The Katz Report 2011

Happy New Year to all . . . and the frenzy continues into 2011! 

The jobs are mounting but unfortunately, it doesn’t look like quality is mounting along with the numbers.  I’ve been busily scouring the midwestern and western states looking for high quality positions for quite a few outstanding, boarded candidates and the best word I can come up to describe what I’ve found is disapointing! 

 With the number of employers seeking the services of boarded/eligible EPs, one would think they would be pulling out all the stops to create supportive and professional work environments, strong income packages and all around attractive opportunities.  Mostly I’m seeing sign-on bonuses and a few other perks, but not the long-term fixes necessary to attract and retain physicians.  Now that’s not to say there weren’t some high quality positions available this past Fall, but the bulk of those are already filled and signed.  There should be a whole new crop opening in time for an active spring market.  Let’s hope the employers pay more attention to the details of successful practice and the long-term satisfaction of potential hires than they do to quick, one-time dangle-dollars that are usually spent before the first day of work.

I had a marvelous time at the Scientific Assembly again this year – though the hike to the convention center put some muscles in the old calves.  Fortunately I live in a flip flop society and was smart enough to bring several pairs along for jogging through the Mandalay Bay.

Contributing to the EMRA Life After Residency was a blast and hope to do it again soon.  I heard the job fair was a confusing mad house, but strictly hearsay.

My class on CV prep had a third year of 1/3 turn out and I don’t get it.  We have a 2 hour workshop on creating an effective CV, a skill most docs lack in spades.  Those who have attended in the past 2 years gave rave reviews.  The class caps at 45 people and fills up quickly.  The most we’ve had actually turn up is this year’s 18.  Why sign-up if you’re not going to show up?  This is especially true of a course with an attendance cap.  Many people I spoke with said they wanted to come badly, but the class was closed.  There should be some sort of penalty for signing up and not showing up, particularly if you prevent others from attending.  Other than that, it’s just, well – rude!!  We’ll keep teaching it, but I think we’ll up the attendance number in the future to accomodate all these nasty no-shows!

Scientific Assembly, whether hosted by ACEP or AAEM, is such a valuable career tool.  The opportunity to meet, converse and enjoy the company of your peers is something that should be experienced as often as possible.  The ideas flow, you get to put faces to names and thank those people who have smoothed your path along the way.  Looking forward to San Francisco!

I find myself scrambling to get ready for September.  The first half of the month will be spent in New York City mixing business with pleasure.  I’ll be doing a presentation at the Bellevue EM residency program and meeting with clients all over the metro area.  Of course I’ll be making time for some fun like Labor Day at the US Open, a little theatre and time at my favorite art museum, the Met.   Back in the office on the 16th to prep for ACEP starting on the 28th, where I’ll be teaching a CV-prep course for the 3rd year consecutive year;  and we’re SRO again too! I’ll also be doing the key-note lecture at EMRA’s Life After Resiency program on the 28th.  If you are trying to track me down, when not teaching I’ll be at the Emergency Medicine News booth, # 1821, providing pearls of career-searching wisdom to all comers!  Hope to see you there!

Thank you ACEP!  You went and scheduled Scientific Assembly a month early and my editor at Emergency Medicine News decided my annual Job Market for Emergency Physicians Report had to run a month early as a result.  Said decision led to 3 weeks of 12-hour shifts doing research, getting all the bases covered and the poop in the scoop.   I won’t do a big reveal here but suffice it to say, it’s gonna be a wild and crazy hiring season in Emergency Medicine.  Graduating residents are going to have to be extra sharp and capable of separating the hyperbole from the facts lest they end up in a bad clinical environment and high risk situation.  Jobs are everywhere, but true opportunity will be a bit harder to find.  Anyone want to guess what city got the Great Flying Pig Awad this year?  Hint: it’s not San Diego!

It’s one day before April Fool’s and I’m feeling like I should close up shop and jump on a slow boat to China; except I’d really rather go to Australia or Vienna.  There is no shortage of openings for emergency physicians but there is definitely a shortage of emergency physicians for those openings.  Despite the strength of this spring market, many docs seem reluctant to look.  I blame uncertainty.  .  . about the new health care changes, about the economy, about what’s potentially coming down the road in general.   There is no question that the demand for great docs is going to continue to grow now and in the future.  Employers are going to have to step up to the plate and do whatever is in their capability to attract the best of the best.  Soon I’ll start the research for the annual marketplace reports in Emergency Medicine News.  it should be an interesting series this year!

This week I am sending out by email a list of 5 jobs for graduating residents that are simply terrific.  They should be received at each program office and posted for those grads still looking.  Make sure you look for them!

Last week I taught two courses at AAEM Scientific Assembly.   The Resident’s Section attended my lecture on evaluating opportunity and it was extremely well received.  I especially enjoyed talking with the individual residents for nearly an hour after the program.  For the Young Physicians Section the next day, I did a round-table program with attendees chiming in and helping direct the discussion.  That was terrific and something I’d like to do again.  I had an outline and program emphasizing career building for those docs who have been out for a few years and were ready to move to the next stage of their careers.  We ended up going in a lot of different directions based on what they wanted to cover, amazingly enough, right along the outline of what I had planned.  Wow, they had a whole lot of questions and none were focusing on dollars, which actually follows a normal pattern.  ED docs are far more focused on income and location as grads, and once they’ve experienced practice in the real world, they tend to switch their focus much more to the actual position specifications, many having experienced some  hairy practice environments their first few years on the job.  Some of the residents who attended the previous day’s program came back for more and got to contribute to this program – no doubt learning a good bit along the way.  Again, the feedback was terrific and I hope to be able to present at this conference again, only, please, not in Vegas!  It took 45 minutes to get a cab from the airport to the hotel and another 35 minutes in line at the hotel to check-in. The room had a broken TV and a broken clock, and my key card stopped working the 2nd day as I was rushing to a dinner date!   Getting around Caesar’s requires a map and traffic in that town makes Monday morning in the garment district of New York City look tame!  On a side note – 3 days in Las Vegas and not a thin dime spent gambling!

I have been reading an exceptional book on motivation called “Drive” by Daniel H. Pink.  It completely negates the general theories of dangling bananas, carrots and sticks etc.  The ideas are based on decades of research and the primary message is that true motivation is comprised of three categories: autonomy, mastery and purpose.  In other words, we strive to achieve in order to master out craft, whatever that may be.  We do it for ourselves, not for anyone else, and we find true purpose in the process.  I have been trying to apply these theories to emergency physicians and have found that, in many cases, the emergency physician who is seriously job searching after several years of experience applies more of these motivational principles than a graduating resident.  The grads tend to focus more on location and income.  I plan on doing a column on the topic shortly.

I would welcome any comments on this topic!

My goal is to get here and pound out some interesting thoughts, reports on emergency physician job market trends, announcements and other pieces of information about the wonderful world of job hunting in emergency medicine.  Comments are welcome as are suggestions for topics and questions about anything job-search related.  Please do not, however, ask me to comment on specific employers in this space.  If you need confidential advice, the way to get it is by email or over the phone, not here for the world to see!  I look forward to joining the exciting crew of bloggers and hope I can provide some provocative and informative material for all to enjoy.