Tips for accepting a job offer/signing a contract

[KarenLee]

This is a personal experience after graduating from PA school. As any of new graduates, looking for a career is quite a challenge. If you are lucky, you will have a career where you feel happy and satisfied every day at work. However, not all things come the way we expected, and sometimes we are stuck. Based on my personal experience, I just want to give all PA students, PA-C, or any one who are interested in PA profession a few tips of accepting a job offer:

1. Before you apply for a PA job, read the description of the job carefully, then prepare all the questions that you need to know about the work place as much as you can
2. Call the work place, and ask all your questions. Make sure you get all the answers that are matched with the description of job posted. 
3. Try to talk to the PA's or your potential future colleagues regarding the work place. If your employers don't allow you to contact any of the current working PA's, that is a "redflag"
4. Go to the interview, prepare for all questions to ask the interviewers. Make sure you know all the details about the work place (work hours, shifts, employee benefits, etc, and make sure all are clear)
5. When you get an offer letter, followed by a contract, make sure you spend at least 3 days reading it. The contract must be clear and straightforward about work hours, shifts, employee benefits. If there are unclear things, make sure you have some one as an expert to read your contract before signing the contract. If you are not comfortable, again, talk to the PA's who is working there to know more about the work place before you sign it.
6. The contract should not make you pay any penalty if you leave because that would be a red flag.

I hope the tips beneficial for you in the process of looking for a PA career.

[GetMeOuttaThisMess]

#2-becoming more difficult to identify location based on online postings (very secretive)

 

#3-I couldn't even get the VA to show me my future work area.  I had to go find it on my own.

 

#5-I've never received a written offer in 30 years.  It is always via phone contact.  Never signed a contract yet either (that I have at least returned).

 

Good suggestions from one whose spent time looking over the past 3 decades.

[rookiejay]

I just left a job and I didn't take that kind of time, I wish I had. The strangest thing in it, states that if any patient gives me money, it goes to the company.

1) I would never do that! I would give it back to their family or if they had none donate to charity in their name

2) every other place tells you to never take money, if I had taken the time and seen that it would have been a red flag,

 

I was under pressure to sign I was running out of money and needed work, so I just read my dictated benefits I wanted like pay vacation CME malpractice etc.

 

please don't make my mistake.

[rookiejay]

* oh and the penalty for leaving early