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Finding A Job Step 3: Selling Yourself
The way you present yourself—on paper and in person—will determine whether you land that dream job.
By Dennis Murray
Reproduced from Medical Economics - View the original article
December 3, 2004 - Once you've found a job that interests you enough to apply for it, you've got to sell yourself to your prospective employers. And that's something that a lot of doctors are either uncomfortable with or haven't had to do in a long time. The selling starts with your very first contact with the employer and goes right through the interview process. You have to sell yourself both on paper and in person. And, like medicine, effective selling is a combination of art and science.
In this third installment in our six-part series, we cover both. You'll find tips from the experts on preparing the written materials you'll need, getting ready for the interview, and what to say and do when the big day comes.
Assembling the tools you'll need
Before you apply for any position, you'll need to have a well-written resume or curriculum vitae (CV). For residents and most young physicians, a one- or two-page resume listing your education, licensure, and work experience if you have any is usually sufficient. However, if you're an established physician who is published often, participates in research, or gives presentations, you'll want to prepare a CV. Like a resume, it includes career basics, but the added details can bring a CV to as many as 10 to 15 pages. A resume is more clearly a job-search tool and will often include a heading for "References" (usually followed underneath with "Upon request"); a CV is a professional biography in outline form and almost never has any notation about references.
Whether you're submitting a resume or a CV, the first thing a prospective employer will see when considering your materials is your cover letter. So you'll need to take the time to craft it carefully, tailoring it to the job and employer you're interested in.
It should emphasize your accomplishments without projecting the image that you're self-centered. For instance, instead of starting with something like, "I've been in private practice for 10 years and will be a tremendous addition to your group," or "I was Chief Resident and started a new quality improvement program," say, "Your group's need for an internist to serve a geriatric population fits perfectly with my experience in caring for elderly patients." The latter wording not only places the focus on the employer, it addresses the group's current need and the position for which you're applying.
Sample cover letter
Cover letters should be limited to a single page, and include your e-mail address and office phone number. You can include a cell number too, but consider that you might not be in a setting conducive to conversation when the call comes. Finally, sign the letter in black ink.
The cover letter serves as a lead-in to the CV, which will spell out your qualifications in more detail. Many physicians make the mistake of providing too much information and not prioritizing it. You don't want to make someone wade through three or four pages before finding the facts that are most relevant to the position you're applying for. Moreover, always keep the information in your CV up to date. Consider reviewing it every month or two if you participate in research, publish articles, or give lectures frequently.
It's also important that your CV look professional. Pay attention to consistency in the headings you use. Check your spelling and punctuation. Use a laser printer—inkjet pages can smear—and quality white or light-colored paper.
Preparing yourself for the interview
A day or two before the interview, review what you know about the practice—its founding members, culture, and "mission"—so that you can ask good questions. Try, too, to learn something about the interviewer that will impress him or her later. For example, is he involved heavily in charities? Does he have kids close to the same age as yours, or enjoy a sport or hobby that you have an interest in? If the practice has a Web site, you can often find the interviewer's personal information there, including, perhaps, a copy of the person's CV.
What should you wear for the interview? Business attire. No sneakers, short skirts, four-inch pumps, loud colors, or open-toe shoes. This applies even if everyone else in the practice dresses casually. It may be tempting to "fit in," but business attire shows respect for the interviewer, the practice, and the job.
Meticulous personal grooming is a must. Make sure your hair and nails look neat. If you have a beard or moustache, be sure it's neatly trimmed. Skip the perfume or cologne, too.
Interacting with the interviewer
Now that you're scrubbed and ready for the interview, it's time to make a great impression.
First, heed these guidelines: If you're frustrated in your present job, don't turn the interview into a gripe session. You won't ingratiate yourself to anyone that way. After all, the focus should be on why you want the new job, it shouldn't be on why you want to escape the old one.
You also need to project the right attitude. "I'm most impressed with people who know something about our group and who come across as confident and decisive," says emergency physician John C. Johnson, who is regional director of Unity Physician Group in Bloomington, IN. "I'm not impressed with an overly confident, jock-type who's patronizing and tells me we're one of 27 groups he's interviewing with. Nor am I likely to hire anyone who appears afraid of his own shadow and lacking in confidence."
