Recruiting dinners

[slystalone]

Has anyone ever spoken at one of these recruiting dinners? Whatever the company (TeamHealth, Emcare, Schumacher, etc) - they're asking me to give a talk to some local residents but haven't talked details. Of course I've reviewed the slides and it's mostly neutral stuff, but I work for one of the companies and legitimately believe it is better than the others so it's not an ethical decision - BUT I am giving up a night at home and spending time on work-related things without compensation. Should I a) assume it's not paid b) take the free dinner and be happy or c) ask if I will be paid for this? I just don't want to rub anyone the wrong way and ask for $$ if it's clear I shouldn't...

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[deleted480308]

Are you a resident being asked to speak at a residency recruiting or an attending being asked to speak for an employer recruiting?

 

[slystalone]

Attending for employer recruiting.

I don't want to sound greedy, and of course I'll enjoy the free dinner, but if it's customary to be paid then I want to ask them about it....

 

[dotcb]

Do you work for the company that is recruiting? If so, then this should be somewhere in your job description or you can speak to someone superior about your role in these dinners.

If not, then it's a little bit strange. You can be sure the others involved in orchestrating the dinner are not working for free and so you should not be expected to either. I don't think there's harm in bringing it up to discuss.

 

[deleted480308]

Do you work for the company that is recruiting? If so, then this should be somewhere in your job description or you can speak to someone superior about your role in these dinners.

If not, then it's a little bit strange. You can be sure the others involved in orchestrating the dinner are not working for free and so you should not be expected to either. I don't think there's harm in bringing it up to discuss.

Yeah,(student speaking) if I was salaried management or Med director it might make sense but if I was just a "pit doc" I likely wouldn't go through the hassle of the evening just for a free meal, I can buy my own meal and eat with friends on my own schedule

 

[BJJVP]

I will be making a lot of assumptions with this post but since you asked, here's my opinion. If they are asking you to speak, then they probably feel that you fit into the company or corporate culture. This also means that they probably believe that you see yourself as a "partner" in this medical endeavor and that you see yourself as more than just an employee (ie partner or owner), regardless if this is in fact true or not. Therefore, they probably expect you will be a team player and do this for free because if something benefits the company, you would then naturally see it as a benefit to you personally as well. Unless you find out from very reliable sources that being paid is standard, I wouldn't even ask because I think it could potentially lower your standing within the company/corporation. I personally believe that most of these corporate type groups don't want to believe and/or admit that they are not small democratic groups with actual partners. Basically, they want you to believe that you are a partner, act like a business owner, but get treated and paid like an employee.

 

[goodoldalky]

I will occasionally do this but am compensated flight hotel and expensing everything to go back and visit my old program and recruit. I enjoy going back and catching up with everyone. I would not do this or go somewhere random without getting paid in general though.

 

[gro2001]

Without knowing any more specifics, its hard to give a meaningful answer. A lot depends on what your position is exactly (regular ER doc? leadership? someone who gets an additional stipend for loosely defined admin duties?), who asked you to do this (your buddy the assistant site director? some faceless admin you've never met?) and under what circumstances (as a last minute favor because someone dropped out?).

However, in general, I would not hesitate to ask. I disagree about the fact that these CMG groups are confused and think they are some sort of family business. Everyone understands that they are buying your time. By the hour. This doesn't mean that everything should be billed for, and these activities may be one of those things, but it doesn't mean it's not the default set up of the relationship. Moreover, I know at least one CMG group that definitely pays their attendings when they do this type of activity.

There is no harm in sending your boss a quick email that goes something like this:

"Hey Boss!
Quick question about the event: does the CMG pay us for stuff like this?
Happy to help either way, but curious.
Thanks,
slystalone."

No reasonable person is going to judge you negatively for this. If they do, it's probably a good clue to start looking for a less crazy boss.

 

[Hercules]

Large companies are always happy to have you donate your time free of charge. The EMR company at my hospital told me that our previous medical director had frequently helped tour groups on site visits to see our EMR in action and asked if I would be willing to do this as well. They didn't discuss whether it would be compensated or not. I told them I would be happy to at my standard consulting rate of $400/hr. I asked them to confirm this rate and give me an estimate of the time they expected the visit would take. They immediately confirmed the rate and told me 4-5 hrs. Anytime someone agrees to your rate that quickly you realize you should have asked for more...


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[Tenk]

Ask for cash.

 

[emergentmd]

Unless you are paid a director's stipend, you should get paid. When they needed help in EMR training, they offered us like 150/hr. Some did it for a free trip, but my time is money and I would not go for less than 400/hr.

You time is valuable, don't give it away freely.

Also, CMGs are business. They are not your buddy. Treat it like a business b/c your pro bono work will do you no favors in the future. Its all about $$ to them.

 

[Ceez]

don't work for free
side note: i had an attending in residency who used to give these talks. he would walk in, order his food to go, give his talk, and then leave immediately afterwards with his steak dinner in a bag