Important questions to ask during a Job Interview?

[Shazzy1228]

I frequently see PA's on this forum saying that it is important to ask the right questions during a job interview. It seems to me that a lot of people here find themselves in hostile environments partly because they didn't do enough homework on the place. I'm not a PA yet, but I'm curious as to what kind of information I need to know before I accept any job offer as a new PA.

Thanks guys!

[RealityCheck]

Awesome question. It has taken me years to figure out the questions and I still feel completely lacking or overwhelmed sometimes.

 

I work in corporate medicine right now and it, quite frankly, sucks. I am a peon, a worker bee with no ownership in my practice and am somewhat disposable. I am an employee with no contract. The upside - I have good benefits. 30 days off a year, a sick bank which I have never had with up to 200 hours to hold in it, decent insurance, CME $2000 and a separate account for dues and subscriptions. I take days off when I want and get good CME.

 

Downside - I really enjoy my work and want to be a partner and a participating member of my team who gets to mold our practice - hmmm, doesn't happen in a giant multispecialty hospital owned mammoth with over 5000 employees. I don't even get to interview MAs or have a say in how office patient flow happens. It is NOT a provider driven practice.  Everything requires a committee, a protocol and someone who has no medical knowledge making decisions about how things work. But, having an MD behind your name means you are golden even if you have no idea what you are doing. So, I do not feel valued or allowed to have an opinion.

 

So, first - why do you want this job? Seriously - what drew you to apply for the position? Ask yourself - write it down.

Do you want to be a participating member with opinions and say in how things run?

Do you want to work and go home and be done? How involved do YOU want to be?

 

Then, when you know what job you are interviewing for - research the practice? Who started it? When? Has it been sold? Why? Research the doc online at the state website for licensure and just google them. Find out what they do in the community and what people say about them.

 

One of my student rotations years ago was a hyper-religious doc who point blank told me that women shouldn't be in a profession outside the home and I wasn't smart enough to do it anyway. Also, birth control was evil and his practice didn't do it. I wrote him up to my PA school and they stopped sending students there altogether.

 

Ask them what they want in a PA? Have they ever had a PA before? How many PAs over what period of time? Why did they leave? Can you talk to the previous PA or NP?

Do they know the laws and credentialing? Who handles that? 

Are you going to have to research the Supervising Physician and Practice Plan to make sure you are protected and not put yourself at risk?

 

Ask about office staff turnover and staffing. MAs, LPNs, RNs - who? Credentials, training, expectations? 

HUGE TURNOFF - SPOUSES OF PHYSICIANS SHOULD NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER WORK IN THE PRACTICE.

Trust me - if this is the case - RUN - do not even think twice. It is a disaster waiting to happen and will screw you without fail. Spouses often have NO qualifications and only one loyalty in the world. You will be trounced and never given same consideration as the physician. 

 

Ask about scheduling and expectations? Are you going to be left in the office alone to fend for yourself while your doc goes fishing or leaves every Friday at noon?

Are you going to see the docs patients or have your own panel? Are you only there to take the overflow, walk ins and crap?

What do they expect for chart review, oversight and ability to interact collegially?

 

I worked with a physician who would slight me to a patient in a heartbeat - telling them I did not know what I was doing. She was not my supervising physician and was hired to work in the same office but has complete disdain for midlevels and did not hide it. She was wrong and told a patient I was wrong and it is not good practice and not good for patient care. She couldn't stand the idea that a PA could actually know what they were doing. It is a hostile environment that is not good to work in.

 

What is the compensation model? How justified? Straight salary for a 40 hour week? Base salary and then profit sharing or bonus structure?

When will reviews be done? Every six months? Yearly?

 

What kind of insurance do they provide? Tail coverage? Event only? Who pays the premium? PA coverage should match the doctor but never exceed their limits.

 

There is so much more. I want to see what other people post. Don't be frightened. It is a complex process. Lots to think about. But, follow your gut too and those little hairs on the back of your head. Write stuff down.

 

Have a lawyer review ANY contract you are asked to sign BEFORE you sign it. It will save you immensely.

 

Keep asking questions - always and forever.

