The Attending Job Search Is Nothing Like the Match
Residency placed you through an algorithm. Your next job depends on networks, timing, and questions most physicians never learned to ask. A practical guide to searching as an attending.
For most physicians, the last time they looked for a position, a computer made the final decision. Applications went out, interviews happened, rank lists were submitted, and an algorithm did the rest. The attending job market works nothing like that. There is no central calendar, no standard offer structure, and no guarantee the best jobs are ever posted. Physicians who approach it like the Match often end up taking the first reasonable offer instead of the right one.
Start With What You Want
Before you open a single job board, write down your priorities. Location, schedule, call burden, patient population, practice model, compensation structure, teaching, research, and room for growth all compete. Rank them. Decide which ones are truly nonnegotiable. This list becomes your filter, and it keeps you from being swayed by a signing bonus attached to a job you would not otherwise want.
Where Good Jobs Actually Come From
Many strong positions are filled through relationships before they are ever advertised. Tell former attendings, fellowship directors, and colleagues what you are looking for. Contact practices you admire directly, even if they are not posting. Specialty society meetings and regional conferences are useful for quiet conversations. Job boards and recruiters have their place, but treat them as one channel among several.
The best job you will find is often the one you asked about before anyone posted it.
Interviewing the Job
You are evaluating them as much as they are evaluating you. Ask questions that reveal how the practice really works.
- Why is this position open, and what happened to the last physician in it?
- How many physicians have left in the past few years, and why?
- How is compensation calculated, and how has that formula changed over time?
- What support staff will I have, and who controls my schedule template?
- How are call and weekend duties divided, and how is that enforced?
- What does a physician here do when they disagree with an administrative decision?
Ask to speak privately with physicians who are not part of the leadership team. Their answers are usually more candid. If a practice resists that request, treat it as information.
Start earlier than you think you need to. Credentialing and licensing can take months, and the best positions may not wait. When an offer arrives, ask for everything in writing, including compensation methodology, benefits, and any productivity targets. Have an attorney who works with physician contracts review it before you sign.
Compare offers on total value and on fit, not just base salary. A slightly lower salary with manageable call, a supportive group, and a clear path to partnership may be worth far more over a decade than a higher number in a practice people keep leaving.
Dr. Whitfield is a family physician and practice owner who writes about independent medicine and physician leadership.
This article is for professional education and does not replace clinical judgment. Treatment decisions should be based on the individual patient and current guidelines.
