eischcream Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 So, out of curiosity... as a soon-to-be Grad. When I go out and find my first job and sit down to negotiate my salary how do I leverage my pre-PA career (14yrs as an Army medic, 3 deployments my last as the Aid Station Manager and right-hand man to our units PA). I had over 5000 direct, hands on, documented patient hours with numerous procedures conducted AND supervision experience for numerous years. On top of that my first two deployments included working on my own an providing day-to-day medical support combined with treatment of trauma patients with little/no additional support. How do I go about validating this to demonstrate that I have significant experience to draw upon? Or is it pointless to point this out because I hadn't gone through PA school yet? Additionally, I feel our program, Interservice Physician Assistant Program (ranked #11) really pushes us to be 'better' than the average graduate. However, I know for that first job its a fairly level playing field and MOST PA programs are just as good as the rest. So, I am in NO WAY trying to put down other programs. I just feel managing a strong career for 14yrs and having a strong background and understanding of what a PA does should push me more into that upper 25% of new-grads pay scale... or am I being obnoxiously over-confident? The humble part of me says "If you have to tell someone how good you are then you probably aren't that good" while at the same time, with no official work as a PA I feel a bit perplexed as how to set myself apart from my peer group of new grads... I have also heard that if you don't act strongly as your own advocate that you will be quickly marginalized. Would love feedback... Do's/Do not's that can make sure I appropriately use my pre-PA school experience/School training to make the most out of the negotiation process. Thanks in advance PS... not chasing down just large salary, IDEALLY, I would take a lower salary for an environment where I can grow and enjoy a rewarding career. Hoping to specialize but that depends, in part, with where we end up geographically... WHICH depends on where I can find the most ideal situation. So, any input on leveraging the above mentioned experience into specializing would be great too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator rev ronin Posted July 6, 2015 Administrator Share Posted July 6, 2015 I think you've got a good goal, a good attitude, and a good reason to be making top new-grad dollar in whatever specialty you go into. If someone tries to lowball you, you can always be a bit apologetic: "I'm sorry, I think you have me confused with a new PA graduate with minimal pre-PA school experience. Have you actually read my CV?" Unless you're super hard up for work, the ball is in THEIR court--you are the ideal (or close to it) new PA graduate, and you will almost certainly have people sit up and take notice. Patience is one of your best leverage tools. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator ventana Posted July 6, 2015 Moderator Share Posted July 6, 2015 I am confused Are you in IPAP? If so why are you looking for a job? As for experience before being a PA - helps a little, but it is not magic. Yes as an older grad with more life experience and some medical experience you should be on the higher end of the new grad pay scale...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eischcream Posted July 6, 2015 Author Share Posted July 6, 2015 I am in IPAP... National Guard slot. That's actually part of the 'issue' (which isn't REALLY an issue) but everyone else is obviously going active duty so there is little input/instruction on job searching or 'lessons learned' on the hiring process because, even the PA instructors have extensive military backgrounds and not very much civilian employment experience. So there is little to draw from regarding negotiation of salary or, more importantly for me, how to specialize. I got some input that civilian employers prefer that, if you intend to specialize, you specialize right away. Not sure how true this is. My hope is to find what info I can and help out some of the other Guard/reservists that are in a similar boat. I'm not too worried but I have appreciated the feedback and I have made good use of this forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted July 7, 2015 Moderator Share Posted July 7, 2015 FWIW my 10 yrs of er tech/paramedic experience translated to 4 dollars hr/more to start than a typical new grad on the salary scale at my first job...I also had 3 job offers on the table and could have walked over a low ball offer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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