The Career Portfolio Workbook

Understanding of management and business aspects of practice of

medicine

Skills

Obstetric and surgical skills

PORTFOLIO STRATEGY

Given the fact that residents have similar experiences during their

training, Zachary needs a portfolio that would help him differentiate

himself from his peers in favorable way. And he needs to allay concerns

that OB/GYN patients might not be as comfortable with him as they

would be with a female physician.

He will want to be able to demonstrate that he has developed the

very P.E.A.K.S. that he knows from his research are considered highly

valuable in candidates for the position he is seeking. And, in particular,

he will want to be able to give evidence that:

His patients are evidently not put off by the fact that he is a male

physician and, in fact, find him a very caring and compassionate doc-

tor who is sensitive to the emotions associated with their health con-

cerns.

He has very strong medical credentials that include an excellent

knowledge of the latest findings in his field and training in surgical

techniques that are not typically covered in residency programs.

He has exceptionally good training in the business of medicine. He

has taken a series of workshops on how to handle the management

and business issues that come up in private practice. And he has

been very successful as the administrative chief during the fourth

year of his residency.

Finally, he would like to be able to give some evidence of the com-

mitment he has to staying in the Boston area, as this would reassure

his interviewers that if they hire him, he won’t quit after a couple of

years because he wants to live somewhere else.

CONTENTS OF THIS SAMPLE PORTFOLIO

Resume: This is a P.E.A.K.S. resume that is targeted at the job for

which Zachary will be interviewing. It sets him up to discuss and veri-

fy P.E.A.K.S. he has that are likely to be considered desirable in candi-

dates for this position.

P: Personal Characteristics

Letter from female attending physician.This letter, from a doctor who

supervised Zachary during a segment of his training, praises Zachary

for his ability to establish rapport with his patients.

Letter from a patient.This letter thanks Zachary for the sensitive and

caring way that he attended to her concerns.

Zachary Schwartz: Getting a Job in a Highly Competitive Field 161