You paint a good picture. I know a lot of VA employed DPMs and none of them would give up their position. I can obviously see why. I wouldn’t mind chipping and clipping 10-15 patients a day with that job security, just saying.
VA jobs - insiders only?
- Thread starter giraffe-pudding
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Im currently working at a small non-teaching VA medical center and this is my first job out of residency. I didnt do a VA residency. I think my VA is very unique and doesn’t function like most of the VAs we hear on here or see during externships. For example, they allow me to fit in any surgeries throughout the week. My schedule is Monday to Friday with no calls at all. The surgical PAs will see our patients after hours or on wkds if needed. If I have a clinic pt that needs a toe amp, I’ll admit and schedule the sx during my one hour lunch break the next day. I do everything from wounds, nails, hammertoes, ankle fx to TTC fusion. I love doing nails and calluses.. it’s low stress.. I don’t enjoy dealing with surgical patients on a daily basis. I now realize what a pain doing surgery can be and dealing with post op pain and swelling. Even a simple hammertoe surgery post op can be frustrating. To be honest… I like rearfoot cases more than toes!!! I think this VA specifically is well rounded from that standpoint. Are there any VAs out there like this or is this rare? The downside of VA is that your patients are mostly men and old. Underlying mental illnesses. Many of them have chronic foot issues with multiple problems making it so difficult to diagnosis. A lot of them aren’t healthy or compliant to undergo surgery but the best thing about the VA is that you can order shoes, custom inserts, prothestics on anyone and never have to deal with insurance. I can order MRI, EMG, ABIs etc and not worry if or when they’ll get it done. I havent had any issues with upper management. The VA is very strict when it comes to putting in orders for everything and having everything documented which isn’t really a bad thing I must say. So, here’s my experience so far working at a VA… ask me anything!
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Would you mind talking a bit about pay structures etc? I'm seeing ranges from 108K to 252K with recent job postings. Thank you.
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I currently make 205k (up to 15k end of the year bonus). Im not sure how much it goes up every year since this is my first year. I think all new grads make around this much starting at the VA from what I heard with my other friends. Its interesting because VA pods who have worked here for 10-30 years don’t make that much more than I do since the parity law started only a few years ago.
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It’s been discussed multiple times in this thread. Salaries can be found online. It is public record. Just google federal government salaries and punch in podiatry to the website search engine to see peoples actual numbers.
It varies from facility to facility. There is base salary which is calculated on experience and then HR comes up with a magic hocus pocus calculation for your market pay. Lastly there is performance page which is up to 15k which gets added on at the end of the fiscal year based on performance measures. I would say overall pay varies from 150k-250k for the most part but you should look it up for yourself.
Here is the link for the lazy people. You can look up by fiscal year as well. Search Federal Employee Salaries
The poster above may want to edit their post? If I had to guess I would say they are in Wichita. If not, there’s only a couple other options.
It varies from facility to facility. There is base salary which is calculated on experience and then HR comes up with a magic hocus pocus calculation for your market pay. Lastly there is performance page which is up to 15k which gets added on at the end of the fiscal year based on performance measures. I would say overall pay varies from 150k-250k for the most part but you should look it up for yourself.
Here is the link for the lazy people. You can look up by fiscal year as well. Search Federal Employee Salaries
The poster above may want to edit their post? If I had to guess I would say they are in Wichita. If not, there’s only a couple other options.
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Thanks for the reply and your transparency. How is performance evaluated?
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If you’re asking about performance pay it varies by faculty. Typically each fiscal year a facility comes up with 5 goals of varying metrics and you either meet the goals or you don’t. Some facilities make easy goals like signing your charts on time (within 24 hours) or having 80 percent on time starts for surgery cases. Other facilities make tougher goals that are more metric driven (maximizing utilization rates, etc)
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Hmm, I’ve been thinking of the VA so just for kicks I see Altoona is closing today and checked their salaries using the fed link above. Someone was hired in 2020 for like 107k, does that mean they were given zero market pay? Or could they be part time? Or did the Va bill not kick in yet?
