Salary and Negotiation

location secret lol since there arent many NPs that go bak to med school but i will tell you its out west.

salary at first job. 165k

now 115k (if i worked full time)

they replaced me after i quit to go back to school and paid the next person 125k because you know supply is way higher now. already seeing salaries divebomb in certain areas. but then again my replacement was female too so for all you hardcore women's rights activists theres something to protest about. (even though its mostly bc women do not negotiate, not systemic sexism bc i started a little more than she did but i negotiated).

1st- hospital

2nd er

City/State: Northwest

Years in position: 2 years as NNP

Salary: $118k, OT paid at $100 per hour (in the southwest, I was paid $95k starting as a new grad with OT at $72 per hour)

Benefits: Healthcare, dental, STD, LTD, etc. 5 weeks PTO, up to 7 weeks depending on years of service. Retirement match up to 7% depending on years of service

Bonus: None

City/State: PA & NJ (we have multiple hospitals we go to)

Specialty: neurosurgery, neuro/critical care

Salary: 140,000 + % of billings (higher salary though because I'm the assistant director of the practice, with multiple neurologists, neurosurgeons, PAs, NPs, and psychologists)

Benefits: deferred since I've always paid my own insurance

Bonus: % of billings as mentioned above

Thanks for getting this conversation started. I completely agree that the gender disparity is real and that it is self-perpetuated. Many friends who have already graduated simply took the salary offered to them and did not negotiate because they "just felt thankful to have their first NP job" and didn't want to rock the boat too much. They are shooting themselves in the foot I think. They are taking jobs that range from $85,000 to $90,000 in the Northeast.

Can anyone speak to the actual process of negotiating once a job offer is made? What language have people used that worked well?

First you need to research what NPs make in your area. Having reports from salary.com or Bureau of Labor Statistics (even better) could be helpful, assuming they're offering less than they average. If they're offering more don't shoot yourself in the foot ������

To be honest, aside from this I am not sure you have much negotiating room since you are new and will require considerable training. I'm not saying to take a low ball offer. Hospitals may want to pay on a pay scale based on years of experience or extra certifications in which case you won't have much leverage.

Private practices is a different ballpark in which you - even as a new graduate- may have some wiggle room. It may be combo of salary and bonus or salary and percentage of billings or collections or totally RVU based.

Do yourself a favor and buy Carolyn Buppert's book 'nurse practitioners business practice guide'. I didn't quote the title exactly but it's something substantially similar and you should be able to pull it up easily on amazon. That book will explain things in a lot of detail, way better than a short post here.

besides the glut of nurse practitioners out there, the lack of negotiations dropping our salaries is another reason I got out. I went to a few part time job interviews a year or two ago and they slap us in the face with a sucky salary and say no negotiation, after which I thank them and walk out. They are so freaking used to nobody negotiating they just dont consider it at some places. At least in med school they tell us to negotiate since in almost all locations (besides coastal cities) we have the upperhand and the mentality of people in med school is of NOT taking the first offer.

Its pitiful I had to go back to school for 4 more years due to the weakness of both the education and lack of business mentality of the nursing profession.

Luckily I enjoy school lol. I couldnt imagine working for less than 100k in a provider role. Never have, never will, no matter what it takes. Woulda done accounting or something if I did.