Most residents begin searching for their first physician jobs a full year or more before finishing training. Dr. M was no different. He began the process at the same time as his peers, but when personal issues arose near the end of his Family Medicine residency, Dr. M was forced to move back to his Middle Tennessee home without so much as a job interview. He needed to live near family, but this would significantly limit his physician employment options. He decided to focus on passing his boards and kept an eye out for Family Medicine or Hospitalist jobs at local organizations, though he knew he might be facing a long commute.
A Hospitalist Job Opening at Home
Meanwhile, Senior Director of Recruiting Christen Kolloff was working with a new client located just outside of a Middle Tennessee metro. After experiencing tremendous growth in recent years, they were seeking multiple Hospitalists trained in Internal Medicine. Christen leveraged the JPS network of physician job boards to distribute the Hospitalist job ad and was working with several candidates, but when JPS Research Consultant Katherine Hurford came across Dr. M’s profile in one of the online physician databases, she saw his location and thought Christen might want to speak to him. Though he was trained in Family Medicine, he was seeking an Emergency Medicine or Hospitalist job in the area, so Katherine suspected he could be a good fit. She shared his information with Christen.
Christen reached out to Dr. M to gauge his interest in the Hospitalist job opening with her client. Dr. M had been scouring the job boards of the local hospitals, but he had not applied to that one specifically because of the Internal Medicine requirement. Christen confessed she wasn’t sure they would consider him for this reason, but she wanted to learn more about him. If it seemed like a good match, she would present him to the client and advocate on his behalf.
The Physician Next Door…
The more Christen learned about Dr. M the more certain she was that he was the best fit for her client. The hospital was not just in the same metro area, but it was literally down the street from where he lived. In fact, he had been born there! He also knew several of the physicians on staff because he had completed a few rotations there during his training.
“The CEO of the hospital has a lot of pride in the town,” Christen said. “So I knew he would love the fact that Dr. M was born and raised there and wanted to build his adult life there as well.”
Christen was right. The client immediately set up a virtual interview, and from there, the process moved quickly. Because he was local, there was nothing to delay the on-site interview. Everyone who met Dr. M could sense that he belonged there. Though he didn’t have the Internal Medicine background they were looking for, he had already passed his boards, was in the process of getting his Tennessee license, and if hired, he was extremely likely to stay long-term. It was a winning situation for everyone.
Physician Job Search Success
Dr. M was thrilled to receive an offer fewer than 30 days after connecting with Christen. The hospital was his ideal employer, but without Christen to make his case to the administrator, they were unlikely to respond to an application from a Family Medicine physician.
“Dr. M wasn’t a perfect match for the job, but with his deeply rooted ties to the area–and to the hospital itself–I knew they had to meet him,” Christen says. “I was happy to advocate for him, and ultimately, the client was thrilled to find such a great fit right in their own backyard.”
Are you searching for a new physician job? Applying with the help of a physician recruiter can make all the difference to your job search. Reach out to a Jackson Physician Search Recruiter today to learn how we can help, or search physician jobs online now.
