For Commercial Optometrists...

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I've been reading up about commercial optometry on this forum and I seem to be getting very vague answers to the questions I'm most concerned about. I had planned on going into commercial because I'm not really into business ownership and all that stuff, but the more I read, the more it seems like life is going to be miserable if I take this route..SO, I was hoping some of you who work in a commercial setting currently or have could help me out with some of these questions...thanks in advance..

1) What are the hours you work usually like?
2) Do you only do refractions all day?
3) Is there a difference amongst the commercial places (like wal-mart versus sams, sears versus lenscrafters etc..)
4) Do the starting salaries really stink like everyone says (70k is what I've heard)
5) How do vacations and sick days work if you aren't employed by that company?

- this is kind of not related to what I was looking for but, are there specific websites where optometrists can look for jobs?

...thanks again for all the help!!

 

[eyestrain]

Why not look for a job as an employee at a private practice?

Anyway, I do some commercial part time so I can't speak for those who are full time. But from my experience:

1) They will want to work as many hours as they can possibly squeeze out of you. Evenings, weekends and holidays if they can.
2) Pretty much. I do dilate most people, but the places I fill in at are pretty slow, so I'm not causing them to lose patients because of it. I'll treat your run-of-the-mill red eyes, but pretty much everything else goes out to ANOTHER OPTOMETRIST (unless I KNOW it needs surgery or lasers)
3) The biggest difference I've seen is that the Walmart had far and away the best equipment out of the places I've been.
4) Hard to say, I'm part time. But if you were full-time doing 6.5 days a week in a busy place, you could make some good money.
5) I don't know. I don't take many days off because I need the money right now. The days I have taken off I just tell the staff I won't be there and they don't schedule anything.

In the end, even working part time, part of my soul dies every time I step inside those places.

 

[IndianaOD]

Why not look for a job as an employee at a private practice?

Anyway, I do some commercial part time so I can't speak for those who are full time. But from my experience:

1) They will want to work as many hours as they can possibly squeeze out of you. Evenings, weekends and holidays if they can.
2) Pretty much. I do dilate most people, but the places I fill in at are pretty slow, so I'm not causing them to lose patients because of it. I'll treat your run-of-the-mill red eyes, but pretty much everything else goes out to ANOTHER OPTOMETRIST (unless I KNOW it needs surgery or lasers)
3) The biggest difference I've seen is that the Walmart had far and away the best equipment out of the places I've been.
4) Hard to say, I'm part time. But if you were full-time doing 6.5 days a week in a busy place, you could make some good money.
5) I don't know. I don't take many days off because I need the money right now. The days I have taken off I just tell the staff I won't be there and they don't schedule anything.

In the end, even working part time, part of my soul dies every time I step inside those places.

Great to hear eyestrain! I don't think many realize how important OD to OD referrals are.

 

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ya, I wouldn't mind working for a private practice at all as an employee, my whole thing is I'm not sure if I want to start up my OWN practice from scratch, at least not for a while after optometry school...thanks for the reply...also, I was just reading about Pearle, and it seems like their system is different from that of Wal-Mart and the others..don't you actually franchise the Pearle and thus you're the optometrist working there? so it's pretty much like your own practice but with the Pearle logo?

oh, and any other replies to my original post would be appreciated, thanks

 

[Chuffsla]

I have same kind of concerns as you. I don't want to be stuck in Walmart doing only refractions all day (and, possibly, cheapening the reputation of optometry by doing this); on the other hand I'm not sure if I have enough natural business acumen to make a private practice work, especially from scratch. There is this suggestion:

Why not look for a job as an employee at a private practice?

in which you don't have the headache of actually owning the practice, but at least you're working in the private sector which most people would regard as preferable to commercial. Maybe also there would be an option to buy the practice when the owner retires, and everything is already nicely set up.

 

[eyestrain]

in which you don't have the headache of actually owning the practice, but at least you're working in the private sector which most people would regard as preferable to commercial. Maybe also there would be an option to buy the practice when the owner retires, and everything is already nicely set up.

Exactly. Remember, starting a practice cold isn't the only way to get into private practice after you graduate.