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Wow that’s horrible. Looks like all the Altoona salaries are low. Not sure if there is a reporting error from the facility but yea basically market pay would have to be zero. Yes, this would be after the VA bill passing.
You’re probably right about the part time assumption. I know a person on there who is 1/3 FTE. His salary gets listed on that website at about 200k but he actually takes home 1/3 of that. Not bad getting 66k a year and full benefits to see patients 8am to noon once a week. And it’s usually about 8 patients or so.
Even factoring in part time, the Altoona salaries seem abysmal but it could be worth it for the benefits I suppose.
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Just wanted to update my experiences with the VA. Right now I have two offers from VA hospitals. Both in significantly different geographic areas. I was notified of the job offers one via phone call from HR and another via email. One VA sent onboarding paperwork right away but I told them I needed to know what the salary actually was before I signed. Another one won't send the paperwork until they get the final salary figures. VAs all function differently.
Getting final salary figures has been a huge pain in the ass. Salary is calculated via "base pay + market pay = salary"
Base pay is the standard starting base pay that all podiatrists get started on. Base pay increases every two years with up to 15 increases (30 years worked).
Market pay is more variable. Market pay is determined based on your podiatry classification (foot podiatrist, foot and ankle podiatrist, advanced foot and ankle podiatrist) + years of experience + board certification + other training certificates + degrees + publications, etc. There is no exact formula. Biggest thing you can do to increase your market pay is by telling them you do advanced procedures of the ankle. The VA defines these as ankle fusion, TAR, ankle arthroscopy. If you can show certificates in these procedures (course certificates) this helps you.
Then the VA combines your base pay + calculated market pay and that is your total starting salary. From what I am told from other colleagues its ok to negotiate with them. The situation is typically favorable to do so as not many candidates end up accepting these jobs because of how long it takes them to make an offer. I started interviewing in December for these positions and now its middle of March and I still don't have a done deal with either of them.
Most VAs are in dire need of surgical podiatrist as most DPMs hired are mostly non surgical. VAs will never get a fellowship trained foot and ankle ortho to join them so having a surgical podiatrist to increase case load in the OR is desirable.
I consider VA hospital jobs tier 2 hospital positions. Tier 1 is working for a major hospital, community hospital, ortho group or MSG where you get a bigger salary than the VA and chances to bonus.
I do think if a new bill is passed within our lifetimes that increases the base salary I feel VA podiatrist jobs will become more tier 1 even if you still don't make as much money. Simply because of the benefits, pension and job security you get from the VA. Once you get past two years you never really to worry about contract negotiations or worrying that you might not have a job in the future. You are in for life. That is a strong play.
Getting final salary figures has been a huge pain in the ass. Salary is calculated via "base pay + market pay = salary"
Base pay is the standard starting base pay that all podiatrists get started on. Base pay increases every two years with up to 15 increases (30 years worked).
Market pay is more variable. Market pay is determined based on your podiatry classification (foot podiatrist, foot and ankle podiatrist, advanced foot and ankle podiatrist) + years of experience + board certification + other training certificates + degrees + publications, etc. There is no exact formula. Biggest thing you can do to increase your market pay is by telling them you do advanced procedures of the ankle. The VA defines these as ankle fusion, TAR, ankle arthroscopy. If you can show certificates in these procedures (course certificates) this helps you.
Then the VA combines your base pay + calculated market pay and that is your total starting salary. From what I am told from other colleagues its ok to negotiate with them. The situation is typically favorable to do so as not many candidates end up accepting these jobs because of how long it takes them to make an offer. I started interviewing in December for these positions and now its middle of March and I still don't have a done deal with either of them.
Most VAs are in dire need of surgical podiatrist as most DPMs hired are mostly non surgical. VAs will never get a fellowship trained foot and ankle ortho to join them so having a surgical podiatrist to increase case load in the OR is desirable.
I consider VA hospital jobs tier 2 hospital positions. Tier 1 is working for a major hospital, community hospital, ortho group or MSG where you get a bigger salary than the VA and chances to bonus.