 

25 yr PA

been there, done that

[Shazzy1228]

Awesome answer realitycheck. You know one of the other reasons I am also asking is because of the awful time one of my buddies has had in the world of research. Found himself in a lab with a PI who was deceitful and told him there was funding and he would be paid and get academic credit. A month later, suddenly he "had no funding"....BS. Had he inquired as to why this PI hasn't had a student in his lab for years and if he had looked up the so-called NIH grant things would be much different. He is now torn about leaving the lab because he is still getting academic credit at our undergrad. I know it has nothing to do with PA lol. However, it definitely taught me to cover my a** and always ask questions. If you can't get answers, get out of there.

I need to hear from the rest of you please. This is important for all budding PA's.

[stellahead]

I agree with realtycheck. Always ask a potential SP how they view the role of PA in the practice. Have they trained a PA before (if you're a new graduate or in a new field)?

 

After doing some rotations where it was clear PAs were not respected, I largely based my job search on the answer to these questions. I left a career field full of bullies to become a PA, and I was not going back to that. I ended up in neurosurgery, which I never expected. But I work with a great team that is taking pride in training me.

[dmdpac]

When I interviewed for my first PA job one of the discussions I wound up having, somewhat unintentionally as I didn't even think about this prior to my interviews, was the fact that the group that ultimately hired me was a private practice contracted with the hospital system to provide ED coverage.  Private practices contracted to provide in-hospital/ED services wasn't something talked about in PA school.    You can imagine the questions that could result from this:

 

How stable is the practice contract with the hospital?

 

How long has this practice had the contract?

 

When is it up for renewal?  Do you expect that you'll get it again or is there/has there been competition for the contract?

 

Are other services contracted with the hospital?  Are those contracts stable or has there been turnover?

 

I'll admit to being naive about this part of the business of health care when I started out.  It was a good lesson to learn early on, however. 

[jmj11]

Awesome question. It has taken me years to figure out the questions and I still feel completely lacking or overwhelmed sometimes.

 

I work in corporate medicine right now and it, quite frankly, sucks. I am a peon, a worker bee with no ownership in my practice and am somewhat disposable. I am an employee with no contract. The upside - I have good benefits. 30 days off a year, a sick bank which I have never had with up to 200 hours to hold in it, decent insurance, CME $2000 and a separate account for dues and subscriptions. I take days off when I want and get good CME.

 

Downside - I really enjoy my work and want to be a partner and a participating member of my team who gets to mold our practice - hmmm, doesn't happen in a giant multispecialty hospital owned mammoth with over 5000 employees. I don't even get to interview MAs or have a say in how office patient flow happens. It is NOT a provider driven practice.  Everything requires a committee, a protocol and someone who has no medical knowledge making decisions about how things work. But, having an MD behind your name means you are golden even if you have no idea what you are doing. So, I do not feel valued or allowed to have an opinion.

 

So, first - why do you want this job? Seriously - what drew you to apply for the position? Ask yourself - write it down.

Do you want to be a participating member with opinions and say in how things run?

Do you want to work and go home and be done? How involved do YOU want to be?

 

Then, when you know what job you are interviewing for - research the practice? Who started it? When? Has it been sold? Why? Research the doc online at the state website for licensure and just google them. Find out what they do in the community and what people say about them.

 

One of my student rotations years ago was a hyper-religious doc who point blank told me that women shouldn't be in a profession outside the home and I wasn't smart enough to do it anyway. Also, birth control was evil and his practice didn't do it. I wrote him up to my PA school and they stopped sending students there altogether.

 

Ask them what they want in a PA? Have they ever had a PA before? How many PAs over what period of time? Why did they leave? Can you talk to the previous PA or NP?

Do they know the laws and credentialing? Who handles that? 

Are you going to have to research the Supervising Physician and Practice Plan to make sure you are protected and not put yourself at risk?

 

Ask about office staff turnover and staffing. MAs, LPNs, RNs - who? Credentials, training, expectations? 

HUGE TURNOFF - SPOUSES OF PHYSICIANS SHOULD NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER WORK IN THE PRACTICE.

Trust me - if this is the case - RUN - do not even think twice. It is a disaster waiting to happen and will screw you without fail. Spouses often have NO qualifications and only one loyalty in the world. You will be trounced and never given same consideration as the physician. 

 

Ask about scheduling and expectations? Are you going to be left in the office alone to fend for yourself while your doc goes fishing or leaves every Friday at noon?

