Careers: Your job search and the interview questions doctors forget to ask

2) How the group makes decisions:

• How does this group make decisions?

• How often does the group meet to discuss the practice and the systems used to deliver care?

• Has the group ever had a strategic planning retreat?

• If so, how long ago was the last one?

• Who are the leaders of the group and how are they selected/elected?

• What were the last three significant decisions the group made?

• What happens if one or more physicians disagree with a decision the group has made?

• What is the relationship between the physicians and the administration?

• What happens if the physicians have made a decision and the administration (CEO, board of directors, executive committee) disagrees?

• Who were the last three physicians to leave the group and why did they leave?

• May I have their contact information so I can ask them a few questions?

3) Your immediate supervisor:

• Who would be my immediate supervisor or “boss” or the person in this group / organization that I report directly to? May I speak with him or her, too?

• Are you a physician?

• Do you still see patients?

• How long have you been in this position?

• How would you describe your leadership style?

• Does the group pay you for your leadership activities?

• If yes, do you feel it is a fair payment when compared with what you make seeing patients?

• What training have you had in physician leadership?

• Assuming I were to accept this position, how often would you and I meet?

• How would you like me to communicate with you if I have a question or concern?

• How would you communicate back with me and in what time frame?

• What happens if you and I were ever to disagree about a decision/project/action step ... what would we do then and how would we resolve our disagreement?

• What do you feel is the most stressful part of your job when you are serving as a physician leader?

• What is currently the biggest challenge to this group?

• What do you see as the biggest challenge to the group in the next 5 years?

Now it’s your turn

If you have an interview coming up ... make your list and take it with you.

If you are in a position now and not looking to change, I still suggest you answer these questions about your current group just to make sure you recognize these potential seeds of future discontent early. In my work as an executive coach with hundreds of overstressed doctors, it is not uncommon for them to quit a job and realize these issues only in hindsight.

Don’t let that happen to you.

Dike Drummond, M.D., is a family physician, executive coach, and creator of the Burnout Prevention MATRIX Free Report with over 117 different ways physicians and organizations can lower stress and prevent burnout. He provides stress management, burnout prevention, and physician wellness and engagement coaching and consulting through his website, The Happy MD.