All radiology residents have a vested interest in obtaining a desirable postgraduate position. It seems intuitive that careful consideration, early in residency, of the options available and useful strategies in obtaining a position would benefit residents and lead to successful job searches. What are the available options? There are academic and private practice positions, but how much does a resident know about the differences between them? What are the strategies that have proved useful to diagnostic radiology residency graduates in obtaining desirable positions? There are no requirements by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education to provide resident career counseling (1), but we believe this is an important function of the residency program. In an effort to develop guidelines for radiology resident career counseling, we surveyed our residency graduates to identify strategies that were useful to them in obtaining a postgraduate position in radiology, and we reviewed the literature regarding the current radiology job market and issues related to choosing a career in academic or private practice radiology. In November 1997, a survey was mailed to the 23 graduates of the 1993-1997 radiology residency program at the University of Wisconsin. Ten survey questions addressed the issues of when the residents started planning for fellowship and job placement, who advised them regarding this task, which strategies and sources were used in finding a position, and what helped them the most in their job search. Because the survey also addressed issues concerning satisfaction with other aspects of our residency program, the surveys were anonymous and respondents were told their responses would remain confidential. The surveys were coded such that respondents and nonrespondents could be identified by year of graduation. The most current published results of surveys of radiology residency graduates, program directors, chairmen, and hiring groups were reviewed to obtain information regarding the status of unemployment, starting salaries, fellowships, practice opportunities, and satisfaction of positions obtained. We also reviewed published reports regarding resident decisions to pursue academic versus private practice opportunities and the differences between the two. Last, we reviewed the literature regarding re