I just received an email from a recruiter that said the following:
Dr. Fizzy,
The promises made to you during your initial recruitment aren't quite coming to fruition. The call schedule is way more severe than you thought. The productivity incentive bonus you thought you were going to get didn't really amount to much or didn't appear at all. The type of practice you do on a daily basis isn't what you were told and isn't what you went to medical school for. You took the position out of training because you were nearing graduation and it sounded decent at the time. Does this sound familiar?
To be honest, not really. But ending up with a horrible job was one of my big fears. Horrible meaning Internship 2. I had been waiting through my entire residency to spend more time with my daughter, so the last thing I wanted was some nightmare job to take me away from her.
One of my first job interviews was for an academic attending position at a large rehab facility. Through the entire interview, I got this bad vibe that was making me almost ill. I remember the following exchange:
Me: "Do the attendings come in to round on weekends?"
Interviewer: "No, but we're trying to start that up."
Okayyyy......
I talked to an attending at my program who had been a resident there, and he told me that my bad vibe had been correct. The job was open because nobody wanted it.
I wonder how many people end up in truly horrible jobs because they were duped during the interview process?
Quite a few. I've seen stats of up to 50% of OB-Gyns leave their first post-residency job. I'm one of them. ;)
ReplyDeleteLots. It happens everywhere. Also, people want the job search to be over (because looking for a position is possibly one of the least fun things to do in life), and ANYTHING starts to look good after a while. Then you end up in the job from hell.
ReplyDeleteI can attest to the "anything looks good" part, especially if you tack that on after "working with someone whom I knew but turned out to be the boss from hell" :P
ReplyDeleteMe. I was in audit with a Big 4 accounting firm and couldn't take the hours (and just overall hated the work - I posted a guest story about it in MiM). There was a job opening for a position in my firms Learning & Education department that looked like a lateral move. I went to the interview and they were very excited about me, said that the position required a CA and explained the type of work I'd be doing required a lot of analysis, presentations and meetings with partners. I was very excited.
ReplyDeleteThen I started this job and not only did I do NONE of the work that they promised I ended up doing mostly very administrative tasks. Instead of doing analysis, I ended up being tasked with compiling data and giving it to someone else to analyse. Instead of meeting with partners, I'd have to arrange meetings (book rooms, catering, send calendar invites). I hated it and every time I would bring it up the managers would look guilty and say its a temporary thing. In the end I couldn't take it and I handed in my resignation letter on Wednesday.
Fizzy, I don't know much about your life except what I read here from time to time, but I think what helped you be happy with your job is you knew what you wanted (spending time with your kid) and your prioritized that. I'm applying for residency this year, and I hope I can prioritize like that. It's the scariest thing to think I might end up somewhere for the next 4 years and not be happy.
ReplyDelete