Do you want to land your first job out of residency in an academic setting? Focus on the interview, clean up your social media profile, and pack some extra subspecialty training into your fourth year, according to a study published in Academic Radiology.
Dr. Shrita Smith.Finding work after residency can be a challenge, what with there being two new job seekers for every new posting. Another factor is the American Board of Radiology (ABR) having changed the timing of its diagnostic radiology certifying exam, moving it from before graduation to 15 months afterward, wrote lead author Dr. Shrita Smith and colleagues from Staten Island University Hospital.
"The status of the radiology job market is a source of concern for radiology trainees," the authors wrote. "According to the [American College of Radiology (ACR)] Commission on Human Resources Workforce Survey, job opportunities for radiologists in 2014 were close in number to those of residents completing diagnostic radiology training programs. ... These concerns are compounded by recent changes to the American Board of Radiology certification process."
Survey says?
Smith and colleagues investigated which qualities are most valued in new attending hires, the level of difficulty academic departments have in recruiting subspecialty, fellowship-trained radiologists, and the effect of the new ABR certification process on hiring practices. To this end, the team distributed an anonymous online survey to academic radiology department chairs between December 2014 and March 2015 (Acad Radiol, December 2015, Vol. 22:12, pp. 1471-1476).
Of 184 eligible respondents, 79 completed the survey, for a response rate of 43%. Of those who responded, 94% reported at least one or two attending positions open during the past year, with 42% reporting three to six openings and 13% reporting more than six.
What kind of attributes did department chairs value most? When asked to rank in order of importance the qualities new hires should possess, survey respondents put subspecialty expertise, fellowship training, and the ability to work well with referring physicians in the top three.
But Smith's group also found the following:
- All academic chairs ranked the job interview as important, with 86% ranking it as extremely important.
- Most academic chairs valued a residency program director's recommendation, either written or verbal, with 52% stating this was extremely important.
- All survey respondents valued recommendations of colleagues, with 72% ranking this as extremely important.
- Prior chief resident experience was deemed important by 75% of department chairs.
Just under half of the survey respondents stated that candidates' fourth-year "mini-fellowships" -- subspecialty-focused training in one or two disciplines -- would impact their hiring decisions, with the most valued mini-fellowships being in breast imaging, body imaging, and neuroradiology.
"It appears that completing one or more mini-fellowships may give a competitive edge to new graduates," Smith and colleagues wrote.
What's more, 53% of radiology chairs said that a candidate's social media profile would impact their hiring decisions, with chairs of smaller programs that have fewer faculty members placing more weight on this factor than larger programs. This finding is consistent with an increasing trend among both academic and business employers of using social networking sites to research job candidates, Smith's group wrote.
Real recruiting
Seventy percent of survey participants stated they did not have trouble recruiting fellowship-trained radiologists. Radiology chairs looked to the pool of prior residents at their institution for possible hires, as well as journal advertisements and academic networks -- good news for potential hires, Smith told AuntMinnie.com.
"Most-used recruiting tools were word of mouth or the potential hire having been a prior resident," she said. "That's key, because it's a big part of getting an interview in the first place."
Certification changes
All the survey respondents were aware of recent changes to the ABR's certification process. Fifteen percent of survey respondents said that these changes would affect their hiring decisions, and of these, 67% said they would be less likely to hire recent graduates without full board certification. A quarter of department chairs reported that the ABR certification changes would affect salary and contract terms, with 65% of these stating they would hire recent noncertified graduates at a reduced salary.
And don't ask for time off to study, Smith's group cautioned. Even though survey respondents stated that ABR certification is important, they noted that residents and fellows should not expect time off or protected time to study for the final certifying examination, according to the team.
"Some chairs specifically comment that potential hires who request or had previously received dedicated study time for certification raise a red flag or are less desirable," Smith and colleagues wrote.
In any case, the study suggests that the job search doesn't have to be a downer, Smith said.
"Our results are positive," she said. "Residents can be excited about finishing their programs and their fellowships and moving into their careers."
