Attention to Detail and Patience Are Key in the Job Search Process as Oncology Fellows

July 7, 2025

Oncology Fellows, Vol. 17/No. 2, Volume 17, Issue 2

An assistant professor at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University discusses offers insights on the job search process following fellowship.

Finding a position that is the best for you after your hematology/oncology fellowship can be daunting, but the job search and contract negotiation process can be successfully navigated with an open mind and support from mentors and colleagues, according to Matthew Hadfield, DO.

“A big branch point for your career [search] tends to be around whether or not you’re going into academics vs private practice/community hybrid practice or industry,” Hadfield, assistant professor of medicine at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, said in an interview with Oncology Fellows. “Academic positions tend to fall a bit later in the cycle of interviewing, closer to your time graduating from fellowship, [whereas] industry [positions] follow a typical job [search] time frame, and you can begin negotiating with a private practice a year in advance [in some cases].”

In the interview, Hadfield discussed his experience transitioning to his current position, contract negotiation advice, and tips for fellows who are about to embark on a job search.

Oncology Fellows: How did you approach the job search process when you transitioned from an oncology fellow to academic faculty in July 2024?

Hadfield: My experience was with academic institutions. I started interviewing at different [institutions] around August or September of my third year of fellowship. During that time frame, I picked out [institutions] that I thought were a geographically good [fit] for my family and me. In academics especially, you must be flexible in terms of what tumor types [you want to practice in] if you are geographically restricted. [Conversely], you can be more particular about what type of oncologist you want to be if you’re willing to move anywhere in the country.

I had several job offers midway through my third year of fellowship. There are aspects that you can and can’t negotiate in academics. The salary tends to be set; at academic institutions, there’s not much wiggle room. But you [often] can negotiate the number of days in clinic you have [in academics], whereas in private practice, there may be more room to negotiate salary and benefits. If you are a fellow who is [considering] different jobs, you need to ensure your contract is clear about those types of things. [For example], are you going to have research support to start any programs? Are you going to have dedicated research time? Does your contract specify that you’re going to see only one tumor type or is it going to be more of a generalist role for you in [terms of] patient time and call schedules? [These] are all important and written into your contract.

What are some of the most significant challenges of the job search process?

One of the major stressors is that you tend to focus on certain histologies during fellowship, but you often will get a job in the type of tumor that the cancer center you want to work at is hiring for. For instance, you may go through your fellowship focused on [practicing] thoracic oncology, and then you find that the only job available where you want to work is in prostate cancer. It’s stressful because it [can be] different than what you were hoping and expecting to do.

At the same time, if you’re going into academics, particularly a clinical trialist role, the tumor types are different, but the trial design, translational research, and collaboration processes are very similar. You must have an open mind and ensure that you have broad experiences during your fellowship to be able to adapt when you start looking for jobs, because what you want to do may not be available.

How did the support of mentors and colleagues help you during your job search?

It’s a huge help talking with individuals who have recently gone through the process. Generally speaking, you’re not going to be able to look up typical salaries [in different] places. You have to talk with individuals [in the field] and, most of the time, they are transparent with those types of things, especially in academics because [the salaries] tend to be set by the institutions.

In terms of mentors, having [individuals whom you trust] help review your contract is [important]. It’s a good idea to have at least a couple of mentors who are attending oncologists look over your contract and see if there are any red flags. You also want to have it reviewed by your personal lawyer. It can often [include] a lot of boilerplate language, but you want to make sure there are no surprises in there, [such as] service obligations, call schedules, or noncompete clauses.

What's something you wish you had known about contract negotiations before you started the process?

I wish that I had been advised to be more upfront in negotiating. You go through training [but] don’t negotiate a contract to become a resident. You don’t negotiate a contract as a fellow. Here, you have more options. You can choose where you work at and other [aspects]. A lot of fellows get a contract offer at a place they want to work and say, “I should just take it because this is where I want to work.” You should still negotiate; you have cards to play and just need to play them.

What is the most important piece of advice you would give an oncology fellow who's about to begin the job search process?

Be patient; things change frequently, especially in academics. A job that you want may open up while you’re going through the process. Maybe you were counting on something a year or 2 out, then things change, and you have to be flexible. You have to decide what your priorities are, whether you want to work in research and are less focused on the tumor type, or if you have to be a [certain type of oncologist] and don’t care where you go. [Oftentimes,] you’re not going to have the option. There are many investigators who are leading [voices] in their fields who went through a fellowship doing something completely different than the role they ended up getting.

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