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I'm a graduating HPM fellow who just completed a job search in palliative care. The process felt stressful just because I've never applied for a "real" job before and could not find a ton of information on what to expect in HPM, so I thought I'd share some general reflections from my n=1 experience in case it helps future fellows!
A bit about me: I trained in internal medicine, and I'm completing training at a large academic center on the east coast. I am lucky to not be geographically restricted, although I had a general preference for coastal areas given where my family are scattered. I just accepted a full-time palliative care position to be close to my family, which I'm excited about!
Starting the search: I started my search around late November of fellowship year. I almost exclusively used AAHPM Jobmart. I heard lots of conflicting advice about when the "right" time to start looking might be. My sense is that if you're geographically restricted or you have to work right away after fellowship (ie. July 1st), starting the search early (between October and November) makes sense. If you're flexible on geography and start date, it may benefit you to wait to sign a contract until you see what's available in January-March. Many programs don't know what they have available until they review their needs and available FTE in Dec-Jan, so you won't hear about those positions until the first few months of the calendar year. If you have the flexibility, waiting can certainly pay off if you haven't found the right fit.
Jobs: I looked at a wide range of positions (most regions of the US, both community and academic, both inpatient and outpatient palliative). I think I reached out to around 12-15 places in total. Most were full-time positions, although many positions are part-time (~0.8 FTE). If there are several cities you could be happy, the search can be comfortable. If you need to be in a specific top 20 metro, you might be out of luck in some years if you don't have existing connections. This year, the market in major metro areas of California felt red hot in my opinion (particularly if you're open to community positions/Kaiser), while specific northeast cities were relatively dry. I'm sure this trend varies year-to-year. If you have to be in a certain city, it seems common to temporarily broaden your job preferences (ie. taking a hospice job in the city you want to be, even if you want to do palliative long-term) and wait for an opening the next few years.
Applications/Interviews: I was surprised at how much the application and interview processes varied at different places. For community jobs, the initial application is often simply sending a few sentences to the recruiter saying that you're interested. For academic places, it feels a lot more like ERAS where you need references, a cover letter, etc. Some places just had 1-2 rounds of virtual interviews before they were ready to make a decision, while others add an in-person interview where they (usually) pay for travel costs. I would encourage you to ask your initial contact about the timeline of the interview process just to know what to expect.
The bulk of my interviews were with members of the IDT, which all felt generally comfortable and conversational. Some places have standardized questions (ie. please tell me about a time when XYZ happened, and how did you deal with that), but I never got anything too far out of left field compared to residency and fellowship interviews. Several community programs also had me meet with administrators in the hospital system, which was a new experience.
Timeline: I wish I could give a clear timeline about when to expect an interview after an application or when to expect a job offer after the interview. It varies so widely, which adds to the stress of the process. Just to give a sense of the range, my interview offers were anywhere between 2 days to a few months after the initial application. My small sample size of job offers were roughly between a few days to about a month after completion of the last interview. My sense is that timing doesn't always have to do with how interested they are in you as a candidate; some places (particularly academic) just have a slower process.
At the risk of stating the obvious, the best approach as an applicant is to actively continue your job search/interviews until you at minimum receive a verbal offer from a place you're willing to accept. It helps keep your mind off the waiting. Know that you can request a bit of time (usually a few weeks) to consider a verbal offer you've received. Once you've accepted a verbal offer, there's an additional process where the legal/HR departments create the offer letter/contract for you to sign. This might also take several weeks. Hence, the time between initial application until a signed offer letter/contract can be quite a few months.
General Advice: Talk to your co-fellows and recent graduates from your program about what they are seeing. By sharing data points with one another, it helps to be armed with information about job details and compensation/benefits whenever you start to review offers. If you're geographically restricted and having trouble finding your dream job, leverage whatever networks you have in the area and be open to short-term alternative career paths (primary care, hospitalist, etc) until something opens up that you truly want. As stressful as the process sounds, everyone in my small circle of palliative care has found a job. You'll get there!