I do think if a new bill is passed within our lifetimes that increases the base salary I feel VA podiatrist jobs will become more tier 1 even if you still don't make as much money. Simply because of the benefits, pension and job security you get from the VA. Once you get past two years you never really to worry about contract negotiations or worrying that you might not have a job in the future. You are in for life. That is a strong play.
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Im surprised it’s taking this long for them to tell you what your salary is. It took them 3 weeks from my interview to when they emailed me my salary. HR called me to go over my salary but I requested it to be written down. Theres no actual contract that you sign with the VA.
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Did the fact that you both didn't do a residency at a DVA ever came up during the process? One user mentioned earlier about how it was "easier" if you did one cause you're already in the system..
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Around 3 months is pretty typical in my experience.
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Just doing a residency at a VA might help you make personal connections with staff like the chief of surgery or chief of staff. From what I’ve seen though the VA wants to hire people with at least a year or more of experience, so fresh out of residency is probably tough and much tougher if you didn’t do your residency at that same VA.
Also, once you’re in it seems like you get preference for any opening that comes up. For whatever reason it is more attractive for the VA to transfer someone than to hire new. Even if the whole process takes the same amount of time in the end.
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I think one of the first questions they asked me was why I was interested in the VA system. As a pod student I rotated/externed at a VA for a few months so I understood what it was like working with that patient population and how it interested me. To be honest I saw myself as an attending at a VA but not as a resident. I had a great residency experience at a non-VA program and I just didn’t think I’d get the same training at a VA.
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No. The places that are looking to hire me historically have non surgical DPMs and they want surgical DPMs. If you have good training that goes a long way. Having several years of experience makes you a stronger candidate as well as being board certified.
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Yup agree. My VA wanted someone that had training in RF and ankle cases. I am BQ in both foot and RF but not sure if that made a difference. I didnt get certified in ABPM until after I started working. The chief of surgery who is an ortho asked to see my surgical logs after my interview since Id be the only one getting the RF/ankle cases in the hospital. They did interview a few fellowship trained pods too.
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Yup! The VA does want board certification. They will give you some time to get it but they do not care ABPM vs ABFAS. In this case I would strongly advocate getting ABPM as it’s simpler and faster.
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Does your salary increase right away if you tell them you’re now certified? Because I’ve known since Nov but didnt tell HR..
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Probably not until your next review for market pay. That happens at least every 2 years but you might be able to petition for an earlier one. Once your base plus market pay is set getting board cert probably won’t change things a whole lot from what I’ve seen. Maybe +10k.
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My experience of applying, interviewing and accepting a job at the VA has been, for the most part, very similar to that of others on here.
I am board certified by ABFAS with a few years of experience. I was definitely not an “insider“ in any way.
I applied at a handful of locations and was interviewed at two.
A couple locations I applied to very late in the listing and they probably had already conducted interviews. I strongly advise that you apply as early as possible.
My application was rejected at at least one location because they required a transcript that I did not have time to submit before the listing closed.
I will not go into all the details on here, but during one of my interviews I was certain they already had someone they wanted for the job. It was obvious they were just going through the required process. I really wish they would not have waisted my time or had at least made it seem like it was a genuine interview.
The other interview I had was formal and professional and went very well. I was offered the job a couple days later. It worked out, as this location was my first choice. I was relaxed and confident for this interview. I wanted a change in my career, but I was not desperate to leave the job I was currently at. Also by this time of the second interview, I knew of another non VA job I could have if I wanted and I was also getting phone calls from a couple hospital jobs I applied at for interviews, which I did not followup with. I never mentioned any of these other job opportunities during my interview.
I have been told from a reliable source if things do not work out with a location‘s first choice for some reason, they will most often offer it to someone else who interviewed versus starting the whole process over again. I was also told all VA jobs have become somewhat competitive since the parity law passed. Even the more remote locations now have numerous applicants. One positive thing I was told is that a surprisingly large number of podiatrists currently working at the VA will be retiring over the next several years.
I am board certified by ABFAS with a few years of experience. I was definitely not an “insider“ in any way.
I applied at a handful of locations and was interviewed at two.
