From my personal experience, the practice you want with the offer you want is out there. The problem is that it is usually highly elusive. There are many different ways in trying to find available spots (ie, in ads at the back of journals, internet sites, ACOG career connection, recruiters, word of mouth). In my opinion, the most effective way would absolutely be by word of mouth (since you would be hearing about the opportunities from people that know you and what you are looking for). However, if you did not train in the area you are looking in, this could prove highly difficult since you may not have an "in". After word of mouth, all the other methods are pretty much equal. As for recruiters (AKA headhunters), be cautious and don't trust them. Most of them are honest and do try hard to find you a match, but some are definitely motivated by the sell. Since they get paid only when you sign that contract, some of them may do anything necessary to get you to sign, whether it'll benefit you or not. Plenty of horror stories and not many happy endings!
In regards to the specifics you asked for:
-Most of the offers I received were near (but not in) medium to large cities.
-Salaries were highly variable and ranged from $140K to $500K.
-Most were income guarantees with variable forgiveness (ie repayment) periods. (WARNING- Be careful with income guarantee contracts as they can be quite tricky. A 3-4 year contract can actually be a 6-8 year contract in disguise when you include the forgiveness period. Have a local lawyer with medical contract experience review it for you--about $200 a pop)
-Most included malpractice for the guarantee period, but not so after this period ends. After that, you are on your own. Only a few offered tail coverage or the equivalent.
-All offered partnership track after 1-3 years.
-Some offered signing bonuses, relocation reimbursement, or some other combination of monetary incentives.
-None were productivity based salaries.
-None included overhead expenses (these would be subtracted from your guaranteed salary and on average would cost you 35-50% of your salary--that $500K guarantee actually came to be $270K after overhead and malpractice)
-All of the were very willing to negotiate the details of the contract and most were quite flexible, however, not many seemed too intereseted in increasing the salary.
Honestly, the practice I liked the most happened to offer the lowest salary with the least incentives. The practice I was most nervous and unsure about happened to offer the best monetary contract. A large amount of money should automatically make you ask "why do they need to offer so much"? I ended up taking a middle of the road "temporary" contract that has worked out great so far. I hope you are just as lucky.