If other folks have any other tips, please feel free to share!
A bit about me: I trained in internal medicine, and I'm completing training at a large academic center on the east coast. I am lucky to not be geographically restricted, although I had a general preference for coastal areas given where my family are scattered. I just accepted a full-time palliative care position to be close to my family, which I'm excited about!
Starting the search: I started my search around late November of fellowship year. I almost exclusively used AAHPM Jobmart. I heard lots of conflicting advice about when the "right" time to start looking might be. My sense is that if you're geographically restricted or you have to work right away after fellowship (ie. July 1st), starting the search early (between October and November) makes sense. If you're flexible on geography and start date, it may benefit you to wait to sign a contract until you see what's available in January-March. Many programs don't know what they have available until they review their needs and available FTE in Dec-Jan, so you won't hear about those positions until the first few months of the calendar year. If you have the flexibility, waiting can certainly pay off if you haven't found the right fit.
Jobs: I looked at a wide range of positions (most regions of the US, both community and academic, both inpatient and outpatient palliative). I think I reached out to around 12-15 places in total. Most were full-time positions, although many positions are part-time (~0.8 FTE). If there are several cities you could be happy, the search can be comfortable. If you need to be in a specific top 20 metro, you might be out of luck in some years if you don't have existing connections. This year, the market in major metro areas of California felt red hot in my opinion (particularly if you're open to community positions/Kaiser), while specific northeast cities were relatively dry. I'm sure this trend varies year-to-year. If you have to be in a certain city, it seems common to temporarily broaden your job preferences (ie. taking a hospice job in the city you want to be, even if you want to do palliative long-term) and wait for an opening the next few years.
Applications/Interviews: I was surprised at how much the application and interview processes varied at different places. For community jobs, the initial application is often simply sending a few sentences to the recruiter saying that you're interested. For academic places, it feels a lot more like ERAS where you need references, a cover letter, etc. Some places just had 1-2 rounds of virtual interviews before they were ready to make a decision, while others add an in-person interview where they (usually) pay for travel costs. I would encourage you to ask your initial contact about the timeline of the interview process just to know what to expect.
The bulk of my interviews were with members of the IDT, which all felt generally comfortable and conversational. Some places have standardized questions (ie. please tell me about a time when XYZ happened, and how did you deal with that), but I never got anything too far out of left field compared to residency and fellowship interviews. Several community programs also had me meet with administrators in the hospital system, which was a new experience.
Timeline: I wish I could give a clear timeline about when to expect an interview after an application or when to expect a job offer after the interview. It varies so widely, which adds to the stress of the process. Just to give a sense of the range, my interview offers were anywhere between 2 days to a few months after the initial application. My small sample size of job offers were roughly between a few days to about a month after completion of the last interview. My sense is that timing doesn't always have to do with how interested they are in you as a candidate; some places (particularly academic) just have a slower process.
At the risk of stating the obvious, the best approach as an applicant is to actively continue your job search/interviews until you at minimum receive a verbal offer from a place you're willing to accept. It helps keep your mind off the waiting. Know that you can request a bit of time (usually a few weeks) to consider a verbal offer you've received. Once you've accepted a verbal offer, there's an additional process where the legal/HR departments create the offer letter/contract for you to sign. This might also take several weeks. Hence, the time between initial application until a signed offer letter/contract can be quite a few months.
General Advice: Talk to your co-fellows and recent graduates from your program about what they are seeing. By sharing data points with one another, it helps to be armed with information about job details and compensation/benefits whenever you start to review offers. If you're geographically restricted and having trouble finding your dream job, leverage whatever networks you have in the area and be open to short-term alternative career paths (primary care, hospitalist, etc) until something opens up that you truly want. As stressful as the process sounds, everyone in my small circle of palliative care has found a job. You'll get there!
If other folks have any other tips, please feel free to share!