To come across as self-assured, use empowering phrases like, "I can," "I will," and "I know." Tell the interviewer point blank what the practice will gain by hiring you. If you've had a great deal of experience with certain types of cases, make the person aware of this and give specific examples. Don't assume that he or she already knows what a great physician you are from your CV.
During the interview, don't just ask about obvious things like office hours. "The doctors who demonstrate a high level of sophistication are those who ask unique questions," says Paul Smallwood, vice president of Cejka Search, a St. Louis-based physician search firm. "Rather than focus on compensation and expenses, they ask about the practice's management design and how decisions are made. Or they might ask how the practice markets complementary specialties such as rheumatology and orthopedics."
Some other good questions you might ask:
- What's the patient mix?
- How do you measure productivity?
- What computer initiatives is the practice contemplating?
- How often do you review and report on each physician's coding and billing?
- Does the practice have its own code of ethics, or meet regularly to discuss ethical issues?
- What major changes does the practice plan to make within the next five years?
"You don't want to accept an offer, then be surprised by something later," says David Kapiloff, president of Medical Directions, a physician job-search company in Ardsley, NY. "For instance, I've seen practices that wouldn't bring in another doctor until they were at 130 percent of capacity. The doctors would become exhausted and may even have been compromising patient care. So it's important to assess what sort of a workload you can expect, because it may indicate a poor fit for you."
Thomas Benzoni, an emergency physician in Sioux City, IA, doesn't mind pointed questions when he's interviewing prospective members of the practice, but what peeves him is some doctors' obsession with money. "Dump the attitude of, 'How can I squeeze the most out of these yahoos?' " he says. "Ask instead if you'll have sufficient work to meet your own financial goals." That, he says, is a better way to start a discussion about compensation.
And, if you haven't already, meet individually with the other doctors in the practice—or, if it's a multispecialty group, the other physicians in your specialty. "If that's not possible, call them after the initial interview," advises Mike Kilgore, president of Spitzmiller, Kilgore, Hobbs & Ford, a physician recruiter in Tampa Bay, FL. "Once you've been talking with them for a little while and have gained their trust, ask each of them, 'What do I need to know to avoid surprises if I start working here?' "
Likewise, you ought to be ready to field hard questions from your interviewer—and anyone else you meet with—about your uniqueness, values, philosophy toward medicine, disciplinary record (if you have one), and what motivates you to excel. If you're asked about a gap in your CV, explain it honestly. There's nothing embarrassing about taking time off to have children or to care for a sick relative.
The same applies if you happened to take several months to travel or to search for a better job opportunity; don't treat it as something you need to cover up. "What I don't like to see is someone who changes jobs every year," says Johnson, who has been interviewing medical-job candidates for nearly 30 years. "That raises a red flag for me. We look for people who have the same basic personality and core values as the rest of our physicians, and who plan to stay a long time."
Interviewing Dos and Don'ts
As with all things, you'll find you come across better in interviews the more of them you do, so don't pass up an opportunity. "Go on as many interviews as you're offered, provided you can do so without incurring excess expense or absences from work," suggests Andrew S. Alpart, an FP in Slingerlands, NY. "If you do, you'll be better able to recognize 'the real thing' when you find it. You'll also meet colleagues whose paths you may cross again over the course of your career."
Following up after the interview
Immediately after the interview, type some notes to yourself about your impressions: What did you like about the practice and its physicians? What didn't you like? What could you live with, even though it's not perfect? Your notes will be especially helpful if you're going on multiple interviews—the more you go on, the more difficult it'll become to remember who said what, and when. Each page of notes should include the employer's name, phone number, and e-mail address, in case you have follow-up questions.
Next, write a polite note to each person who interviewed you, altering the wording a bit so the notes don't all sound the same. Thank the person for his or her time and interest in you and express again your interest in joining the practice. Offer to answer any other questions the interviewer might have. If you haven't heard from the practice in a few days, call to follow up. "I'm impressed with people who convey to me that our meeting was important to them," says Johnson.
Finally, if you decide that an opportunity isn't right for you, get back to the employer or recruiter as soon as possible. You don't need to go into detail. It's enough to say, "Other opportunities I'm pursuing better match my personal and professional expectations."
"You ought to make a decision and communicate it within two weeks," says Cejka Search's Paul Smallwood. You don't want to string things along, for your benefit as much as the practice you've interviewed with. Deciding you don't want a job is as much a part of a job search as hoping you get one.