What young physicians want from a first job

March 12, 2020

Chris Mazzolini is the editorial director of Medical Economics

Logan Lutton

Final-year residents are in high demand, so they’re being choosy about where they want to start their careers.

Final-year residents are the future of medical practice in the United States. But what kind of work are they looking for when they start their careers?

Merritt Hawkins, a national physicians search and consulting firm, released results of a survey of final-year medical residents to learn about the recruiting process, what young physicians want out of their first employers and what preferences they use to decide where and how they want to practice.

Here are 8 things to know about the job market for young physicians.

1. Young physicians are in high demand

65 percent of residents surveyed said they received more than 50 recruiting offers, and 45 percent received more than 100 offers.

“Physicians coming out of training are being recruited like blue chip athletes. There are simply not enough new doctors to go around.”

-Travis Singleton, Merritt Hawkins

2. Young physicians focus on location, pay and work-life balance

Residents surveyed said that most important criteria when evaluating job opportunities were:

Geographic location

Good financial package

Adequate personal time

3. Hospitals are their preferred practice setting

Young physicians ranked their preferred practice setting in this order:

Hospital employee

Single specialty group employee

Multi-specialty group employee

Partner with another physician

Only 2 percent said they wanted to go into solo practice

4. They want to practice in big cities

About 20 percent of residents said they would rather work in a city with more than 1 million people.

Another 45 percent wanted to work in cities with at least 250,000 residents.

5. Residents are concerned by student loan repayment-or not

Residents who have loans are very concerned about repayment, as 42 percent reported having more than $200,000 in student loans.

6. Residents feel less prepared to handle the “business side” of medicine

When it comes to topics such as employment contracts, compensation arrangements and other similar topics, resident they felt:

Very prepared: 8 percent

Somewhat prepared: 54 percent

Unprepared: 38 percent

53 percent said they received no formal training on these topics in medical school.

7. What are new physicians most concerned about as they begin their careers?

The top 5 concerns were:

Earning a good income

Educational debt

Availability of free time

Insufficient practice management knowledge

Dealing with payers

8. Some young physicians have career buyer’s remorse

19 percent of final-year residents said they would not choose medicine as a career if they had a do-over.

“With high levels of physician burnout and continued uncertainty about the direction of the healthcare system, many doctors are under duress today.”

-Singleton, Merritt Hawkins

About the survey

Merritt Hawkins conducted the 2019 Survey of Final-Year Medical Residents, which included 391 responses and had a margin of error of plus/minus 4.86 percent.