My First Job: The Transition from Residency to Employment-What the Employer and Employee Should Know

The transition from completion of a radiology training program to permanent employment can often be a difficult one for the new employee. Gone is the comfort level of the structured residency or fellowship program, and the new employee is now faced with issues that were previously unidentified. The new employee begins with a “clean slate”; the reputation and accomplishments employees attained as students are now insignificant, and they once again have to prove their worth. The comfort level of having senior residents, fellows, and attendings to confirm their interpretations and bolster their confidence is now absent. The scheduled workday, regardless of workload, has changed. New employees are expected to dive in and carry their weight while accomplishing their daily tasks in a timely and efficient manor, all while maintaining a balance between their professional and personal lives. Finally, new employees must learn to tackle and conquer these obstacles within their first 90 to 100 days, a timeframe often seen as the “make or break” period that clarifies whether the new hire will continue on to partnership. This article addresses the issues often harrying the newly employed radiologist. It is hoped that these observations will provide a “wake-up” call to the future first-time employees and provide insight for the established radiologist with regard to the difficulty of this transition period.