Because partnership is for the long term, he emphasized viewing the interview as a two-way process. Just as the potential employer is evaluating you, you also should be evaluating the interviewer and asking yourself questions such as:
- How well am I being treated?
- How do people in this group treat each other and the staff?
- What is the retention rate?
Once you know you want a position with a specific group and are offered a contract, Dr. Baraf emphasized the need to select an attorney to work with who will be accessible and who can review and explain the contract as well as act as mediator between you and the specialty group.
Negotiating a Career in Academia
Fundamental to negotiating a career in academia is knowing what you want in terms of research space and monies as well as time devoted to clinical, teaching, and service duties, said Marc C. Hochberg, MD, MPH, professor of medicine and epidemiology and public health at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore.
As research is typically what drives physicians to seek an academic appointment, he emphasized the need for negotiating upfront sufficient protected time during the first two to three years of getting the appointment to get research underway before assuming significant clinical, teaching, and service duties. He emphasized that typical start-up packages offered to cover research space, laboratory equipment and staff, and salary usually last three years and are not long enough to determine success in academia. He therefore urged negotiating longer sustenance packages (and urged using the term “sustenance package”) that will provide sufficient funding for up to ten years.
Although compensation is generally lower in academia than in private practice or industry and is determined by set ranges within specific institutions, he emphasized the importance of addressing specific questions that may affect salary such as:
- What part of the salary is paid for by grants?
- Is the salary guaranteed indefinitely or for a finite period of time?
- What fringe benefits are provided, such as health insurance and tuition remission?
- What is the retirement system?
Overall, Dr. Hochberg emphasized that negotiating for a faculty position is a business deal that needs to be handled as such. To this end, he urged physicians to practice interviewing prior to the actual negotiation, to dress appropriately for the interview, and to get any offer down in writing.
