Which Offer Do I Take?
You took and passed your PANCE (or similar certification exam), you interviewed with multiple employers and now you have three job offers. That’s fantastic, job well done! Now the difficult part is to decide which offer to take.
When advising candidates on which offer to take, we focus on EIGHT main principle factors:
1.Specialty
2.Location
3.Salary, benefits, bonus, CME, etc
4.Call schedule
5.Work/Life Balance
6.Growth Possibilities
7.Practice Setting
Specialty
We hear too often about recent graduates not taking a job in a certain specialty and wanting a job in emergency medicine or primary care so for the first few years they can experience everything. This is not a smart way to decide which offer to take. If you are not passionate about a certain specialty and want to go into a broader specialty to gain experience, that’s fine. But understand, not going into for example a surgical specialty because you feel your development and experience will be far too narrow is wrong. Any specialty you enter will afford you wonderful exposure and experience.
Location
Select a location that you have ties to; perhaps you went to school in the area, you are form the area or your significant other is from the area. Or as aback-up you have friends in the area and like the area because it provides you the activities, and community you are targeting.
Salary, Benefits, Bonus, CME, etc
Make sure any offer provides competitive compensation and benefits. If you do not know what competitive may be, contact a one of our advisors for salary trends in the specified area and specialty (860.785-3021)
Call Schedule
Before accepting any offer, know the call schedule, commitment and how many days, nights, weekends you will be required to work or be on call. Is the call paid, is it optional, does it change over time?
Work/Life Balance
Make sure any position you are going to take offers you a work life balance that meets your needs. If you are ambitious and perhaps have the time to dedicate to the job and want to work all of the time and are 120% career focused, then this doesn’t apply to you. But if you want to carve out a great profession as a clinical provider and still have time to spend with family, friends, and travel and enjoy downtime; be sure to look at the call schedule, look at the travel requirements and figure out your commuting schedule. Also, its important to understand what type of supporting cast you have at the job; number of other providers, physicians etc; as this is a good way to forecast how much you will be responsible for.
Growth Possibilities
How many PA, NP or RN providers does the employer employ? How many new providers does the practice anticipate adding to staff in the next 12-24 months? Does the group have lead PA’s or NP’s who oversee other clinical providers? If so, what does it take to become a lead PA or NP?
Practice Setting
Decide what type of practice environment you want to work in. Each practice setting has pros and cons. Perhaps a private practice, multi-specialty group or hospital setting is what you prefer. Be sure to look at how the PA/NP model is utilized, support staff, how many other providers are on staff, is the practice support more of a team philosophy or independent structure. Does one setting offer more than travel than another, would the position be more hands-on, or more paper work oriented. What type of EMR does the practice setting have?