Job Interviews - advice please?

Ok, since your not getting much help here I ill ry to throw a few things your way. Interviewing is difficult when coming out of residency and for me it was really just a gut feeling that made me choose one group over another. I left that group however, but not totally because of the group. So here goes.

1. Questions: You should ask everything. I wouldn't hold back. vacation, salary, partner salary, benefits, bonuses, who pays what(malpractice, health, etc.). How many people have completed the partnership track and what percent were made partners. This is a biggy. Some groups will keep you until partnership then let you go. If they don't have close to 100% then be weary. I would be very careful before signing a contract with anything more than 2 yrs to partner, 1yr would be ideal but unlikely. Ask about the sites and number of locations. How much time running from one site to another if they do more than one site. Hours per day on average.

2. Question they will ask: Everything. What cases do you do? How do you do them? What cases are you uncomfortable with, comfortable with, like to do, etc.? Why are you interested in their group, town, hosp., etc.? Are you planning to buy a house? Do or have you worked with CRNA's and what is your opinion? blah blah blah

3: Malpractice: Ideally you would have them pay it and it would be a "Claims made" policy ( I think this is right, someone will correct me if I am wrong, JET!) so that you don't have to buy a tail if you leave or are let go. If not try to get them to commit to paying your tail if you leave. Good Luck.

4. Loans: If you have outstanding student loans, try to get them to pay some of it. Also unlikely but you gotta ask. If not then you can consider withholding from your check the loan amount for them to pay and then you don't pay taxes on that option.

5. Billing: This is very important. Do they pay you a salary or do you bill on your own and collect and everything else. I really dislike the later but I understand the need to bill on your own in some groups. If you will be "Eating what you Kill" then you want to know who makes tha daily assignments. It should be evenly distributed. If not you will get the medicare/caid and no pays.

This is all I have for now. If you have specifics, post it here. The others (JET) are probably alot better at this than I am. I just do anesthesia.

Laurel123 said:

Thanks, that helps. I will add some of those to the list of questions.

Another question for all you private practice folks -

Do most groups have second interviews? If a place wants to hire after the first interview, should I be suspicious?

Click to expand...

Most groups I interviewed with did invite me back for a dinner/interview session with the entire group, although others offered after one interview only. I would say of those that offered after one interview only, half were suspicious and I confirmed later on through various contacts that those groups were "hurting to hire someone." It's difficult to know if you don't live in the city you are applying to. Always give yourself time to think about an offer. A group that pushes you to make a decision quickly is probably one that needs to be avoided.

I have a quick question for those who have gone or are going through the job interview process.

How easy is it for an applicant to find a job in a particular location. In other words, is anethesiology a field where one can pick where they want to live and then find a job there, or is it the other way around (do a nationwide or regional search and then move to where the work is)?

This may have been addressed before, but I could not find it.

Thanks

Most places are looking for anesthesiologists but not all of these places have the type of job that one is looking for. I looked long and hard before deciding on a spot. Most places that I wanted to live in practiced differently than I wanted to. For example, they "eat what they killed" meaning they competed with each other for cases and billed on their own. These can be great setups because if you work hard and you make more, you slack off and you make less. But there is the potential if the group is not setup fairly, to screw one another and therefore breed resentment. Also you find people kissing surgeons asses to get requests for cases, not at all good.

I am a fan of the group model that covers the cases and shares everything. But this can lead to an overall feeling that one doesn't have to work as hard because the group will pick up the slack and therefore that person will still reep the benefits. This can not be tolerated and you need a strong group that will get rid of these individuals. OK i have gone on long enough but it should help Laurel in the interview process anyhow.

Nice thread.