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Medical school is a tremendous investment of time and resources, but in some ways, the real work begins once you’ve finished: finding a new job and starting a career. To be sure, you’ll be looking for a job in a field that pays well, is prestigious, and in which you’ll be able to distinguish yourself – but that doesn’t mean it will be easy.
Fresh out of med school and hunting for your dream job? We've got you covered with 6 insider tips that can pave the way to your career breakthrough. Get ready for a rewarding medical journey. #MedCareer #JobHunt #CareerTipsClick To TweetFortunately, there are some tried and true ways to find a job after medical school. Here are 6 tips for doing precisely that.
1. Your School Probably Has Online Resources
It’s virtually a guarantee that your school will have online resources to provide you with information and expert tips, places to search, etc.
Take advantage of these online resources: you have no reason not to, and they are likely to help you guide your search and discover promising prospects.
2. Get Guidance from Faculty
Ideally, before you graduate, take the time to chat with the faculty and ask them for guidance. Your faculty will have plenty of wisdom and practical tips to share, and they’re bound to set you up with a good list of Do’s and Don’ts.
But this isn’t simply a tip about how to get tips: faculty can give you hands-on guidance through the process of job-searching and interviewing. There’s also a good chance they’ll know people who will be able to help you, possibly providing you with contacts to help you on your journey.
3. Network With Peers
Networking with your peers is as simple as taking the time to get to know them, and then sharing information with each other. In particular, you can share information about job openings.
You may be surprised at how effective this can be. If you think about crowd-sourcing job openings, that’s essentially what’s happening here: you’re sharing information with others and receiving it from them in return.
Another aspect of this, too, is what can happen over time, beyond your first job. After all, you’ll probably be back in the
You never know, a contact you make in this season of life could end up being a point of contact in applying for another job in the future. This can even play into getting to know the employers.
Medical school is a tremendous investment of time and resources, but in some ways the real work begins once you’ve finished: finding a new job and starting a career. To be sure, you’ll be looking for a job in a field that pays well, is prestigious, and in which you’ll be able to distinguish yourself—but that doesn’t mean it will be easy.”
4. Use Niche Job Sites
When you go to look for a job, which sites do you use? If you’re like most people, you have probably used commonly-available job boards with listings for jobs in essentially every industry.
While that’s understandable before medical school, now that you’ve completed medical school it’s a good idea to use niche medical job sites, specific to healthcare and hospitals.
One of the reasons these sites exist and are as important as they are is because so many healthcare-related job postings on the more generic sites have been getting bombarded with many spammy applications from people mass-applying for jobs they aren’t qualified for.
So, if you go to one of these niche medical job sites, you will find many jobs that are not even posted on the likes of Indeed or CareerBuilder.
5. Location, Location, Location
It’s fairly common for people in general, in practically every industry, to want to work in a particular geographical locale. However, if you are willing to broaden your focus beyond one specific area or a handful of preferred areas, you may find wonderful opportunities in areas that were not even on your proverbial radar.
Take the time to figure out which geographical areas need what specialties. You might be surprised by what you find, and you’re likely to have a better-informed search for it.
6. Think About Types of Practice
Presumably, you’ve already selected a specialty, but that still leaves the question of where and how you will practice medicine.
For example, do you want to work for a private practice? If the answer is yes, what size? Or do you want to be a sole practitioner?
What about a hospital setting? If the answer is yes, again, what size? Also, what type of hospital?
Don’t be shy to think about other questions, including lifestyle and where you want to live, i.e. city, suburb, rural countryside. The choice is yours to make, but what you choose will have ramifications for where to look and how to guide your search.
Conclusion
Graduating from medical school is a tremendous accomplishment all by itself. You have a tremendous degree of opportunity, the chance to decide what to do with your future as a medical practitioner.
Practicing medicine to help others is a truly noble endeavor, one that comes with tremendous commitments and responsibility. Hopefully, the 5 tips discussed here will be helpful to you in guiding your thinking after medical school.
In this inspiring book, Brent explores the importance of owning your life story to discover your life’s path. Only taking an honest look within can help you efficiently make the best decisions for yourself and help you build your career with tools such as networking with informational interviews.