A couple locations I applied to very late in the listing and they probably had already conducted interviews. I strongly advise that you apply as early as possible.
My application was rejected at at least one location because they required a transcript that I did not have time to submit before the listing closed.
I will not go into all the details on here, but during one of my interviews I was certain they already had someone they wanted for the job. It was obvious they were just going through the required process. I really wish they would not have waisted my time or had at least made it seem like it was a genuine interview.
The other interview I had was formal and professional and went very well. I was offered the job a couple days later. It worked out, as this location was my first choice. I was relaxed and confident for this interview. I wanted a change in my career, but I was not desperate to leave the job I was currently at. Also by this time of the second interview, I knew of another non VA job I could have if I wanted and I was also getting phone calls from a couple hospital jobs I applied at for interviews, which I did not followup with. I never mentioned any of these other job opportunities during my interview.
I have been told from a reliable source if things do not work out with a location‘s first choice for some reason, they will most often offer it to someone else who interviewed versus starting the whole process over again. I was also told all VA jobs have become somewhat competitive since the parity law passed. Even the more remote locations now have numerous applicants. One positive thing I was told is that a surprisingly large number of podiatrists currently working at the VA will be retiring over the next several years.
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Two of my interviews were via phone calls and one was via zoom. They all asked a lot of behavioral questions and I felt like they really wanted to get to know me and how well I worked with patients/staff. Unlike PP interviews, they dont really ask those type of questions from my experience. Every VA has a certain type of pod they want. If they’re trying to hire someone that does mostly wound care/nails then they’re not going to hire someone with strong surgical skills because you may end up being unhappy and leaving and vice versa. So don’t be too bummed out if you don’t get picked for the position. There are a lot of pods applying per spot. I believe mine had over 50 applicants and they interviewed 15. Also I think there’s a difference between non teaching vs teaching VA.. pretty sure all or most teaching VA will hire from within. So if u dont have connections or are not training at a VA residency then try applying at non teaching VAs or more rural areas.
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With all this in mind - if you do have an offer from another job you can submit it to HR to use to negotiate your market pay (assuming it’s not a 100k pp job). Also, I would definitely try and negotiate for the pay you want before you start. Once you’re in, you get cost of living bumps and longevity bumps, otherwise it doesn’t change much.
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I was told what the salary range for the job would be based on the combination of base and market pay and they would get back with a final number. I was eventually offered the top end of that combination when they got back to me.
I feel the salaries offered by the VA are fair and good all things considered. Yes like everyone, I do know of others making twice as much (or more) with ownership in MSG, Orho, or just regular PP that find "creative" ways to generate lots of income that I would personally not feel comfortable with.
There certainly does seem to be a lot of weight on you showing that you can not only function well independently but can also work well with others and follow protocol. Many other jobs they just let you know they do not tolerate inappropriate behavior, but then go onto focus mainly on production.
I feel the salaries offered by the VA are fair and good all things considered. Yes like everyone, I do know of others making twice as much (or more) with ownership in MSG, Orho, or just regular PP that find "creative" ways to generate lots of income that I would personally not feel comfortable with.
There certainly does seem to be a lot of weight on you showing that you can not only function well independently but can also work well with others and follow protocol. Many other jobs they just let you know they do not tolerate inappropriate behavior, but then go onto focus mainly on production.
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Question. Lets say you start off at like 230K starting salary. The max salary is 243K currently. Is it possible to go above 243K if you are getting cost of living bumps in pay and longevity bumps in pay if you are there for like 5-10 years?
Say you get up to 243k salary and you get a quality bonus at the end of the year. You get that bonus even though that puts you over the 243K max salary right?
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I was looking through that link above and I think there were some making 250k..
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What link?
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Search Federal Employee Salaries
Search individual federal employee salaries by name, job title, location, agency and year
Ohhh 284k..
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How do you think that is possible? Just bump ups for cost of living?Search Federal Employee Salaries
Search individual federal employee salaries by name, job title, location, agency and yearwww.fedsdatacenter.com
Ohhh 284k..
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Whats with the salary dip from 2018-2019? I noticed all docs made less money in 2019... doesnt make sense, esp after the passing of VA bill? Do these listed salaries actually include market pay?
