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sponch

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Any of you guys close to graduation and looking for jobs? Anyone recently land a great job? Just wanted to pick your brain about the whole process and using recruiters.

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Any of you guys close to graduation and looking for jobs? Anyone recently land a great job? Just wanted to pick your brain about the whole process and using recruiters.

PGY 4 of 5 and looking. It's been hard to give up on academics, but I'm about 95% sure that private is the way for me.

I get the mass influx of emails from recruiters, but most of these are nonspecific. Ian Thompson, PGY 4 at Vanderbilt, started a website called http://urologyjobsearch.com/. Its worth taking a look at that site.

I found a job prospect by looking online. It was in a geographic area where I would enjoy living. Have been negotiating a contract.

I have put a huge amount of faith in my contract attorney to decipher the terms and compensation.

As this has developed, more questions than answers are generated.

For example,

What is the typical overhead of a urology practice? What can I expect to bill and collect?

What is a reasonable amount of ER call to expect? Practice Call?

That is a reasonable salary guarantee? How long? How is compensation structured after the guarantee? What ancillaries and bonus pools are available?

Will I be able to practice medicine as I see fit or will there be an overwhelming amount of beaurocracy?

Some of this is a leap of faith. If the numbers look good and you seem to get along with the partners, jump in.

Let's keep this thread going!
 
The website UrologyMatch.com has a job board that list tons on openings. It's a good starting point and if you know where you want to practice you can narrow down the listings.
 
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PGY 4 of 5 and looking. It's been hard to give up on academics, but I'm about 95% sure that private is the way for me.

I get the mass influx of emails from recruiters, but most of these are nonspecific. Ian Thompson, PGY 4 at Vanderbilt, started a website called http://urologyjobsearch.com/. Its worth taking a look at that site.

I found a job prospect by looking online. It was in a geographic area where I would enjoy living. Have been negotiating a contract.

I have put a huge amount of faith in my contract attorney to decipher the terms and compensation.

As this has developed, more questions than answers are generated.

For example,

What is the typical overhead of a urology practice? What can I expect to bill and collect?

What is a reasonable amount of ER call to expect? Practice Call?

That is a reasonable salary guarantee? How long? How is compensation structured after the guarantee? What ancillaries and bonus pools are available?

Will I be able to practice medicine as I see fit or will there be an overwhelming amount of beaurocracy?

Some of this is a leap of faith. If the numbers look good and you seem to get along with the partners, jump in.

Let's keep this thread going!

Hey dude, thanks for replying. I'm just getting started in this process and am looking for a recruiter in my area. Seems like some are not urology focused and don't understand what I'm talking about. So you'd recommend getting a lawyer to look over the contract? Others have told me that... how did you find our lawyer? Word of mouth or something like the yellow pages?
 
Thanks for mentioning urologyjobsearch.com!

This web site I started is growing. I am sort of trying to create a paradigm shift in the way some physicians, at least urologists for now, are "recruited." You can read some of my views on this topic at one of my recent blog posts: http://urologyjobsearch.com/blog/2011/02/middle-men-who-are-players-recruiting-business

If you are going to the AUA next week in DC, you can come and see what we're up to. We will have a booth presence there, #1624, and we will also be hosting a reception on Monday afternoon, May 16th, from 4-7 pm at the Old Domion Brew House (1219 9th St; Washington D.C., DC 20001-4375 - http://olddominionbrewhouse.com/) Free beer and wine and food.

I guess my biggest thought on the issue is that it's probably best to work directly with an employer, an in-house recruiter, or at least a retained recruiter...instead of a recruiter that is working on contingency and is just trying to get you to sign a contract.

I recently received an email from an in-house recruiter that echoed some of this sentiment stating:

"As an inhouse recruiter, I appreciate your page explaining the differences between inhouse and 3rd party recruiters. You are right- having your CV attached to a headhunter can definitely lock you out of a position because of the huge price now on your head. Candidates should never blindly share their CV without understanding exactly who they are sharing it with. I always appreciate when a candidate asks me to explain my role so i can tell them how I am an advocate for both them and my hospital system- my goal is to make a happy longterm match, not get a fee for a "sale". Thanks and I am glad to see your site up and running!"

If you come across any urology jobs represented by in-house recruiters / employers, feel free to refer them to urologyjobsearch.com

As far as the contract issue is concerned, I definitely recommend everyone to have their contract reviewed by a lawyer. It is also probably best to have it reviewed by a lawyer that specializes in physician contract review. Things about which you want to play close attention:
- Non-compete clauses - time period and distance radius from employment site
- Call
- Steps to partnership, what's included, what's the cost for "buy-in", what is the time line for all of this. (along these lines, I would personally hesitate signing at a place where a large segment of your income will come from ancillaries into which you must pay a large buy in. It is still not clear how all the Stark laws and such will settle out in the next few years.)
- If there's something you really care about, it might be worth putting it in writing in the contract.

Some sites that might be worth visiting to inquire about their services re: physician contract review:
http://www.kelsolaw.com/
http://valancy.com/Negotiate_a_Fair_Employment_Agreement.html
I don't have any personal experience with either of the two above mentioned groups so I cannot make any recommendations, but I have spent some time reading through their content and it is at least a place to start.

All the best,
Ian
 
hey everyone.
I'm in the process of looking at contracts too. Merritt Hawkins recruiters have all these offers where starting income is 450k or so (in some small town) and they tell me that the urologists currently working at these hospitals are making 700k-1mil. Meanwhile, Locum Tenems is only paying $1000 a day (so about $300k a year), as a set salary without increase. The difference in income is so great, I'm wondering how truthful the Merritt Hawkins guys were.

What kind of income is reasonable for someone who works say 60 hrs a week, after getting established a couple of years? Are the Merritt Hawkins guys just exaggerating to recruit me or are the Locum Tenems guys just lowballing people?
 
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