Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Your Physician CV: Life on Paper

By Amy Cline


A CV or curriculum vitae (literally course of life" in Latin) gives employers their first real in-depth examination of the professional accomplishments of an emergency medicine physician. Even if these employers have already spoken to you on the phone, actually viewing your professional background on paper can be a make-or-break moment in your job search process. CV information is critical to any hospital or ER management group looking to hire physicians skilled in the science and art of this specialty.

This vital document needs to give a potential employer a sense of who you are as both a professional and a person. An effective physician CV should tell a story that includes much more than just where you went to school, where you did your residency or what achievements you have accomplished in your emergency medicine career. Keep in mind that they are hiring a person not just a physician with a skill set.

Making certain not to clutter up your physician CV with trivial personal things, it is imperative to include any skills, hobbies or personal strenghts that go beyond your clinical abilities. Things that could add value to employer if they hired you. Including such things as foreign language capability, computer skills or public speaking ability are good examples of this. It is not hard to see why skills such as these could be the turning point in getting hired for your next emergency medicine job.

Don't sell yourself short by excluding quantifiable skills and traits that could give you an edge over other candidates. A good example of this would be, how is your bedside manner? If one of your strengths is putting patients at ease, you could conceivabley be able to successfully treat more patients with a faster diagnosis bringing quality care. If you are detail-oriented, you will be highly valued as a good record keeper, another important aspect in an employer's eyes.

Don't overplay these ancillary traits; a simple bullet point outlining the personality strength and how it would positively impact your job performance in the emergency room will suffice.

From there, you might want to include a paragraph on a single professional accomplishment, such as being selected as ER Physician of the Year" for the previous year, or chosen to be a speaker at an ACEP Scientific Assembly. Whatever it is, make sure it's important enough to highlight before your professional credentials. (If it isn't noteworthy enough, include the honor at the bottom of your CV, where they're traditionally listed.)

If you find yourself unsure of what to put in your physician CV, it may be a good idea to have it reviewed by a physician staffing firm. These physician recruiters see literally thousands of CV's over the years and know what kind of information needs to be included to give you an edge.

The services of these firms are free to ER physicians; instead, physician staffing firms are compensated by hospitals and groups after a successful job match.




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