Which specialties are in demand in big cities ?

[GreatOdinsRaven]

As an M2 who is still very open to many different specialties, I thought I'd pick your collective brains to see which specialties have the best job prospects in big cities. I'm from southern california and plan on returning there to practice, and figure it's not really worth a damn to specialize in something if my only job offers are in rural areas away from where I'd like to be. I've heard that cardiology and radiology are a bit saturated, but what are some other ones? And what are the ones that you can go anywhere with? I feel like every time I get excited about a specialty, I here that the job market isn't great, and it makes me wonder if primary care would just be easier with my life goals. Any anecdotes or advice would be much appreciated.

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[Psai]

Do what you want. Job markets change. The most competitive specialties tend to be the ones in most demand because the number of spots are kept low

 

[Nasrudin]

None in an absolute sense. There is a glut of professionals of all sorts in major cities. The micro markets of specialties may vary to some degree but I think pathology and radiology being really tight markets will hold. Psych will be in demand. With child psych you can fill a practice in no time even in major cities.

Others I don't know. You'll have to search the residency forums of each field. I only searched a few when I was in your shoes. EM was a pretty tight market in California from my searches several years ago.

It is generally frowned upon for some reason to strategize along the lines you're thinking but I can see the value of it. If a few things interested you equally.

 

[Frazier]

Compare the postings on this site...

http://www.merritthawkins.com/job-search/job-search.aspx

You shouldn't draw exact conclusions...but if you see a specialty with 80 postings around the country (including large cities) and compare it to a specialty with only 1 single posting in rural Kentucky...well, there is something to that trend most likely. Cross check the trends with resident/attending sentiment on their respective SDN job threads.

 

[GreatOdinsRaven]

It is generally frowned upon for some reason to strategize along the lines you're thinking but I can see the value of it. If a few things interested you equally.

Yea, I mean, I haven't even started rotations yet. Ultimately, I want to find a specialty that I love and one that allows me to live where I want to live. Don't worry, I'm not going to be writing this into a personal statement or anything like that. I just figured I'd ask since at this point, the only things I've really crossed off my list are the more rigorous surgical specialties like neurosurg, cardiothoracic, etc. After all, your career is only one part of your life

 

[GreatOdinsRaven]

Compare the postings on this site...

http://www.merritthawkins.com/job-search/job-search.aspx

You shouldn't draw exact conclusions...but if you see a specialty with 80 postings around the country (including large cities) and compare it to a specialty with only 1 single posting in rural Kentucky...well, there is something to that trend most likely. Cross check the trends with resident/attending sentiment on their respective SDN job threads.

Thanks for this resource. Definitely helpful, and I agree not the only resource I should use. I feel like a lot of jobs are filled by word of mouth/practices reaching out to residencies, so I guess that's where looking at the residency threads will help.

 

[CadyHeron]

Compare the postings on this site...

http://www.merritthawkins.com/job-search/job-search.aspx

You shouldn't draw exact conclusions...but if you see a specialty with 80 postings around the country (including large cities) and compare it to a specialty with only 1 single posting in rural Kentucky...well, there is something to that trend most likely. Cross check the trends with resident/attending sentiment on their respective SDN job threads.

I'm considering entering medicine and this site is scary. There's basically no openings on it, even for major specialties. Is this the main site for people finding jobs? I'm coming from a teaching background where there are no jobs out there so I'm a little scarred from it.

 

[Frazier]

I'm considering entering medicine and this site is scary. There's basically no openings on it, even for major specialties. Is this the main site for people finding jobs? I'm coming from a teaching background where there are no jobs out there so I'm a little scarred from it.

No I wouldn't focus on the numbers in a vacuum...but rather compare across specialties.

In other words, people find jobs by word of mouth, recruiters, public listing sites, etc.

This is but just one sample.

 

[WingedOx]

I'm considering entering medicine and this site is scary. There's basically no openings on it, even for major specialties. Is this the main site for people finding jobs? I'm coming from a teaching background where there are no jobs out there so I'm a little scarred from it.

If you're in an urban area you'll more than likely find your jobs through connections, mainly made in residency. The place I'm working next year seldom posts their openings.

You can find a decent job in any specialty in any market, but you're likely to get paid more the farther from city center you go.

 

[Beargryllz]

Why are the salary numbers on this list so much higher than every average I've ever seen! Routinely throwing up $500-701,000 for surgical specialties?!? is that serious?

Gotta look more rural

You aren't going to find a good job in a big city. Every jackass wants to live there so it's beyond saturated in every way.

 

[WingedOx]

Why are the salary numbers on this list so much higher than every average I've ever seen! Routinely throwing up $500-701,000 for surgical specialties?!? is that serious?

Genreally, the jobs on the MH website and their many emails they bombard you with are the ones in places that are harder to fill.

 

[calvnandhobbs68]

Why are the salary numbers on this list so much higher than every average I've ever seen! Routinely throwing up $500-701,000 for surgical specialties?!? is that serious?

They wouldn't need to use a recruiting firm for these positions if they were easy to fill.