Physician Assistant Job Interview Tips Part 2: What to Ask

Interviews are a two way street. While you have to sell yourself and prove you’re the best candidate for the job, it’s also important to make sure the job is right for you. In Part 1 of this series, we reviewed questions commonly asked during interviews and what to expect. Once you make it through the standard and awkward interview questions, it’s time to ask your questions and find out if this is the job for you.

The most important thing is to consider beforehand what you want to know. There are so many aspects of a job besides the required clinical skills. At the end of the day you want to be very clear on the expectations of the position and make sure you see yourself succeeding there.

When it comes time to ask questions, consider the following subjects and related questions.

Training and Onboarding

The Primary difference between training and onboarding is training is specific to your job role while onboarding focuses on integration into the company. For example onboarding should familiarize you with the mission and vision of the company, employee culture, understanding the organizational leadership structure, etc.

As a new graduate, you’re probably most interested in the training. Most employers understand there is a slower learning curve for new graduates than experienced PAs. Some questions to consider asking are

Expectations

While you’re likely familiar with the general expectations of the PA in a given specialty, every employer is different. If all you have for reference is the clinical rotation you were on, or perhaps no reference at all, make sure you’re clear on what the role is. Consider asking

Culture

This might be your dream job as far as specialty, but nobody thrives in a toxic work environment. No job is perfect, but you want to sniff out any major red flags if possible. Consider asking

Benefits

It’s often difficult to judge when to bring up salary and benefit questions if they haven’t come up yet. Sometimes these topics are handled entirely by the HR department and may not be introduced until after you’ve been offered a position, or the people interviewing you may not be able to answer.

You also don’t want to sound presumptuous or overconfident by asking about benefits too early in the process, before they’ve had a chance to evaluate your skills and qualifications. But it’s fair to ask at least some general questions at your initial interview and certainly if you’ve progressed through the interview process.

You have to be careful not to judge your compensation by salary alone. Bonuses, call pay, overtime, etc contribute to thousands of earned dollars every year. For example, my current take home pay is approximately 20K more than my base salary each year.

Some questions to consider are


Additional Questions

Really think through what you want to know and don’t hesitate to ask. Some additional questions might be

You don’t have to ask all of these questions. You don’t have to ask questions just for the sake of asking or trying to impress them. At the end of the day an interview is a two way street. They choose you and you choose them. No job is perfect, but make sure the job role, expectations and benefits are clear.


Sign up for our newsletter and receive a free 20-question practice quiz!

Sign up for our newsletter
and receive a FREE 20-question practice quiz!