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So I have two VA offers. One VA sent me my onboarding paperwork rather quickly and keeps asking me to sign it but they have yet to give me a salary offer. I keep asking to present a salary offer and they say they will. Then they don't. Then they email me again asking me to sign my onboarding paperwork.
The other VA gave me an offer over the phone over 6 weeks ago. But has not sent me the onboarding paperwork yet and will not do so until they get a salary offer which seems like it is going to take forever.
As anyone experienced this with the VA? If so, how long did it take for you to get a salary offer/figure once they told you that you had the job?
The other VA gave me an offer over the phone over 6 weeks ago. But has not sent me the onboarding paperwork yet and will not do so until they get a salary offer which seems like it is going to take forever.
As anyone experienced this with the VA? If so, how long did it take for you to get a salary offer/figure once they told you that you had the job?
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Dang.... that can really delay you putting in your notice with your current job. Hope all works out for you, bro!
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Was there a federal furlong/freeze or something that year that messed up the salary reporting?
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how long did it take you to get a salary offer?
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So I see some posting as listed as “general” and seem to be mostly woundcare and nails, while others are listed as “staff podiatrist” and “surgical.” If you have the board certs and training but take a general VA job do you think you could later do an internal transfer to a VA with a surgical job opening? Or would you be pigeonholing yourself if you apply to a general VA opening?
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I applied to a general position because it was in an ideal location and turns out they want me to be the surgical podiatrist for the hospital and do a lot more than the current podiatrists are doing. Kind of backed into a surgical position that is going to "supposedly" pay me more than what they are giving the general podiatrists. But of course it has been 6 weeks....
I do have other community hospital offers that I have been delaying but my butthole is starting to pucker now with all these delays
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It took under two weeks from time of being given a tentative and going to committee and giving me an exact number.
I hate to say it, but get used to the saying if you have seen on VA, you have seen one VA.
I was given top of the range. If I wanted more money, I would have had to work at a different location. I did not see the point for further negotiations.
I know you can accept a tentative offer and later refuse with no repercussions, now wether you can do that with two places at the same time I am unsure. If you accept a final offer and later refuse, I have heard you might potentially be ineligible for rehire.
I hate to say it, but get used to the saying if you have seen on VA, you have seen one VA.
I was given top of the range. If I wanted more money, I would have had to work at a different location. I did not see the point for further negotiations.
I know you can accept a tentative offer and later refuse with no repercussions, now wether you can do that with two places at the same time I am unsure. If you accept a final offer and later refuse, I have heard you might potentially be ineligible for rehire.
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Wow that’s very interesting. I just saw there was a VA commissioned strategic report that came out (like less than a week ago) that made recommendations on closing certain VA’s, making others busier, and potentially building new facilities. If I had to guess I’d bet they are trying to figure out what’s going to go on at your location/see if they have to bring in a VA podiatrist from a different location that might be closing
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Wow thats ridiculous. I am really getting screwed by two VAs. What are the odds
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That would be screwed up to delay me like that because they want to move a surgical podiatrist over from another facility?
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It most definitely would and that’s total speculation on my part, but the report is pretty crazy. I’m from the NE and I saw they recommended closing the Philly VA! I think they have like 5 or 6 pods there and I’d imagine they would get placed pretty much wherever they want.
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If I didn't have another community hospital offer that is waiting for a reply this would be a little less frustrating.
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Yeah man, that really sucks
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These closures often take a very long time to be finalized and I would imagine most would find a way to stay local. Not impossible, but I really doubt things are moving that fast to place them elsewhere.
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You probably are right, I don’t think they’ve even made any final decisions yet
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I’m still looking for a job there 😩
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Lol not going to lie that Tennessee job looks nice. I wonder how many people will apply for that 😂
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Which one? The Knoxville cboc? I think they interviewed in person for that already.
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Is this accessible for others to view?
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VA.gov | Veterans Affairs
Apply for and manage the VA benefits and services you’ve earned as a Veteran, Servicemember, or family member—like health care, disability, education, and more.
