In order to look for general surgery employment, a candidate must have received a high school degree, placing in the top percentage of his or her graduating class, and a Bachelor of Science or Art four year degree majoring in the sciences. This means studying and passing with high grades chemistry, biology, physics, English and other relevant subjects. Many college students will enroll in a pre med program to ensure they are taking the right courses. Some students will take an additional year of graduate school training in research or some other field that relates to medicine.

If the student's grade point average is high, a student must take pre-admission test in order to gain acceptance in a four year medical school. Most reputable medical schools will only accept students that place in the top third of the pre admission test.

Following graduation from medical school, four years or more of a general surgery residency is required, followed by board certification and licensing. After all the required medical certification and testing is passed and complete, general surgery employment is an option for a physician trained to do general surgery procedures.

Although it takes many years to qualify to seek general surgery employment, it's well worth it for many because the wages earned can be quite lucrative. General surgeons can expect to work longer than an average 40 hour work week, often times averaging 60 or more by salaries can be six figures and up.

General Surgery employment involves treating many different patient related ailments that include diseases, deformities, repairs on bone, injuries, etc. The surgeon will operate on these patients to try to correct or alleviate the problem. Before performing surgery, a surgeon will also take and read tests, physically examine the patient and talk to the patient about the surgery in mind. Most surgeons work in hospitals and out-patient surgery clinics as well as maintain a private office practice. They will often see patients in their private offices part of the day and go to a hospital or out-patient surgical clinic to carry out surgeries the rest of the day.

Because there will always be a need for general surgery employment, the outlook is good. With baby boomers getting older and more older surgeons retiring, more general surgeons will need to be hired to keep up with the demand. Because the demand is so great, many general surgeons will go on to specialize in a particular branch of surgery that offers a higher salary. These specialized fields in surgery also offer the surgeon the latest in technological advances and medical devices to get the job done the right way. On the flip side, some physicians prefer to stay with the general surgery field for fear that the high cost of insurance and surgical specialized procedures may drive patients away. Also, there are far more opportunities for general surgery employment in low income areas as well as rural community hospitals because many physicians, general surgeons included would rather practice in a larger city at a university training hospital.