Physicians are typically thrilled to receive a first job offer. However, they may not realize that the terms of a contract are often negotiable.
If you know what to ask for, what strategies to use, and when to ask for help, you’re prepared to launch your career the right way.
In this short video, we explore tips and tactics to help you confidently approach your first contract negotiation. Watch now!
Transcript
You are not paid what you are worth. You are paid what you negotiate.
Hi, I’m Ben Martinek with Bona Fide Finance. I wanted to take a few minutes today and talk about negotiating your first contract.
It’s super exciting, right? You’re at the point now of getting paid.
You’ve found an employer, they’ve put an offer on the table, and it’s time to settle on the terms of your agreement.
This usually comes down to issues of compensation, benefits, clinical work duties, patient schedules, on-call duties, and maybe termination clauses.
And the two big components of the contract are compensation and benefits.
But the rest of the items that I just identified really kind of speak to quality of life and protection of your time.
Time, Money, and Avoiding Burnout in Your Career
The two biggest assets we have in life are our time and our money—the earnings we make.
But also making sure we don’t spend all of our time working endlessly and that we have some protective boundaries in place so we don’t get burned out and can be happy with what we’re doing.
You’ve been vetting your employer, and now it’s time for you to come to the negotiation and make sure you’re getting paid what you deserve to be paid.
How Supply and Demand Impacts Your Salary
I will tell you that a lot of this is decided simply by supply and demand.
At the end of the day, what people are willing to pay you is based on what kind of options are out in the marketplace and how easily they can come across and replace you with somebody else.
So if you start asking for more than what the market will allow or tolerate—basically more than what others are willing to do—you’ll just get replaced.
Someone will accept terms with someone else instead of moving forward with you.
But on the other side of that, if you are asking for less than what you deserve to be paid, they’ll accept it because, you know, the nature of things is that if you allow people to take advantage of you, they’re going to take advantage of you.
Using Market Data to Strengthen Your Negotiation
We want you to be looking toward objective criteria of what the market rate is for your specialty in your locality.
Thankfully, this isn’t all just a guessing game. There is hard data we can turn to to help give us confidence in our ask. You can turn to the Medical Group Management Association as one example, as a good place to start your negotiation.
Why Negotiation Feels Like a “Game”
But it’s good to recognize that negotiating, you know, it’s a game we play.
And honestly, I’ve always kind of found it to be a bit of a silly game, but it’s still a game that we play because we just don’t like to come to terms immediately.
Your employer probably has already baked into what they’re willing to offer you a lower number than what they think you’ll accept.
Because we all just kind of feel good turning around and pushing the number a little higher.
You feel like you’re winning, and the employer feels like they’re kind of winning.
Never Accept the First Offer Without Pushing Back
One piece of advice here: don’t accept your contract without pushing back and asking for more. Let’s try to push the limit on this and get as much as we can.
Understanding Your Value and Leverage in Negotiation
This is an issue of coming to clarity in your mind about who you are, what you bring to the table, what you’re worth, and how you stand in the marketplace with your specialty and how much your employer is in need of you.
The higher the need they have for you and the work you do, the more you’re going to get paid.
It’s really that straightforward. The more power, the more leverage you have at the bargaining table in terms of getting what it is you want.
Simply because, you know, what other option does the employer have if they want you?
Where else can they turn if you’re it and they don’t have another solution in place?
The Importance of Confidence and Legal Contract Review
An important piece to all of this, then, is coming into the negotiation with confidence.
It’s also not accepting things immediately or on first blush. It’s also having your contract reviewed by an attorney to make you aware of any clauses that could get you into trouble or could be regretful.
Or also to give you some insight into what they have commonly seen as value or benefits in your contract.
Getting Clarity on Your Compensation Goals
Where we work with our clients and deliver a lot of value is we can give clarity as to what the compensation needs to be in order for you to meet and achieve all your goals. It’s telling our clients this is the number you need to have in terms of the amount of compensation you receive.
It’s really powerful and impactful and helps you come in and say, “Hey, this is what the number has got to be.” Or “I’m going to go to someone else and get this number because this is what I want to achieve in my life. I know that if I’m not paid this amount, I’m not achieving what I want.”
Work With Bona Fide Finance for Negotiation Support
So if you’re looking for help in getting that sort of clarity so you can negotiate confidently, consider giving us a call.
We’d love to work with you and meet with you. You can reach out to us at hello@bonafidefinance.com or bonafidefinance.com.
It would be an honor to meet with you and see how we can improve your negotiation.