A National Virtual Job Search Series for Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Fellows.

Abstract

Trainees report stress and unfamiliarity with the job search and have few resources available to guide them.1 They struggle with identifying job openings, writing cover letters, identifying opportunities that align with their academic or clinical interests, and navigating specialty-specific expectations for applying, interviewing, and negotiating a job. No standard approach exists on how best to prepare trainees for finding and transitioning to their first attending jobs. To our knowledge, an attempt to provide comprehensive national education on strategies to find, obtain, and negotiate the first post-fellowship job has not been described in graduate medical education (GME) literature.We describe a virtual 7-part job search series for neonatal-perinatal medicine (NPM) fellows. The American Academy of Pediatrics' Organization of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Training Program Directors (ONTPD) and Trainees and Early Career Neonatologists (TECaN) co-hosted 1-hour virtual seminars (Table) on Zoom in spring and fall 2021. Sessions were advertised through social media platforms, website postings, and subspecialty listservs. Fellows registered and submitted questions for sessions via an electronic survey. Demographic information and baseline job search knowledge were collected. Sessions included didactics on the timeline and expectations of the job search, the experiences of applicants underrepresented in medicine, gender pay inequity, and job search fundamentals (eg, preparing a curriculum vitae and cover letter, contract negotiation, etc) as well as career panel discussions with moderators (Table). Trainees were given opportunities to moderate and organize these sessions to enhance their networking and academic opportunities. Questions submitted by registrants were answered by invited panelists during the live session. Written summaries and follow-up questions and answers were emailed to registrants upon session completion. Sessions were recorded and archived on the TECaN website.During the 2021-2022 academic year, 265 individuals registered for the series, with 53% (140 of 265) currently undergoing a job search. Registrants spanned 33 states and 2 countries. Seventy-eight percent (207 of 265) of registrants were female, 90% (238 of 265) were neonatology fellows, and 48% (127 of 265) were senior year fellows. A large group of registrants did not feel competent writing a cover letter (49%, 130 of 265) or marketing themselves (52%, 137 of 265). Ninety-one percent (241 of 265) lacked basic understanding of malpractice insurance. Less than 25% reported being “very knowledgeable” or “knowledgeable” of job search components, such as the general roles and responsibilities of junior faculty, the timeline of the job search, typical starting salaries in their desired locations, and contract negotiation.In post-session surveys, registrants' feelings of competence in writing a cover letter and marketing themselves increased to over 80%. More than 80% reported being “very knowledgeable” or “knowledgeable” of job search components. More than 90% reported that they would be “very likely” or “likely” to recommend the sessions to others, and more than 70% reported that they were going to change their approach to the job search because of the sessions.No funding was needed to implement the series. Organizers utilized their networking circles to identify a diverse group of recently graduated fellows and early and later career neonatologists to comprise the series' career panels. Additional time commitments included collating registrant questions for the panelists, identifying moderators, advertising the sessions, and distributing resources and post-session surveys to registrants. Ongoing analysis of survey data will help guide the development and improvement of future job search series.We identified a knowledge gap in NPM fellows' understanding of how to find their first attending job, and we describe a national structured approach to preparing trainees for the job search. We strongly believe this knowledge gap is not unique to NPM fellows and that all GME trainees would benefit from a similar, easy-to-implement, low-cost job search series.