RSS FeedThe Most Important Research You May Never Do
23 November 2009Are you in search of new opportunities currently? Whether you’re completing your training or simply seeking a better practice situation, you’ve probably updated your CV, contacted some recruiters, applied for some openings – maybe even attended some interviews!
One very important step of the interview process many physicians forget, in preparation for the interview and practice search process is a very simple one: to Google yourself. Yes, that’s right – it’s free, painless, and only takes a few seconds. Why is this simple task so important to your career?
You know that phone conversation you may have just had with the recruiter from the hospital in your dream location? As soon as you hung up the phone, most likely, you were Googled! (And you probably didn’t even feel it!)
How does your internet presence affect your search?
1) Polarizing photos or comments – If you have any particularly unflattering photos, or if you’ve posted controversial comments on a radical website, these things may show up on the worldwide web when your name is searched. Not that having a strong opinion is a crime, but it could affect a hiring manager’s opinion of you.
2) Legal issues and allegations – Once, I spoke with a physician candidate who danced around the question when asked about his professional background. Five seconds after we hung up the phone, I was reading local news articles about some very serious legal troubles and allegations that caused his license to be suspended. Unfortunately, he couldn’t dance around his internet results.
3) Patient reviews – On several occasions I’ve interviewed physicians who seemed like ideal candidates on the phone. However, upon searching online after our conversation, I’ve found multiple scathing reviews from patients on a variety of consumer rate-a-doc websites. Granted, those are just a few patients’ opinions, but most physicians do not have negative reviews online. Therefore, explaining to our clients why a particular physician has an overabundance of nay-saying patients could prove challenging for us as recruiters.
One golden rule of candidacy is to try not to offend or turn off any potential decision-makers. As a potential partner in a practice, or potential hospital employee, you should try not to give people a reason to rule you out of the process, and that includes your internet presence. It could make the difference in your ability to get hired for the practice you want.
Not only do you need to know what your internet search results are for your name, you need to be prepared to address any issues, and/or try to remove the negative search results from the internet. If you find erroneous data, you should be able to get it cleared up by contacting the company or site administrator, depending on the agency that is publishing the information.
What does the internet say about you? If you don’t know the answer to that question, you have at least five seconds of very important research to do before jumping into the practice search process. It could be the most important five seconds of research you do in your medical career.
Regards,
Andrea Santiago
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