Advice for new fellows interviewing for jobs

[Rhabdoid]

Hi,

I searched the forum on advice for soon-to-graduate fellows who are on the interview trail, but only found few old threads. Any general and/or specific advice some of you may have for fellows going on their first private practice interview? i.e. Is it appropriate to bring up pay?

I know PP interviews are less formal than Academic, but I guess I'm just looking for some reassurance and maybe some advice as to what to cover and what not to cover during the interview.

Thanks a lot

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[dr.weiner]

I would not bring up pay, vacation, benefits etc. The group should be open about it and should disclose at the proper time. If they don't mention any of these and offer you a position, that is clearly a red flag.

You also have very little to no leverage for negotiation, given how tight the market is. So it doesn't really matter if you cover anything. Unless, you have several other options/offers on the table.

What is important, is try to be a fly on the wall as much as possible. Get a feel for how the group treats each other, treats junior people, handles potential partner track, and try to figure out if there were any recently fired/nonpromoted/relocated people that have left the group and try to get their take on the group or figure out the reason for their exit.

 

[Rhabdoid]

Hi, thanks for the response. It is actually very helpful!. In case others are looking for the same information, I was able to get a couple of good articles from CAP TODAY. Between the two articles, most people should feel reasonably prepared to do fairly well during an interview.

Comments from others are welcome.

thanks again dr.w

http://www.cap.org/apps//cap.portal...eekers.htm&_state=maximized&_pageLabel=cntvwr


http://www.cap.org/apps//cap.portal...rview.html&_state=maximized&_pageLabel=cntvwr

 

[LADoc00]

I don't know, Im fairly certain you absolutely want to leave knowing what your pay for at least the first year will be. If they don't disclose it, then ask. But yeah, if you have to ask about pay HUGE red flag.

Also a red flag if they go the entire interview and don't mention partnership or any long term plans (even if it only means non-equity partner or increases in pay over time).

A base strategy always let your interviewers reveal themselves as total douche bags rather than speculating on it because you jumped the gun.

When a group says "Well here is our practice, we do X surgicals a year, we take call Q5 weeks, we cover 2 facilities, do you have questions?" Your response should be "I do have some questions but I am interested in your practice and definitely would like some further details before I bombard you with questions." Put the ball back in their court to disclose OR be revealed as douches.

 

[yaah]

Yeah you don't want to bombard with questions like pay, vacation, CME, is there a PA who grosses or is it you, etc right away. Those are important issues but are not usually why someone is primarily interested in the job. Typically the group would have a point person on these issues who discusses them with you. If you get through the day and no one has talked about it, it is very fair to ask.

Important things:
1) Group stability - do people leave frequently or are all the paths in the group partners for 20 years?
2) Relationship with hospital admin (if applicable), clinicians, etc
3) Expected responsibilities - everything? Lab directorship of an offsite or lab section right away? Case load and distribution?
4) How pathologists interact with each other. If, for example, you are there all day for an interview and the only time you see anyone talking to anyone else is when they are passing you off, that's a problem.
5) Offsite responsibilties. In truth many groups dump travel on new hires. I have no idea if this is more or less common than it used to be, or even how common it is actually. But you might spend a lot of time going to offsites for frozens or meetings by yourself.
6) How is the group (and the main hospital(s) they serve) preparing for the future i.e. declining reimbursement, hospital admin pressures, ACOs, whatever.

In truth good groups should be anticipating important questions and bring these things up without you asking. If you are truly interested in the group you would probably demonstrate a commitment to finding out not only what life is like in the group but what its future is and what it is like to work there.

 

[Rhabdoid]

Thanks! I hope this information will help others; it certainly has given me a solid idea for what to expect.