NEED IR PA ADVICE

[Rbnz]

I have been a PA for 5 years now in a rural critical access hospital. Amazing job but location is terrible for a family. I assist in general, OB/GYN and Ortho surgery, family clinic and wound clinic I have been offered a job doing IR in large city in Arizona. I am hoping to connect with other IR PAs to get an idea about compensation. I have a job offer but no salary has been negotiated yet. I am currently making around 180k and anticipate taking a hit to my income. This IR job will be full service...pretty much any IR procedure that a PA does I will be doing. So any IR PAs out there who can fill me on what I should be negotiating please chime in.

[RadAssPA]

I would ask for $200,000. You have 5 years of very well rounded experience that will benefit your team. You will catch problems and will have expertise in clinical medicine that the IR docs likely won't have. Wound care will be very helpful. My guess is that they will want you to do some clinic stuff as well? It will take you a year minimum to get comfortable with the procedures, let alone to be proficient. They may use that as a reason to not give you the salary you deserve. If this happens accept a lower salary until a training period is over then up to full salary. I have heard that pay is very good in Arizona. I know a guy who lives in another state but works in Arizona 2 weeks a month for the big bucks. You are moving up the ladder as a PA. You shouldn't have to take a hit to your salary. Especially in IR. 

[ventana]

3 hours ago, RadAssPA said:

I would ask for $200,000. You have 5 years of very well rounded experience that will benefit your team. You will catch problems and will have expertise in clinical medicine that the IR docs likely won't have. Wound care will be very helpful. My guess is that they will want you to do some clinic stuff as well? It will take you a year minimum to get comfortable with the procedures, let alone to be proficient. They may use that as a reason to not give you the salary you deserve. If this happens accept a lower salary until a training period is over then up to full salary. I have heard that pay is very good in Arizona. I know a guy who lives in another state but works in Arizona 2 weeks a month for the big bucks. You are moving up the ladder as a PA. You shouldn't have to take a hit to your salary. Especially in IR. 

your joking right??  200k?

 

yeah that is just not gonna happen    period

 

 

I would ask for $150k - but  you need to figure out if you are a group or hosp employee - if hospital then you are stuck on their pay scale

 

I did 5yrs IM then 2 years IR and it was amazing. I missed the Dx thought so went back to IM but what I learned was and is invaluable

[narcan]

I would just ask them to match your salary and agree to a 2 year contract or something so they don't feel like they're getting screwed on the OJT period. I don't think $200K is that much of a reach, but the real hurdle you're going to have is how much the other PAs there are already making. They can't bring you in and pay you substantially more without pissing off others. 

What I will say also is that the PA profession is likely underpaid and that in high paying specialties where there are fewer competent people, the salary range can be quite broad. 

Also true is when you start a new job is the best time to negotiate your best salary.

[Rbnz]

This is a private group contracted with 2 hospitals. They have one PA there now who has been out of school for one year. No weekends or call as of right now but that may change. 
 

I would love to ask for 200k but realize that won’t happen. 
 

They offered 115k with typical benefits. I said no thanks, and am countering with 140k with guaranteed increases till I am over 150k. I know my worth and am not hurting to leave my current job who actually sees my value and pays me for it. So we will see what they say. I fully anticipate losing this job opportunity. 
 

Am I pricing myself out of a job? This is not the first time I have had an offer and turned it down due to salary expectations.  As a whole I have a really hard time with how most PAs are compensated. 

[rev ronin]

1 hour ago, Rbnz said:

Am I pricing myself out of a job? This is not the first time I have had an offer and turned it down due to salary expectations.  As a whole I have a really hard time with how most PAs are compensated. 

You may be, but such is the cost of there being a ton of new graduates--it becomes an employer's market, and past salary trends are no guarantee of future pay.  When 22% of PAs surveyed have been furloughed, that's a BIG hit to the asking price of whomever's left.

[ventana]

1 hour ago, Rbnz said:

This is a private group contracted with 2 hospitals. They have one PA there now who has been out of school for one year. No weekends or call as of right now but that may change. 
 

I would love to ask for 200k but realize that won’t happen. 
 

They offered 115k with typical benefits. I said no thanks, and am countering with 140k with guaranteed increases till I am over 150k. I know my worth and am not hurting to leave my current job who actually sees my value and pays me for it. So we will see what they say. I fully anticipate losing this job opportunity. 
 

Am I pricing myself out of a job? This is not the first time I have had an offer and turned it down due to salary expectations.  As a whole I have a really hard time with how most PAs are compensated. 

great job

 

reasonable and well thought out