Jobs After Service?

[DR_wolfgang]

Quick question.

Been highly considering partaking in the army hpsp program. The only thing holding me back is that I want to know how easy it is for a military-trained physician to obtain a job in civilian life after his/her service. Is it harder? Easier? About the same?


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[Gastrapathy]

Easy to about the same. Residency trained doctors get jobs.

 

[HighPriest]

I was able to find a good job in the exact geographic area I wanted in two weeks, with three other offers in the same general area within 2-6 months, and three other solid, reasonable offers in other desirable areas within the same time period. And I was very picky, I think. Civilians don't know what happens in the military, so they assume you had good training.

 

[j4pac]

I was able to find a good job in the exact geographic area I wanted in two weeks, with three other offers in the same general area within 2-6 months, and three other solid, reasonable offers in other desirable areas within the same time period. And I was very picky, I think. Civilians don't know what happens in the military, so they assume you had good training.

I think it's more of civilian employers feeling more confident that their incoming doc won't be a psychopath and at least a decent team player. The military finds a way to screen out personality issues/disorders. I'd imagine the quality of education becomes more important when trying to get a job at major academic center...but even that isn't always true.

 

[Shikima]

I think it's more of civilian employers feeling more confident that their incoming doc won't be a psychopath and at least a decent team player. The military finds a way to screen out personality issues/disorders. I'd imagine the quality of education becomes more important when trying to get a job at major academic center...but even that isn't always true.

I recently saw a job opening for sleep at Walter Reed. I wonder how this would play out based on your observations.

 

[HighPriest]

I think it's more of civilian employers feeling more confident that their incoming doc won't be a psychopath and at least a decent team player. The military finds a way to screen out personality issues/disorders. I'd imagine the quality of education becomes more important when trying to get a job at major academic center...but even that isn't always true.

Perhaps. But my experience was more along the lines of "oh, you must have done a lot of trauma!" Which is certainly not true. Or the assumption that I must have leadership experience, which is also not necessarily true, nor does it mean that the military made me s good leader, considering all of the half-assed leaders I worked with in the Army.
And the Army certainly doesn't weed out personality disorders. I think I could believe that the commitment involved might weed out a certain type of person, but there are plenty of weirdos in the military, too.
Having a clean record is a bonus, for sure.
Maybe they just know that the incoming physician is willing, able, and used to not ever getting what they want. So they're easier to work with.

 

[j4pac]

Perhaps. But my experience was more along the lines of "oh, you must have done a lot of trauma!" Which is certainly not true. Or the assumption that I must have leadership experience, which is also not necessarily true, nor does it mean that the military made me s good leader, considering all of the half-assed leaders I worked with in the Army.
And the Army certainly doesn't weed out personality disorders. I think I could believe that the commitment involved might weed out a certain type of person, but there are plenty of weirdos in the military, too.
Having a clean record is a bonus, for sure.
Maybe they just know that the incoming physician is willing, able, and used to not ever getting what they want. So they're easier to work with.

LOL. I'm sure you're right about the surgical side of things.

And there's no denying that the military has weirdo's but typically they are weirdos who at least can show up to their job and play semi-nice with others. It's a filter that doesn't exist for people coming medical school and even residency when you jump from rotation to rotation and have a much better chance of not being detected.

 

[Neogenesis]

I think it's more of civilian employers feeling more confident that their incoming doc won't be a psychopath and at least a decent team player. The military finds a way to PROMOTE personality issues/disorders. I'd imagine the quality of education becomes more important when trying to get a job at major academic center...but even that isn't always true.

Fixed it for ya

 

[HighPriest]

LOL. I'm sure you're right about the surgical side of things.

And there's no denying that the military has weirdo's but typically they are weirdos who at least can show up to their job and play semi-nice with others. It's a filter that doesn't exist for people coming medical school and even residency when you jump from rotation to rotation and have a much better chance of not being detected.

If you average out all the military docs I've ever known, you get a guy who shows up to work regularly but still only does about 1/3 FTE.
It's easy to get along with people when you're only working 1/3 of a day.

 

[jabreal00]

Military is an unknown quantity for most employers. However they expect that one will have standard training and be fluent in English with reasonably good bedside manner and temperament. If one is gunning for a high prestige academic center it may be more tricky because of lack of research for most military doctors comparatively to civilian counterparts. In my case, I had no problems when I was transitioning out.

 

[Crabbygas]

Agree with most of the above. Would agree that the military sorts people by personality disorder. The worst ones stay in for 30. Getting out after 6 or 8 likely has a good prognosis.