What were your "dealbreakers" or "must haves" with your first job?

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Hello everyone!

I recently passed the AANP exam and I'm searching for my first job. If you could go back and refine what your idea of "must haves" and "deal breakers" were, what would you tell a new gal coming out of the gate?

Look forward to hearing your insight and advice, thank you in advance!

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Specializes in ICU, CV-Thoracic Sx, Internal Medicine.

I'll start with the deal breakers.

1. uncompetitive pay

2. taking call without call pay

3. lack of orientation time

4. practice with no prior history of NP (IMO, newb NP's need an established practice with an understanding of what to expect from a NP. Not a good recipe to have a new NP try to establish a new NP role in a practice)

Must haves

1. At least 3 weeks vaca and at least 1 week of CME PTO

2. CME reimubursement, at least $1,500

3. with tail coverage

4. Competitive pay

5. Allow for full utilization of NP role as only limited by state practice act

6. A "GOOD GUT FEELING" about the other providers you will work with (very subjective, not an easy way to gauge it other than to ask tough questions and feel out how genuine the responders are during interview)

7. Benefits

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Specializes in allergy and asthma, urgent care.

I totally agree with TX RN. The most important thing to me was having a supportive environment where I could ask questions and ramp up my patient load slowly. You don't want to be thrown into a snake pit as a new grad.

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Question: Since I am new at this, I am looking at #2 under deal-breakers.

If a job says "we pay salary. $85K a year, 40 hrs a week in the office, 1 weekend covering the hospital a month, and you will be "on call" that whole weekend (overnight) once a month. All of that is included in the $85K salary"

Do most practices give you a salary PLUS pay for weekends/on call?

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Specializes in ICU, CV-Thoracic Sx, Internal Medicine.
Question: Since I am new at this, I am looking at #2 under deal-breakers.

If a job says "we pay salary. $85K a year, 40 hrs a week in the office, 1 weekend covering the hospital a month, and you will be "on call" that whole weekend (overnight) once a month. All of that is included in the $85K salary"

Do most practices give you a salary PLUS pay for weekends/on call?

Most won't "give" you anything. I remember when I first started out feeling "honored," for a lack of a better word, that I even was offered a NP position. I was too quick to take the offer without reading between the lines and carefully dissecting what it means. So I would answer your question with the following questions.

1. What's the average census over the weekend? Does it flucutate with seasons?

2. Is there someone available for you to discuss any issues with ( a suprevising provider )?

3. Will they split billing with you over the weekend?

4. 40 hours a week in the office with one weekend of coverage monthly DOES not equal 40 hours a week EVERY week. What's the flow like on the weekend, average hours/pt?

5. How soon do they expect you to start taking call? If you are a new NP I would wait at a minimum 6 months. It's a bit nerve racking at first if you're still learning the system.

I would absolutely negotiate some compensation for weekend call. At a minimum they should split billing with you for that weekend to make up for the hours you take call.

Best of luck!!

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Specializes in FNP, ONP.

Must haves: medical director must be a champion of my NP practice and have a strong interest in supporting my personal and professional development, all other relationships must be collegial and supportive.

Deal breakers: lack of the above.

I don't really care about the rest of the things mentioned. Compensation and benefits merely need to be fair. I'd expect, at minimum, the regional mean for someone with similar education and experience (as a NP, I don't think RN experience should impact NP salaries).

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Specializes in CT ICU, OR, Orthopedic.

BlueDevil, I am curious as to how you find out what exactly the average mean of a new grad NP in your area and specialty. I am worried that someone will offer me $65K and since I actually don't know the average salary of a new grad ACNP in Detroit, I'll jump on it and be taken advantage of. Don't get me wrong, i'm not expecting to make 6 figures, but after all of this, I don't want to be grossly unpaid either. I have searched for salary information, but often it does not differentiate between specialties, or new grad vs expert, etc...

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Check out salary.com. it gives you range of salaries in your zip code. pretty neat!

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Specializes in FNP, ONP.

DNPstudent: My state NP association publishes all that data.

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Specializes in CT ICU, OR, Orthopedic.

Thank you BlueDevil...I'll look into that!

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