Before You Update Your CV, Answer This Question

If your closest physician friend, someone with your exact skills and your same career, just got laid off, what would you tell her to do?

Take a breath. Take some time. Don't sprint into the first thing that looks familiar just to fill the gap.

Now ask yourself: are you willing to do that for yourself?

If the answer is complicated, you're not alone. And that complication is actually the most important thing to look at before you do anything else after a layoff.

This is Part 2 of a series I've been doing on what happens when women physicians get laid off. Not fired, not choosing to leave, laid off. The organization ran the numbers and decided it didn't need you anymore. You had no vote. And now you're sitting with a mix of feelings and a growing pressure to figure out your next move, ideally yesterday.

Here's what I want to offer before you open LinkedIn: the urgency you feel may not be coming from where you think it is.

The first thing worth doing is looking honestly at your financial situation. Not from a place of anxiety, from actual numbers. Are you the sole earner in your household, or do you have a partner's income, a severance offer, some other financial cushion? Because a lot of us feel more pressure to immediately replace our income than the math actually requires. And when we act from that feeling rather than from the real numbers, we accept the first thing that looks like the last thing. Which is how we end up right back where we started.

Once you've looked at the finances clearly, I want you to sit with some questions that are going to feel deceptively simple.

What did you tolerate at your last job that you won't tolerate again? Be specific. Was it the inconsistent support staff while your male colleagues had consistent coverage? Was it the scheduling that left no room for anything that wasn't a patient? Write it down, because if you can't name it, you can't ask for something different.

What actually lit you up? Burnout has a way of dimming that answer, but it's still in there. Think about the moments when you felt most like yourself at work. That's data.

What would you choose to do next if no one would judge you for it? This one tends to open something up. Because the worry about CV gaps and what the department chair will think has a way of narrowing the field before you've even looked at it clearly.

And then: what does your ideal Tuesday afternoon look like in your next role? Two afternoons a week, full time, something else entirely? Know that before you start telling people you're available.

On the practical side, here's the order that actually works. First, reach out to the people who already know how good you are and let them know what you're looking for, not what you'll tolerate, what you actually want. Then connect with physicians who are doing something different: DPC, cash pay, micro-practice, whatever you've been quietly curious about. Have coffee with them. Ask what's hard and what they love. You won't find those conversations on a job board.

And then, yes, look at what's posted. But by the time you get there, you'll be looking through a much clearer lens.

If you've been laid off, or if you're thinking about leaving and wondering what your next move looks like, I'd love to help you think it through. Listen to Episode 231 of Ending Physician Overwhelm wherever you get your podcasts, and come back for more next week.