How Long to Wait for Verbal Offer to become Written?

[Campy Lobacter]

Hey,

I don't even know if anyone is thinking about this yet, but I figured this is about as objective as I can get right now. I'm applying for a primary care position in the rural Midwest. I have had two interviews, got offers of employment from both--one is a hospital employed position that has already been prompt to give me a written contract. The other place is a small, privately owned office. Their offer was verbal. After a second trip to the office, I reconfirmed my interest, and they said they would have a contract for me next week. Well, that was 3 weeks ago. Every week the response has been "we're still waiting on the lawyer." Well, I'm starting to wonder WTF is going on. Does it really take a lawyer that long to write up a contract? I would have preferred to work for the non-hospital employed position, but this is starting to feel fishy to me. I want to give them the benefit of the doubt knowing they don't have lawyers on staff and that they have to do things on their own, but I'm on a deadline to planning my life around this thing. Does anyone else have a similar experience? I don't want to find myself losing the other contract waiting for one that never materializes. Experiences?

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[NAGNAM]

Sonny: Alright, listen to me. You pull up right where she lives, right? Before you get outta the car, you lock both doors. Then, get outta the car, you walk over to her. You bring her over to the car. Dig out the key, put it in the lock and open the door for her. Then you let her get in. Then you close the door. Then you walk around the back of the car and look through the rear window. If she doesn't reach over and lift up that button so that you can get in: dump her.
Calogero 'C' Anello: Just like that?
Sonny: Listen to me, kid. If she doesn't reach over and lift up that button so that you can get in, that means she's a selfish broad and all you're seeing is the tip of the iceberg. You dump her and you dump her fast.

 

[3dtp]

Went through this myself. After 3 interview trips, strong expression of interest, and 9 bloody months of waiting on the "prestigious eastern university" to produce a contract, they finally sent it.

Only problem was, in the interim, I ran into an old friend I met when we worked at the staid midwestern equivalent of the prestigious eastern university.

His group had a private practice opening, I was offered a position pretty much on the spot, discussed it with the group, got a contract less than a week later, flew up to the spot, looked around, discussed it and still waited on the prestigious eastern university. They finally sent the contract a week after I had the pp position contract in hand.

The private position had enormous opportunity to build a program, paid well, and the folks were nice. The uni position would have established my academic track for life, and it sure would have been cool to say I was a faculty member of the prestigious eastern place. But, 9 months to make up yer mind? c'mon.

Finally it came down to this: the private group was willing to assess me promptly, issue a contract offer guaranteed to get my attention, and treated me very well, in a week.

Uni, not so much and when I finally got the offer, I called them to decline. They were shocked. When asked why, my reply: It took 3 trips, 9 months and you finally came out with an offer. If it takes you that long to make up your mind, or worse, to act on a decision you made at some point over the last 9 months, then what will it be like once I smell the Ivory? I was told I would regret the decision the rest of my life. Maybe, but no real regrets just yet.

As for a private practice waiting on a lawyer, yes, lawyers sometimes do take a while to get things done, and they don't really respond to pressure from clients, as they are of the opinion that haste makes waste, but that is an issue for the practice. If you really would prefer them over fast hospital, schedule a meeting with the partners/managing partner, explain your concerns and wishes and ask if he would be willing to give you a binding letter of agreement with an outline of the terms subject to you guys hammering out the terms and conditions of the contract.

Be absolutely certain you retain a lawyer skilled in medical contract analysis (that means someone who's done this kind of legal work for physician successfully previously) to review any contract before you sign it! Contracts, particularly with small groups can be negotiated.

Just don't sign one like one group I looked at. It had a restrictive covenant that would have not permitted me to work anywhere in the same state and parts of neighboring states for 5 years. He called it the "red line clause." The agreement was blatantly illegal and unenforceable, and I think he knew that. So it contained a "blue line" clause: if any court found the terms of the "red line clause" unenforceable, he was free to redraw the lines to something close to what the courts would allow and try again. My lawyer took one look at that and said if I signed it, he would attempt to enforce it every time a court ruled it out, he'd take a small chunk out and sue me again until he wore me out. I kept a copy of the contract as a model of a contract one should never sign.

 

[mlw03]

For the job I was offered it took about 1 month for oral --> written. It's a government-based job and I was told at the time of my accepting that it takes about that long for the contract to be written up and blessed by the appropriate folks. The part of your story that makes me nervous is that you were explicityly told it'll be one week. How reliable are these folks? Can you trust them to follow-through on what they say?

3dtp - enjoyed your story. "regret it for the rest of your life" - I'm always amused at how academics sometimes think it's such a blessing to work for a university that it's worth dealing with all manner of BS and for significantly less money. I sincerely think that's part of why my residency program's faculty were greater than 50% foreigners. Most were good, others not so much.

 

[Campy Lobacter]

They finally got back to me with a contract tonight that does seem rather short compared to the other, and while I appreciate the simplicity, I'm curious about the things that are missing. (Better explanation of benefits other than salary, rules on notice for breaking the contract, etc.)

I'm rather bummed and was being hopeful and patient because I felt the people I met were a good "fit" with me personality wise. However, we had our first meeting in August, our second in October, and numerous phone calls in between now when I felt as though they could have been working on this.

Part of me also loathes working for "the man," although the generosity of that contract and the benefits far outweigh that of the smaller group. While I think "small group" would be willing to negotiate some things, I've really neared the end of my timeline and don't feel I have time to negotiate with them. Ugh. May have to work for "The Man." Oh well, as long as he leaves a $20 on the nightstand when he's done.