NP with question about salary off - 80K too low?

Specialties NP

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Hello,

I'm medical resident. Wife has 8 years RN experience, recently finished NP degree. She was offered position at a teaching hosp in Cleveland - Sleep Medicine. outpatient (though job involves weekly driving to affiliated satellite hopsitals) 80K with 5K in school loan payback. I've heard of offers at outpatient competing hospitals for 84K - 87K. I feel like 80K is too low. My questions:

1) Is the offered salary a starting point for negotiations or is the offered salary pretty much the definitive endpoint - take it or leave it ?

2) Has anyone successfully negotiated their starting salary up after receiving an initial offer, or is this pretty much taboo?

3) If wife competes for another job next year in a similar field, will they take into account this year's salary and factor that into her offer. In otherwords, will accepting a salary this low permanently put her on a low salary trajectory ?

I'm not sure this is a battle worth fighting... but I'm pretty dissapointed with this offer...

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

I would try to find out what current NPs in your area are actually getting, not the figure from a website, but face to face. Have your wife contact the Ohio organization for APNs - they will have current info.

I would certainly try to negotiate. However, with the 5K loan repayment - is that 5K per year or 5K total?

I did successfully negotiate approx 15k higher than the offer. I graduated in 2006 and interviewed several places. The practice that eventually hired me, first offered me what I was getting as an RN and I had 14 years experience. I wasn't willing to do this so I offered something 20K above the initial offer. We settled on 15k above the initial offer and I was (and am still) very satisfied with the compensation.

If she ends up taking this offer, I would have written into the contract a review at 6 months and if she is making her goals ie RVUs, pt seen, revenue generated, then she gets a raise.

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I am not familiar with current salaries in your area, but your wife should be. I believe it never hurts to counteroffer IF the offer is truly low.

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Specializes in Adult NP- post acute care.

I have been interviewing in Akron OH and I have been offered $85,000 with no tuition reimbursement. We negotiated the salary and vacation time ($80 to $85K and 2 weeks to 4 weeks vacation/year) but I declined the offer because there are some conditions that I am not willing to accept (frequent on call responsibilities). My plan is to interview a few more times to compare offers and then decide on which practice provides the best fit for me as a new grad with a lot of student loans to repay. I was wondering if the Cleveland area offered a higher pay with tuition reimbursement. I'm looking into headhunters and considering the option of relocating. Is your wife pretty much set on accepting this job or is she willing to interview at other locations and compare/contrast offers? Some job postings on headhunter sites list salaries over $90,000 in the Cleveland area, but I do not know what all the jobs entail (on call expectations, high RVU expectations, etc.) I wish your wife the best in negotiating and finding the right job.

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I think 80K is too low, personally. I would definitely counter offer with 89K and ask about raises for cost of living (1-2% per year) as well as a bonus structure based on patients seen. I would also ask about CME and vacation, which is just as important.

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Hi Guys,

Thanks for your help. Wife decided to ask HR for higher salary. We provided data, anecdotal and official on avg ARNP salaries, cited experience. We calculated hourly wage and informed HR that it would be difficult to accept a position as NP that paid $2-3 more than her current position as RN. We were told HR would consider the offer and get back to us. Have no idea if this is a good response or bad response but tentatively speaking--for anyone wondering-- it appears that initial offers might be starting points for negotiations ? I'll update with final answer. Just wanted to say thanks

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What happened with the counter offer your wife made? Did HR ever get back to you?

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