A Guide for Jumpstarting Your Medical Career After Graduation
The journey through medical school and residency is an all-consuming and incredibly demanding experience. For years, your world has been a focused bubble of long hours, intense study, and the single-minded pursuit of clinical excellence. You are mastering the science of medicine, which is a monumental achievement.
But your long-term success and fulfillment as a physician will be built not just in the hospital, but in the community you choose to serve. The secret that many seasoned doctors will tell you is to start building your professional network now, before you need it. For a young physician, the single most important step you can take is to get involved with your local professional medical society. It is the central hub of your local medical community, a place to find mentors, to build relationships, and to lay the foundation for a thriving career.
To move from a resident to a medical leader, here are some key steps to take.
Build Your Local Network
Medicine is, and always will be, a local and relationship-based profession. The best career opportunities often come from a personal connection, and the most trusted patient referrals are the ones that are passed between physicians who know and respect each other. Your professional network is one of your most valuable career assets.
While you will get to know the other residents and the attending physicians in your hospital system, your local medical society is the most effective and efficient way to meet the broader community of established physicians in your area. Attending the society’s dinner meetings and social events allows you to build a personal rapport with the leaders of the private practices and the different hospital systems in a relaxed, collegial environment.
Find a Mentor (or Several)
The guidance of an experienced mentor is an invaluable “career accelerator” for any young professional. Residency provides you with clinical mentors, but you also need a career mentor—someone who has already successfully navigated the path you are on.
Your medical society is a target-rich environment for finding this person. You can connect with physicians who are in the exact type of practice you aspire to have. Are you thinking of starting your own solo practice one day? Find a successful solo practitioner and ask if you can take them to lunch to pick their brain. Are you interested in a specific sub-specialty? Find a leader in that field.
Start Learning the “Business” of Medicine
This is one of the biggest gaps in a traditional medical education. Residency teaches you how to be a great doctor, but it doesn’t teach you how to run a business, to read a P&L statement, or to negotiate a partnership agreement.
Your local medical society is a fantastic source for this real-world business education. Many societies host regular seminars and workshops on the business of medicine. Actively seeking out this knowledge while you are still in residency will give you a massive advantage when it’s time to evaluate your first job offers or to consider starting your own practice.
Get Involved in Local Advocacy
The rules, the regulations, and the policies that govern how you will practice medicine are often decided at the state and local level. Your local medical society is the collective voice of the physician community in these important conversations.
Consider joining one of the society’s advocacy committees. This is a chance to learn about the legislative issues that are impacting physicians in your area, from scope of practice laws to insurance reimbursement policies. This not only keeps you informed but also demonstrates a commitment to the profession that is a hallmark of a future leader.
Residency is an incredibly important part of your training. But a truly successful and fulfilling career is built on more than just clinical skill. By taking the time to step outside the residency bubble and get involved in your local medical community, you are making a powerful, strategic investment in your own future.
