The path to become a practicing surgeon is long and arduous. At the same time, it is also fairly regimented: 4+ years in medical school, 5+ years in residency, and then possibly a couple more in fellowship. Each step comes with a standardized process and timeline that we are used to pressing through.

After you are finally done with that training, how do you go about obtaining your first job? It’s unscripted, there’s no Match Day, there’s no single application or website to reference, and new graduates place a lot of pressure on themselves to find and negotiate the “perfect job.”

Here to shed some light on the process is Dr. Kimberly Hoang, neurosurgeon at Emory University. Not only does she give a helpful road map for planning your future career, she also shares tips for choosing and navigating the right (there’s no such thing as perfect) first job. She also talks about challenges and opportunities with pursuing an academic position in neurosurgery.

Rima Rindler, a chief neurosurgery resident at Emory, questions Dr. Hoang as she is about to embark on her own job search. Vivian Wang, who recently started her job at Kaiser Northwest Permanente, and Razan Faraj, a current Emory medical student, also cohost.

The post S3E3: Dr. Kimberly Hoang, on finding your first “real” job first appeared on WISER Podcast.