When to start looking for an attending job?

[JadinSleeper]

I'm an peds intern. Yes, I know it's way too early for me, (although this year is going by ridiculously quickly) but I was wondering if some of the recently graduated attendings could chime in about the the timeframe during their residency when they started to seriously look for a position.

I'm looking to do general peds in a community setting, not academics. My own program sends the great majority of its grads to fellowship, so it's hard to get a feel. Several groups in my area have ads on the AAP site, and browsing it helps to keep my spirits up during the seemingly endless calls.

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[Bernardo_11]

Beginning of third year. Try to look at a few places and at the least be commited to a particular state by Dec/Jan of your third year, so that you can turn in your licensing paperwork. Much of the hassle is filling out the paperwork and then waiting weeks to months for the approval of your license to that state. I happened to practice where docs were of great need, so I had some options within my locality. There are others in my class who were seriously considering working at particular clinics but in different states... it was a little harder for them; as the only way to keep both those options open until the end of residency would be to apply to both states for licensure (which can be expensive). You should also think about which of your attendings thought highly of you as letters of recommendation from them would be helpful.

Nardo

 

[Stitch]

I agree, start early third year. The paper work is extensive and expensive, but if you don't get it out of the way it could get held up, leaving you unable to start when you're done.

It ultimately depends on what kind of job you're looking for. Hospitalist position? General practice? What area? If you're staying around the same area, you probably have some idea which groups are good to work with. Hook up with them now and see if you can rotate there as a community month or something like that. If you're going elsewhere, just have all the ducks lined up, get your letters and make sure you have someone helping you look over the contract and things like that.