UO Magazine > Jan/Feb 2007 > Power Résumés

When Steve Singer, MD decided to leave his general surgery practice after battling tough economic factors for 13 years, he thought he would apply for something in management, but all he had to offer prospective employers was a curriculum vitae, or CV, as it’s more commonly known.

“At that point, I had no résumé,” says the Tampa, Florida, surgeon, who now serves as the medical director for Humana.

Lucky for him, his circle of friends included Deborah Shlian, MD, MBA, who, along with her physician-husband Joel, own Shlian and Associates, an executive/physician recruiting firm based in Boca Raton, Florida.

“She knows what employers look for, so she helped me develop my résumé,” Singer says.

Any physician who hopes to jump from clinical practice into an executive position or any job outside the clinical field needs a good résumé to open the door, says Deborah Shlian. “It’s their ticket to an interview,” she says.

Yet physicians, if they have résumés at all, tend to have bad ones.

“Most physician résumés I’ve seen are too generic,” says Shlian.

Francine Gaillour, MD, MBA, an executive coach and the founder and director of Creative Strategies in Physician Leadership (www.physicianleadership.com) in Bellevue, Washington, would take the criticism of physician résumés a step further. “They’re old, basic, and boring,” she says.

The reasons why, according to physician recruiters like Shlian and Mary Frances Lyons, MD, with the St. Louis-based executive search firm Witt/Keiffer, generally have to do with one or more of the following reasons:

Until you’re able to understand and shine in all three categories, you’re unlikely to produce the kind of résumé that will land you an interview, much less a job. And if it’s a fellowship or residency you’re seeking—something in the clinical field—these tips are likely to prove useful, too. At least you’ll know which document to present, and what it should contain.

The first thing to understand if you’re seeking new work is that a curriculum vita is not a résumé.

“CVs list academic accomplishments,” says Lyons.

According to James Tysinger PhD, an associate professor in the department of family and community medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, and the author of Résumés and Personal Statements for Health Professionals (Galen Press, 1999), a good CV will include:

• Educational experience

• Training

• Fellowships

• Presentations at national conferences

• Research experience

• Published, peer-reviewed books, articles, chapters, abstracts, etc.

• Grants acquired (and for how much)

• Leadership positions in national organizations

• Committee experience in professional organizations

• Any other academic or clinical accomplishments

Almost all physicians have CVs and are familiar with how they’re put together, Tysinger says. Gaillour agrees. “They’re cut-and-dried outlines,” she says “They don’t follow any traditional format.”

Curriculum vitae will help you secure a residency, staff privileges, and maybe a first job if you’re applying to work for a managed-care company, for example. They’re basic tools to determine if a physician is right for an academic or clinical position or, occasionally, for a government committee, such as a state medical board.

“CVs can also be useful backgrounders if you’re giving a lecture somewhere,” says Ian Jones, MD, who successfully made the jump from obstetrics-gynecology to administrative work about six years ago. He currently serves as the vice president of clinical performance at Sherman Hospital in Elgin, Illinois.

In the world of business, however, managers are more interested in what you’ve accomplished in a business sense than in what publications you’ve produced or presentations you’ve given.

“Résumés are business tools,” says Gaillour. “They’re what corporate organizations are familiar with, and it’s what they look for when they consider candidates.”

Jones, who is in a position to review résumés and hire candidates, says physicians are frequently confused about when to send a CV and when to send a résumé. He says, don’t send a CV if you’re looking for administrative work. “They don’t tell me what I need to know,” he says. “Frankly, they amuse me, but they’re not very helpful.”

Tysinger says whether a physician needs to have a résumé or a curriculum vita—or both—depends on career goals.

“Think about what you’re looking for,” Tysinger says. If you want a position as department chair, you’ll need a CV. If it’s a job with an insurance or managed-care company, you’ll need a résumé. According to Tysinger, it’s not a bad idea for physicians to have one of each available. That way you’re covered, no matter how your career changes or grows. “You can always adapt a résumé to a CV and vice versa,” he says.

Suppose you’re a physician who is ready to write a résumé. Where do you begin?

If you’re just starting on a non-clinical, management path, then a good, basic résumé will help you apply for the kind of job that will give you more business experience.

A basic résumé, says Tysinger, will provide your name, contact information (don’t forget to list your e-mail address), your degree, your position in clinical practice, or any administrative roles you’ve had in practice. It will also include the titles and dates of any business or leadership positions.

“There are three criteria for writing a résumé,” says Tysinger. “The information in a résumé needs to be accurate, important, and complete”—and that holds true whether you’re preparing a basic résumé or the more advanced executive résumé, which will be discussed later.

These three criteria warrant a closer look:

“You need to be honest about everything in your résumé,” says Barbara Linney, the vice-president of career development for the American College of Physician Executives. In that role, she has helped scores of physicians craft résumés. “If there’s a skeleton in your closet, a recruiter or potential employer will uncover it, so be upfront and tell them what it is,” she says.

Accuracy also means not embellishing job titles or areas of responsibility, and accounting for all dates since graduation. “You need entry and completion dates so a recruiter can follow your history,” Linney says. If there are gaps, explain them. “Potential employers don’t like surprises,” she says.

Lyons recalls one job applicant who listed a degree he was scheduled to receive but didn’t yet have. When the potential employer asked about it, the applicant looked as though he had deliberately misrepresented himself. “Be honest,” says Lyons. “Only put down those degrees or awards you have already received.”

Gaillour recalls looking over one physician’s résumé and learning he had delivered pizzas while in college. “Don’t put that kind of information in your résumé,” she says. “It doesn’t qualify you for anything.”

Gaillour also advises résumé writers to skip information about grade point averages, references, and personal information such as hobbies and family. “If the employer wants to know anything about this, it will come up during the interview,” she says.

Lyons disagrees. She encourages applicants to add information to their résumé about their spouse, the spouse’s career, and the names and ages of their children. “It addresses an applicant’s ability to move if that’s required,” she says. Even if the question about moving is not brought up until the interview, some employers would like that information up front, she says. (Direct questions about marital status are illegal for the employer to ask during an interview, but they are often addressed with a general question such as, “Tell us about yourself.” It is up to the applicant to decide how to reply.)

When you’re deciding what’s important enough to list in your résumé, Tysinger says to consider the position for which you are applying. “A business executive isn’t going to care about your grant-writing experience or where you served your residency. Only put in information that would be relevant to the job you’re applying for,” he says.

Sometimes, Tysinger says, it can be helpful to sit down and inventory what you have to offer. “One of the questions I ask my client is, ‘Do you speak a second language?’ The fact that you can will sometimes give you an edge over another candidate,” he says.