail here in Cali is about 2.5 times the annual premium...Those F'ing insurance companies are all evil. You would think that when you pay for insurance, you are covered for the events that occur during the coverage period.....Tail is just another way from them to suck up your money!

Again, good luck on your job search!
Mark

 

[docB]

Bump to answer a question posed on a new thread.

 

[spyderdoc]

Bump to answer a question posed on a new thread.

And a great way to get one post closer to passing up those rascally pathologists...

 

[docB]

And a great way to get one post closer to passing up those rascally pathologists...

 

[docB]

Oops. See, that's another one right there.

 

[margaritaboy]

Time to resurrect this thread.

I just had my first interview today, and last night I was able to go to this thread to see all the juicy questions I should ask or be asked.

You guys are the greatest.

 

[Jeff698]

I just had my first interview today, and last night I was able to go to this thread to see all the juicy questions I should ask or be asked.

So....what part of the country are you looking in? Academic or private?

Good luck!

Take care,
Jeff <- watching this thread with semi-detached feelings and impending dread for this time next year

 

[dchristismi]

Bumping again for my class. I'm getting to schedule my first _real_ interview now. (At least, at a place I really am interested in going.) Good questions, and if anyone has anything else to add, I'm all ears.

 

[GeneralVeers]

Going to my first interview, hopefully next month.

Some other important things:

Malpractice - who decides to settle, you, hospital attorney, insurance company?

Tail Coverage - who pays for tail coverage once you leave? Typically this is 300% of the premium, and can be $75,000.

Non-compete covenant - most have no-competition within the hospital, and many will not allow you to work within 20 miles of the site if you leave. Find out the exact details, and if you have to "buy out" the non-compete contract.

 

[froggiepremed]

I just noticed the OP's original post date. Maybe this should be a sticky so I can take a look 7 years?

 

[Aloha Kid]

Time to resurrect this thing.

On the job trail now. Anybody have thoughts on fee-for-service and independent contractor jobs your first year out of residency?

 

[southerndoc]

Time to resurrect this thing.

On the job trail now. Anybody have thoughts on fee-for-service and independent contractor jobs your first year out of residency?

You'll be slower than the seasoned docs. Even with me being slower, I'm still making more doing FFS than if I were paid hourly.

 

[kungfufishing]

Some productivity incentive is important.

 

[GeneralVeers]

Holy zombie thread, Batman!

 

[hospmed]

Having been involved in the hiring of new applicants for some time, I think the biggest turn on and therefore turn off is personality. Showing that you are collegial and are willing to step up to the place for the group if needed counts allot. A person who does not show good people skills will likely not work well for patients and other staff.

 

[xaelia]

This thread gets bumped yearly, so I guess it's my turn to do it.

What are important questions to ask at an academic job interview?

 

[irrka]

first interview tomorrow. at least it's close by so i can get home and shake out the diaper.

on a different note, if your place near seattle or portland is hiring, please let me know! i've been leaving voice-mails like a crazy insurance salesman!

 

[Hamhock]

And a great way to get one post closer to passing up those rascally pathologists...

Remember when?...
(see above quote)

Currently:

Path threads: 3,868
Path posts: 62,497

EM threads: 6,816
EM posts: 135,317


Hamhock

 

[willow18]

Remember when?...
(see above quote)

Currently:

Path threads: 3,868
Path posts: 62,497

EM threads: 6,816
EM posts: 135,317


Hamhock

I find it interesting that Anesthesia and EM are the only forums with more than 100k posts.

So lets see what we can surmise:
Threads-------Posts
IM: 7,057--------56,358
EM: 6,816-------135,334
Gas: 9,047-------128,172

So EM, with its short attention spans, has the most posts per thread. Hmmm.

 

[irrka]

yeah i take it path never recovered after being SLAUGHTERED by our posts back in the MS4 days

 

[priam18]

yeah i take it path never recovered after being SLAUGHTERED by our posts back in the MS4 days

Hmm, I'm curious.. what happened during the MS4 days?

 

[irrka]

a few of us had a bit too much time on our hands and went through the forums seeing who we could catch up to and surpass in number of posts. pathology didnt have a snowball's chance