Are you going to see the docs patients or have your own panel? Are you only there to take the overflow, walk ins and crap?

What do they expect for chart review, oversight and ability to interact collegially?

 

I worked with a physician who would slight me to a patient in a heartbeat - telling them I did not know what I was doing. She was not my supervising physician and was hired to work in the same office but has complete disdain for midlevels and did not hide it. She was wrong and told a patient I was wrong and it is not good practice and not good for patient care. She couldn't stand the idea that a PA could actually know what they were doing. It is a hostile environment that is not good to work in.

 

What is the compensation model? How justified? Straight salary for a 40 hour week? Base salary and then profit sharing or bonus structure?

When will reviews be done? Every six months? Yearly?

 

What kind of insurance do they provide? Tail coverage? Event only? Who pays the premium? PA coverage should match the doctor but never exceed their limits.

 

There is so much more. I want to see what other people post. Don't be frightened. It is a complex process. Lots to think about. But, follow your gut too and those little hairs on the back of your head. Write stuff down.

 

Have a lawyer review ANY contract you are asked to sign BEFORE you sign it. It will save you immensely.

 

Keep asking questions - always and forever.

 

25 yr PA

been there, done that

I have to say that the grass is always greener on the other side. I am the Queen bee. However, it takes so many worker bees to navigate and compent in this present ACA age that once I've fed my worker bees, there is not much necter left for the Queen (last time I will refer to myself as a queen) . . . the freedom is nice though.  However, I'm considering becoming a worker bee again and spending my time cleaning the mess the Queens make.

[Sam I Am]

1) Describe the duties to be performed by the PA.  

2) Describe the plan for supervision (face to face, chart reviews, roundings, performance evals, conference calls).

3)  Have you ever supervised a PA before?  Why did they leave?  

4)  See if you can sit and observe the clinic to see how their lowest paid employees are treated.  

5) Do NOT work for anyone without a contract.  Do Not.

 

Had I carefully considered the above mentioned, I wouldn't have half of the heartache that I have now.

[jmj11]

1) Do you hear voices inside your head like I sometimes do?

[Shazzy1228]

Why should you not work with someone without a contract? For common sense, its dumb I'm sure. But specifically for PA's?

[Guest JMPA]

contracts are a two way street

[Walkoffshot]

Not trying to hijack this thread, and since contract vs no contract is part of the discussion I felt it necessary to ask...

 

What about a compensation and benefits package that is outlined on paper, minus the signatures? I am working on that right now with a group. They have everything that entails a contract, but they don't, and haven't in the past (with several PA's still in the group) had the document signed by both parties...

[RealityCheck]

I work for a behemoth corporate medicine hospital and PAs and NPs have NO CONTRACTS. We are employees - period.

We get a printed out benefit package - which is quite nice by local standards.

Our wage is calculated through some form of voodoo and mathematics inputting your years of experience and the "pay range for specialty".

It crunches out a number and that is what they offer you.

I am in Occ Med - specialty - and have 25 yrs experience. I am at the top end of the hourly number which is just translated into yearly and divided by every 2 weeks.

 

So, I couldn't have a contract if I wanted one with this employer. I also live in an AT WILL state meaning they don't even have to have a reason to fire someone in any company regardless of size, profession, etc.

 

So, walkoffshot - I am in your boat - I have papers showing benefits and pay ranges but no guarantees or anything else.

[Walkoffshot]

You know, I was thinking that it might be acceptable if it is an "at will" agreement. Likewise, my employment is also at will. I was thinking why would it be necessary to have a contract signed if they could fire me/I leave at any time. The at will notion does not bind them in any way shape or form, neither does it bind me. Sure they could change it up and add or subtract at any time under the assumption that if I don't like it then I can leave, but in all honesty what kind of employer wants to do that and end up with a ridiculous turnover rate (although I am sure there are some out there). If they do, I leave, plain and simple. I would rather leave a job knowing my employer is scum then have to stick around for another x months to finish the contract.

 

Bottom line, I intend to do good work... I will mention they have 2 PA's that have worked then greater than 5 years each and the position I took was after a guy left after 6 years. Thought I would comment since there is a lot of folks on here that say "No contract, No way". Maybe I am naïve to think the way I do.